In two decades, Ryan James Wedding transformed from a promising snowboarder competing in the Olympics to a man who authorities say is one of the world’s most violent and ruthless criminals, responsible for a string of murders and running a billion-dollar cocaine cartel.
FBI Director Kash Patel compared the 44-year-old – whose nicknames include “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy” and “The Giant” – to Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Wedding is accused of ordering the attack on a witness in the US government’s case against him and of hiring assassins to murder rival smugglers.
Court documents say Wedding’s crime spree began in 2008, six years after her unsuccessful Olympic debut. They chronicle the supposedly dark journey of a 20-year-old who got into trouble after a drug deal gone wrong, rising to a ruthless criminal on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Wedding is believed to be hiding in Mexico and being protected by the cartel, federal officials said at a Wednesday news conference, announcing a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
‘From cutting powder to distributing powder’
Wedding was born in Thunder Bay, Canada, a small town on the north shore of Lake Superior, surrounded by forest and the Nor’wester Mountains. It is known for outdoor activities and breathtaking views. His parents were wealthy and his grandparents owned the Mount Baldy ski resort in Thunder Bay, Los Angeles magazine reports. According to the magazine, this was the resort where Wedding learned how to strip.
In 2002, he represented Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He did not perform at his best and finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom event. Failing to achieve fame and fortune in his Olympic debut, Wedding turned to a life of crime.
“Marriage went from cutting powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of American cities and his native Canada,” Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis said in a March press release.
‘I think I lost my way’
Court documents show that in 2008, federal prosecutors said Wedding went to San Diego with two other people to buy cocaine. The dealer they had arranged to meet was working undercover for the FBI. He was arrested and Wedding’s case went to trial in November 2009.
In opening statements, Wedding’s attorney portrayed him as someone who was “betrayed by an experienced drug dealer and career criminal,” according to court documents. The lawyer said that Wedding had been made “the main figure”.
According to court documents, a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. At his sentencing in May 2010, Wedding apologized to the court and his family for his “foolish and irresponsible decisions” and said that the idea of making easy money had attracted him, even though he did not need the money.
“I knew it was wrong, and I did it anyway,” he said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
He said, “Over the last 24 months that I have spent in custody, I have had the opportunity to see first-hand what drugs do to people, and honestly I feel ashamed that I was part of this problem for years.” “I think I’ve lost my way.”
Court records show the judge was so impressed by Wedding’s apparent remorse that he imposed a lighter sentence. He was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison, but with time served, he was released in December 2011.
The regrets about the marriage were apparently short-lived. After his release, he set up his own criminal drug enterprise, federal law enforcement said in an indictment unsealed Wednesday, charging him with murder, witness tampering and intimidation, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The largest distributor of cocaine in Canada
In the indictment unsealed Wednesday, law enforcement detailed how the Wedding organization, which worked with members of a Mexican drug cartel, allegedly used boats and planes to move hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. The indictment says the organization began using semitrucks to smuggle drugs across the border from Mexico to its “hub” in Southern California. Federal officials said the cocaine would then be transported to Canada and other states.
At a Wednesday news conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wedding’s organization was responsible for importing about 60 metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles.
“He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world,” she said. “He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.”
The indictment says Wedding’s organization “fostered a climate of fear” and was known to retaliate against rival drug traffickers, target people Wedding considered enemies, and attack people who cooperated with law enforcement.
According to the indictment, he allegedly placed a “multimillion-dollar bounty” on a federal witness who was going to testify against him in a criminal case. Wedding is accused of using a now-defunct Canadian website to try to locate the witness and his wife by posting photos of him, authorities said.
The witness was shot and killed in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January before he was scheduled to testify, the Justice Department said in a news release.
According to the press release, Wedding is also accused of hiring a Canadian-based hitman squad to kill another victim and directing the murder of two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. The third member of the family survived the attack but suffered serious injuries.
Wife, ‘General’ and lawyer
Several people, including Wedding’s wife, are accused of contributing to his reign of terror, the US Treasury Department said in a news release.
Edgar Aaron Vazquez Alvarado, known as “The General,” allegedly provided security for the wedding in Mexico, according to the release. Authorities said Vazquez is believed to be a former Mexican law enforcement officer and used law enforcement sources to find targets for marriage.
Wedding’s wife, Miriam Andrea Castillo Moreno, allegedly laundered money for him and “helped him commit acts of violence,” the department said.
A Canadian lawyer named Deepak Balwant Paradkar allegedly provides “a range of illegal services” that fall outside the scope of a normal lawyer. He is accused of helping Wedding commit bribery and murder and introducing him to his drug traffickers, the Treasury Department Said.
62-year-old Paradkar was arrested on Tuesday.
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