CALGARY - Federal Court Justice Yves de Montigny late last night granted reputed gangster Jackie Tran a last-minute reprieve from deportation.

Tran's lawyer, Raj Sharma, said he was happily surprised by the latest development in his client's five-year bid to stay in Canada.

"Obviously, Mr. Tran is ecstatic," Sharma said after talking to his client.

Prior to the stay being granted, Tran faced imminent deportation.

Now, however, Tran cannot be deported, pending a decision on whether his lawyer can make the case against the department of justice in Federal Court, where Sharma intends to argue that errors we're made in an earlier appeal ruling on Tran's 2004 deportation which was based on serious criminality.

"Mr. Tran cannot be deported," Sharma said of his client's last minute reprieve from deportation, for now.

Officials say Tran, whose real name is Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, should be deported back to Vietnam, given he is said to be involved in organized crime.

Sharma in part won the emergency stay based on the argument he still has a viable case to make to try and argue against deportation.

Tran was arrested most recently when he failed to attend a meeting with immigration officials on Tuesday, a breach of release conditions set in October 2008.

Tran is also waiting on a ruling in another hearing, where CBSA officials argued he should be removed based on organized criminality.

While police and the CBSA claim he is a gang member, Tran, a permanent resident, argues he is a changed man and sole support for his mother and sister here.

He was first ordered deported in 2004 for serious criminality after being convicted of trafficking cocaine.

His first appeal of that decision was dismissed in January 2008, followed by numerous appeals and additional hearings over the years.

NADIA.MOHARIB@SUNMEDIA.CA