A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder has been named in the United States as the boss of a billion-dollar transnational drug trafficking organization accused of moving massive amounts of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and California into Canada while protecting their operation with multiple unsolved murders, including several in Canada.
Ryan James Wedding, 43, who was born in Thunder Bay, Ont., and moved to Coquitlam, competed in the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002. But his international fame now comes from being named as the boss of the sprawling organization — and as a fugitive from justice — by U.S. officials who placed a US$50,000 bounty on his head.
His 24th place Olympic finish in the Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom gave the FBI their codename for the investigation: Operation Giant Slalom.
The organization was so immense, Martin Estrada, United States Attorney for the Central District of California, said it moved 60 tons of cocaine each year. He called it “prolific and ruthless.”
Wedding, who has 18 known nicknames including “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” along with his right-hand man, another Canadian, Andrew Clark, 34, also known as “The Dictator,” ran the syndicate from Mexico, where they were protected by the powerful and notorious Sinaloa Cartel once led by El Chapo Guzman, Estrada alleged.
While Wedding is on the lam, Clark has been arrested. He was nabbed in Mexico on Oct. 8.
Officials with the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, and Peel Regional Police were in Los Angeles for Thursday’s announcement. They linked the Wedding organization to shootings and murders in Canada, including three residential shootings in Brampton, a homicide in Mississauga, and a double homicide in the town of Caledon. Several victims were innocent victims of mistaken identity, police said.
The Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family and a serious injury to a third family member, was, U.S. court documents allege, ordered by Wedding and Clark in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.
Wedding and Clark also are accused of ordering the murder of another victim, on May 18, over a drug debt. Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, are charged with the April 1, 2024, murder of another victim in Ontario.
Police in Canada are still investigating the murders.
Despite the violence, the syndicate was still infiltrated by a confidential source acting for the FBI, court documents reveal. That helped investigators penetrate the encrypted online chats suspects had about their affairs, including using Threema, a messaging app.
The indictment unsealed Thursday alleges Wedding and Clark moved loads of cocaine over borders and through countries hidden aboard transport trucks run from a transportation hub in Canada. U.S. authorities allege transportation was run during recent months by Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, both living in Ontario.
The loads of Colombian cocaine, weighing hundreds of kilos each trip, were transported from Mexico to the United States, where operatives stored it in stash houses around the Los Angeles area before delivering it to the long-haul semi-truck drivers for the drive north into Canada.
Of 16 named in the indictment, 10 are Canadians or living in Canada.
An indictment contains allegations only and none of the allegations have been proven in court. None of the accused have had an opportunity to defend themselves in court and could not be reached for comment.
“As alleged in the indictment, an Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians,” said Estrada.
Liam Price, director of International Special Services with the RCMP said: “Organized Crime groups create immense harm in all our communities, not just with the poisons they ship, but through the tragic violence that inevitably comes with it. This network presented a threat to communities in Canada, the United States and overseas.”
Wedding has long been fingered as a criminal.
He previously pleaded guilty in 2010 in California for drug trafficking. His plea deal eased him into a four-year prison sentence. He was not a boss of the drug network then, court heard, but worked for a Vancouver-based network. After his release, he was a wanted fugitive in Canada for alleged cocaine importation into Nova Scotia in 2015.
Estrada alleged Wedding emerged from prison and began building his own enormous drug syndicate.
Estrada’s office presented an immense haul of seized cocaine at the media conference — part of one ton seized at various points in the investigation.
That includes 375.1 kilos seized en route, authorities allege, to Ratte and Singh for transportation to Canada. Also seized were three guns, ammunition, US$255,400 in cash, and more than US$3.2 million in cryptocurrency.
An indictment unsealed in Los Angeles charges Wedding with leading a continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise, one count of attempt to commit murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise, two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and one count of conspiracy to export cocaine.
Clark faces the same charges plus an additional count of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise.
If convicted on those charges, they each face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
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