The FBI has placed former Canadian Olympian and alleged drug boss Ryan James Wedding on its 10 most-wanted fugitives list and is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Wedding, a snowboarder who represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, is accused of heading a transnational drug trafficking operation that “routinely” shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to the United States and Canada via Mexico and southern California, the FBI said in a March 6 statement.
Along with cocaine trafficking conspiracy and “leading a continuing criminal enterprise” charges, he is facing charges related to several murders and attempted murders in Ontario over the past few years.
Ryan James Wedding. FBI handout photo
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” the Los Angeles FBI Field Office assistant director Akil Davis said in the statement.
“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger.”
Wedding, who is also known as “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” has been on the run since last October. It is believed the 43-year-old Thunder Bay, Ont., native is living in Mexico and may be receiving protection from the Sinaloa Cartel, officials said.
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Wedding and fellow Canadian Andrew Clark are accused of orchestrating the murders of an Indian couple in Caledon, Ont., in November of 2023. The couple was mistakenly targeted in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, police said.
The shooting in Caledon, Ont., left Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and his 55-year-old wife Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu dead and their 28-year-old daughter, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, with “life altering injuries,” police said. The Caledon murders were later connected to three residential shootings in Brampton, Ont., and a homicide in Mississauga, Ont.
Clark was arrested in Mexico last October during an operation by the Mexican navy and was among 29 alleged Mexican drug cartel members extradited to the United States last month. Clark is accused of being Wedding’s second-in-command and the link between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
Like Clark, Wedding also faces several federal charges in the United States, including conspiracy to export cocaine, continuing a criminal enterprise, murder and attempted murder in connection with a criminal enterprise, and drug crime.
FBI Special Agent Matthew Allen described Wedding as “unremitting, callous and greed-driven.”
“Today’s announcement beams an even brighter searchlight on him,” Allen said in the statement. “We ask that you help us find him.”
If convicted of the continuing criminal enterprise charged, both Wedding and Clark would be subject to a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison. The murder and attempted murder charges carry a mandatory minimum 20-year sentence and the drug trafficking charges carry mandatory minimum penalties of 10 to 15 years in prison.
