Ryan Wedding
Canadian snowboarder and drug trafficker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ryan James Wedding (born 14 September 1981) is a Canadian drug trafficker and former Olympic snowboarder.[1] He competed in the men's parallel giant slalom event at the 2002 Winter Olympics, placing 24th in the event.[2] On 6 March 2025, Wedding was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.[3]
| Ryan Wedding | |
|---|---|
.webp) Wedding in 2024 | |
| FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive | |
| Charges |
|
| Reward | US$10,000,000 |
| Alias | James Conrad King, Jesse King, "Giant", "Public Enemy", "El Jefe" |
| Description | |
| Born | 14 September 1981 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Weight | 240 lb (109 kg) |
| Occupation |
|
| Status | |
| Added | 6 March 2025 |
| Number | 535 |
| Currently a Top Ten Fugitive | |
Snowboarding
Coming from a background of ski racers, Wedding learned to snowboard at his grandparents' ski resort, Thunder Bay's Mount Baldy.[4] He started his career at the age of 12 and won a bronze medal in the Parallel Giant Slalom at the 1999 Junior World Championship and a silver medal in the 2001 Junior World Championships.[5] At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he competed for Team Canada in snowboarding men's parallel giant slalom, where he finished 24th overall.[6]
Criminal conduct
Summarize
Perspective
After the 2002 Winter Olympics, he went to Simon Fraser University, but dropped out after becoming a marijuana dealer. He expanded his operation when he joined up with Iranian and Russian cocaine smugglers.[5]
In 2006, Wedding was named in a search warrant for allegedly growing large quantities of marijuana but was not charged.[7] In 2010, he was convicted of attempting to buy cocaine from a U.S. government agent in 2008, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison.[8][9][10]
On 17 October 2024, Wedding was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with "leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians." He is charged with multiple felonies, including drug trafficking, leading a criminal organization, three counts of murder, and one attempt to commit murder. He is currently a fugitive.[11][12] He was one of sixteen people to be charged as part of operation Giant Slalom in a joint investigation by several federal agencies.[13] The murders in which Wedding is accused of having carried out were of Jagtar Sidhu, 57, his wife, Harbhajan Sidhu, 55 and Mohammed Zafar, 39. The Sidhus were killed in November 2023, while Zafar was killed in May 2024.[14] Wedding is believed to have ordered the murders alongside Andrew Clark, who has been charged with the April 2024 murder of Randy Fader, 29.[15]
According to authorities, since his release, Wedding fled to Mexico and there became a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel (Mexico's largest drug cartel), where he is known by the nicknames "El Jefe," "Giant" or "Public Enemy".[16][17] The alleged second-in-command of Wedding's trafficking ring was arrested in Mexico in October 2024.[18][19] On 6 March 2025, Wedding was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list,[3][20] replacing Alexis Flores.[3] The FBI is offering a reward of up to ten million United States dollars for his capture.[20]
Personal life
While incarcerated in 2011, Wedding married a woman from British Columbia. They have since separated and his ex-wife has remarried.[21]
In media
A television documentary series titled Snow King: From Olympian to Narco is currently in production, based on a Rolling Stone investigation. The series is a collaboration between Rolling Stone Films, London-based documentary firm Dogwoof, Toronto's Visitor Media, and Corriente del Golfo, a production company co-founded by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.[22][23]
See also
References
External links
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