Ryan Wedding was so talented that he earned a spot on Canada’s national ski team at just 15 years old.
Three decades later, the 44-year-old – whose nicknames include “El Jefe”, meaning “The Boss” and “The Giant” – has been described by the FBI as the most dangerous and prolific drug dealer since Pablo Escobar.
Wedding is accused of ordering the hit on a witness and hiring hitmen to kill rival drug dealers, earning him a spot on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. He is now holed up in Mexico under the protection of the country’s powerful Sinaloa cartel, US investigators say.
Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario to wealthy parents who owned the Mount Baldy ski resort, Wedding grew up carving the slopes of the province’s rugged northern landscapes.
By 2002, he was representing Canada at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where his dream was shattered. He finished 24th, far from the podium and the expectations that had followed him since childhood. Prosecutors later said the disappointment marked a turning point.
Ryan Wedding, 44, is charged with murder, witness tampering, money laundering and drug trafficking
Six years after Salt Lake, Wedding traveled to San Diego with two men to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine, where they met a dealer who was operating undercover with the FBI. Wedding and his companions were arrested, plunging the former Olympian into a criminal underworld that would define the next decade of his life.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of cities across the US and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, deputy director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
At his trial in 2009, his lawyer claimed he had been “conned by an experienced drug dealer and career criminal”. Wedding was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to four years in prison. Having already spent two years in custody, he apologized to his family for his “stupid and irresponsible decisions”.
“During the last 24 months I’ve spent in custody, I’ve had the opportunity to see first-hand what drugs do to people, and frankly, I’m ashamed that I’ve become part of the problem for years,” he said. “I guess I’ve lost my way.”
The wedding is hidden in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel
The remorse for the wedding seemed so authentic that the judge imposed a lighter sentence, meaning he was released with the term served in December 2011. But his remorse did not last. Within months, Wedding had established an expanding drug empire, one that would eventually bring him to the attention of the FBI.
Last Tuesday, he was charged with murder, witness tampering, money laundering and drug trafficking. His indictment describes a vast operation carried out with the help of Mexican cartels, transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico by boat and plane.
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The semi-trucks transported the drugs across the Mexican border to a hub in Southern California before they were distributed across the US and Canada.
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said the organization imported about 60 metric tons of cocaine each 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 cocaine dealer in Canada.”
The empire, the justice department says, thrived on fear. The wedding allegedly offered a million-dollar reward to a federal witness who posted photos of the man and his wife on a now-defunct Canadian website.
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The witness was killed in Medellin before he could testify. A network of Canadian hitmen was also used to kill another victim and two members of a family accused of stealing a transport.
But Wedding did not act alone, nor did he rely solely on the help of the Mexican cartel. His wife, Miryam Andrea Castilla Moreno, allegedly laundered money and “helped him commit acts of violence,” prosecutors said.
Protection also came from Edgar Aaron Vazquez Alvarado, known as “The General,” a former Mexican police officer. Deepak Balwant Paradkar, a Canadian lawyer, allegedly facilitated the bribery, murder and introduction of traffickers.
The manhunt for The Wedding continues and there is a feeling that the walls may be closing in.
Last Tuesday, 10 people, including Paradkar, were arrested.
FBI offers $15 million reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest – Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America
One of them was Rasheed Pascua Hossain, a 32-year-old man from Vancouver who went by the name “JP Morgan”.
He faces extradition to the US on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine.
According to the criminal indictment, Hossain “managed and laundered the drug proceeds of the criminal wedding enterprise.”
On Monday, a Toronto truck driver was sentenced to six years in federal prison in the US for trying to smuggle cocaine into Canada on behalf of Wedding’s alleged drug ring.
Ranjit Singh Rowal was the first Canadian resident to be convicted in connection with the FBI’s two-year investigation into Wedding and his associates.
However, Nunta, at least for now, remains at large, holed up in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.
Last week, the reward for his capture was raised to $15m (£11.5m).
But officers have warned he will stop at nothing to avoid capture, suspecting he may even undergo plastic surgery to avoid being caught and continue to run his lucrative crime empire.