Who is Ryan Wedding? What to know about the Olympian turned drug kingpin accused of murder

Watch Who is Ryan Wedding? What to know about the Olympian turned drug kingpin accused of murder - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00An Olympian turned drug kingpin ordered the murder of a federal witness who was gunned down in a

00:04restaurant after publishing photographs of him and his wife. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi

00:09announced in a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel. But who is Ryan Wedding and how did

00:14he end up on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list? Here's everything you need to know.

00:19Today the Justice Department is proud to announce new developments in our ongoing investigation

00:25into Ryan James Wedding. Wedding is the former Olympian from Canada who is now the leader

00:33of a transnational criminal enterprise. He's currently on the FBI's and has been top 10 most

00:42wanted list. He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this

00:52world. Before he became known as one of the world's biggest drug kingpins, Ryan Wedding competed as a

00:58snowboarder for Teen Canada in the 2002 Olympics. The athlete, now 44 years old, participated in the

01:04men's parallel giant slalom at Salt Lake City, but he didn't come close to a medal. Switzerland's

01:09Philip Schock won gold in the event, Sweden's Richard Richardson won silver, and American Chris

01:14Klug took home the bronze. As for Wedding, he finished in 24th place. He didn't make a name for

01:20himself as a snowboarding phenom in the Olympic scene, but Wedding would soon become known to

01:24authorities for more nefarious activities, starting in 2006, when he and another snowboarder were linked

01:30to a house in British Columbia, in which investigators seized 6,800 marijuana plants, according to Fox News.

01:37There were no charges in that case, but three years later, Wedding was arrested in the U.S. when he

01:41allegedly tried to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine in California and went to prison for four years.

01:47Upon his release, he was once again tied to more drug charges before he went on the lam to avoid

01:52being captured by authorities. According to the outlet, it's believed he was working under the

01:56protection of the infamous Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, and that he has trafficked over $1 billion

02:01in cocaine, allegedly smuggling 60 metric tons of cocaine into the U.S. every year via semi-trucks

02:07crossing into Southern California from Mexico, according to Bondi.

02:11To put that in perspective, 60 metric tons is approximately 40, the weight of 40 standard

02:20cars. Imagine that. That's how much cocaine, the weight of 40 cars, he is bringing into our

02:29country a year. Wedding, who is being described as an extremely violent criminal, also goes by

02:35the names El Jefe, giant, and public enemy. And according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's

02:40Office of Foreign Assets Control, is one of the most notorious criminals and narco traffickers

02:45still evading justice. Now he's being accused of ordering the murder of a federal witness who was

02:50gunned down in a restaurant after publishing photographs of him and his wife, Bondi said during

02:54the news conference. Wedding allegedly shared the photographs of the witness who was due to

02:58testify against him in a now-deleted website called The Dirty News. The witness was shot dead in

03:04a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, according to the feds. As the DOJ charged Wedding with two

03:08additional counts of witness tampering and intimidation, money laundering and drug trafficking,

03:13the Department of State is offering up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest

03:18and or conviction.

03:20I want to say this to Mr. Wedding and to the other defendants involved in his drug trafficking

03:25organization. Your days are numbered. Our agents and prosecutors will relentlessly pursue you

03:32and anyone who assists you and bring you to justice, not just anywhere. We're going to bring you to

03:38justice in the United States of America.