BREAKING: Olympic 'Drug Kingpin' Ryan Wedding Captured

Breaking news. Ryan Wedding, the former. Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug. kingpin, the man on the FBI's most. wanted list, has reportedly been. captured. [music]. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [music]. Breaking news on a story that we've been. covering here on Sidebar. It is now. being reported that 44year-old former. Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned. alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has. been arrested. And this is after being.

added to the FBI's top 10 most wanted. list of fugitives back in March of 2025. There was a $15 million reward for. information leading to his capture or. prosecution. Now, he has been accused of. running a vicious and violent and. complex drug trafficking operation that. reportedly resulted in the importation. of 60 metric tons of cocaine into the. United States a year. You know, according to the FBI, he quote routinely. shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.

from Colombia through Mexico and. Southern California to Canada and other. locations in the United States. Now, I. should be clear about something. At the. time of this recording, details are a. bit scarce about the circumstances. leading to his arrest, leading to his. capture. But, however, however, we know. that he has already been facing charges. He was indicted on federal murder, witness tampering, intimidation, money. laundering, drug trafficking charges. He. is accused of orchestrating the shooting.

of a witness in a restaurant. Namely, that he placed a bounty on the witness's. head, quote, in the erroneous belief. that the victim's death would result in. the dismissal of criminal charges. against him and his international drug. trafficking ring. The man referred to by. reported aliases as Elfe, giant, public. enemy, James Conrad King, Jesse King. This guy was the subject of federal. authorities interest for a while. FBI. director Cash Patel previously said of. wedding, quote, "You do not get to be a.

drug kingpin and evade the law." Make no. mistake about it, Ryan Wedding is a. modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He's a modern iteration of El Chapo. Guzman. He will not evade justice. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, quote, he controls one of the most prolific and. violent drug trafficking organizations. in this world. He is currently the. largest distributor of cocaine in. Canada. And it should also be noted that. multiple people have also been indicted. in connection with Weddings's alleged.

operation here. Ag Bondi claiming that. more than 35 people have been indicted, that weapons, over $3 million in. cryptocurrency, over $13 million in. assets have all been seized. And it was. just last month when FBI officials. confirmed that Mexican authorities. seized $40 million in motorcycles. believed to be owned by the former. Olympian. And by the way, talking former. Olympian, I mean, it's pretty. remarkable. If all the allegations are. true, this is a 180 for the man who.

competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics out. in Utah. As Akquil Davis, assistant. director of the FBI's LA field office. previously said, Wedding went from. shredding powder on the slopes at the. Olympics to distributing powder cocaine. on the streets of US cities and in his. native Canada. And we learned more. details about Ryan Weddings's capture. today in a press conference that was. held by authorities. >> My name is Cash Mattel. the director of. the FBI. Today, we are here because of. President Trump's incredible leadership. and commitment to supporting law.

enforcement across the country and. around the world. We are here today to. announce another record historic. achievement because of law enforcement. partnerships across America and across. the globe. Come together, come together. to fight crime in all corners of the. earth. Today, we are announcing a. capture of another FBI's most wanted top. 10 fugitive, Ryan Wedding. That makes. six top 10 FBI captures in one year. alone. To put that in perspective,

that's two more than the entirety of the. prior administration. And none of this. would be possible without the tremendous. leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi. and the Department of Justice and our. partners and prosecutors at the United. States Attorney's Office here in LA and. our Los Angeles field office. Here. you'll see many of our brave partners. including the commissioner of the RCMP, the chief of police and LAPD, our LA. field office, ADC, along with our. partners from DEA and CBP and more. This. is what a united front looks like. And.

just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan. Wedding is. He went from an Olympic. snowboarder to the largest narot. trafficker in modern times. He is a. modern-day El Chapo. He is a modern-day. Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could. evade justice. But these brave men and. women put together a prosecution. package, put together investigative. package, put together an operation. strategy, and here we are today bringing. him to justice for trafficking hundreds. of kilos of cocaine and also for the. murder of innocent civilians. This.

individual and his organization and the. Sinaloa cartel poured narcotics into the. streets of North America and killed too. many of our youth and corrupted too many. of our citizens. And that ends today. I. also want to have a tremendous shout out. to the government of Mexico. President. Shinbomb, Secretary Harouch, and the. military and law enforcement officers in. Mexico worked handin glove with our. teams on the ground there to apprehend. last night in Mexico City, Ryan Wedding. I was privileged to be there on a.

previously planned trip and this was a. great operation that came together. through inter agency success because no. one behind me and to the side of me. cares about credit. They care about. putting away the bad guys and. safeguarding our communities. That is. the leadership that President Trump has. brought to the presidency. That is the. support that he has brought to law. enforcement from coast to coast. And I. just can't say how thankful I am to be a. small part of this and lead the FBI. These men and women do the hard work. But when you go after a guy like Ryan.

Wedding, it takes a united front. And. that's what you're seeing here. You're. seeing global partnerships from coast to. coast. I want to give a special shout. out. to um our ambassador in Mexico, Ambassador Ron Johnson quarterbacked. this effort for us from Mexico for a. year plus. As soon as he got to post at. our new embassy compound there, he made. this a priority and he came through. This is what leadership looks like. And. this is a historic 2025 year the FBI is.

having. To put it in perspective, the. FBI has had 67,000 arrests this year. alone. That is a 200% increase. The FBI. has captured six of the top 10 most. fugitives on our board. The FBI has also. seized enough fentinyl to kill 150. million Americans, a 31% increase. The. FBI has arrested 35% more espionage. corrupt actors from China, Russia, the. DPRK, and Iran. The FBI has found and. identified 6,000 children that were.

missing. That is up 22%. All of these. historic record-breaking numbers lead to. another historic record-breaking number. brought to you by President Trump's. leadership. That is a 20% decline in the. murder rate in the United States of. America. That is an all-time record for. the modern era. Our communities are. safeguarded by these men and women. We. are thankful to be partnered with the. Department of Justice and the relentless. efforts to safeguard our communities by. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy. Attorney General Todd Blanch. But we're.

not done today. We're going to get back. on the plane and we've captured and. apprehended another top 10 fugitive. while we were in Mexico and we're going. to head east and hand him over to local. law enforcement authorities. I also want. to give a huge shout out to state and. local law enforcement. This work is not. possible at all without them on the. front lines every single day. They are. the greatest partners we could ever. have. And thank God we have a president. who backs the blue and that is what. results look like. Personally for me at. the FBI, I want to thank our hostage.

rescue team. I want to thank our special. forces, excuse me, our special flight. operations unit. I want to thank our. headquarters component, our LA field. office. This was a enterprisewide. success. The moving pieces to pull this. off and apprehend one of the world's. most wanted criminals and bring them to. justice in the United States of America. can only be done when you have. leadership from the top with President. Trump, the attorney general, and all. these great leaders here. I'm going to. turn it over to the assistant director. in charge of the Los Angeles field.

office, Akquil Davis, for some more. comments on the case itself and the. investigation. >> Good morning. My name is Akquille Davis. I'm the assistant director in charge of. the FBI's Los Angeles field office. We. told you in November we would find Mr. wedding and today has that day has. arrived. The long arm of the law extends. beyond our borders. This marks the 500th.

capture of an FBI top 10 fugitive since. its inception 75 years ago. I want to. congratulate the devoted team effort. that led to this capture. Today is a. great day for the FBI and for our. partners here today. Specifically, our. partners at the RCMP, the LAPD, and the. DEA, and so many other agencies at every. level. But it's also good day for the. victims of this case. Ryan Wedding.

tormented several people and several. families that will never be the same. But today, they get the justice that. they sought. Investigators worked tirelessly for well. over a year to find Mr. Wedding where he. will face federal prosecution. As you know, Mr. Wedding and others are. charged for their roles in a. transnational organized crime network. shipping massive amounts of cocaine, approximately 60 metric tons through.

Southern California on its way to. Canada. Mr. Wedding is also wanted for. orchestrating multiple murders of. victims and government witnesses. In addition to the massive manhunt that. went into apprehending Mr. Wetting, we. worked with State Department to offer. rewards and the office the Treasury's. Office of Foreign Asset Control which. imposed crushing sanctions in this case. This case is also being worked under the. opices of the Homeland Security Task.

Force here in Los Angeles. I'd like to provide a few details to. illustrate the sheer work that has gone. into this case. We've arrested 36 people for their role. in this organization. Again, we've. worked with our Canadian partners, our. Mexican partners, our partners in. Colombia and the Dominican Republic. The. Treasury Department has sanctioned 19. people including Ryan Wedding himself. We've seen mountain of drugs, cash,

weapons. We seized a Mercedes-Benz. estimated over $15 million. We seized. dozens of motorcycles worth. approximately $40 million and other. valuable artwork and jewelry. Ryan wedding will be held in custody. over the weekend and is anticipated to. have his initial appearance on Monday. morning. While we're happy about this victory, we. have a lot of work ahead of us to. prosecute this case and continue our. investigation.

I want to emphasize we are still seeking. multiple individuals wanted for their. roles in this organization. The State Department is still offering a. $2 million reward for information. leading to additional arrests. I ask. anyone with information to contact us at. 424494614. The number can be called. internationally, domestically via. WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram. I also would like to thank lastly the. Ontario International Airport for making.

this possible, securing the security of. the scene and allowing us to plan this. in such a way. Thank you. And I'd now. like to turn it over to Chief McDonald. of the Los Angeles Police Department. Uh thank you, Akquil, and thank you all. for being here today. The Los Angeles. Police Department is proud to stand with. our federal, international, and local. partners as we announce the arrest of. Ryan James Wedding. This has been a.

coordinated intelligence-driven. investigation into Weddings's global. drug trafficking organization, which. used Los Angeles as its primary point of. distribution. Our collective efforts led. to the seizure of more than 2300 kg of. cocaine, 44 kg of methamphetamine, 44 kg of fentinel, eight firearms, and. over $55 million in illicit assets. The. this outcome reflects the tireless and.

seamless collaboration of the FBI, the. LAPD, the DEA, and we're joined by Brian. Clark here, the Royal Canadian Mounted. Police, and the US Customs and Border. Protection. Together, we have disrupted. a major narcotics pipeline impacting Los. Angeles, the United States, and Canada. This is a significant blow to a criminal. network that has endangered communities. across borders. I want to personally.

thank the dedicated men and women from. every agency represented here. For my. own agency, the work of Gang and. Narcotics Division, particularly their. relentless commitment over the past two. years has made this operation possible. Because of their work, Los Angeles is. safer and those responsible are being. held accountable. We appreciate our. media partners for showing up today on. such short notice. Thank you for that. It's now my pleasure to be able to. introduce to you the commissioner of the.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Mike. Duham. Thank you. >> Thanks, Mike. >> Good morning, everyone. I would like to. start off by thanking Director Patel for. inviting me here on this uh on this. special occasion. It goes without saying. that no single agency or nation can. combat transnational organized crime. alone. The arrest of Ryan wedding is a. result of strong trusted partnership. I want to thank the men and women from.

the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mount of. Police, the US Department of Justice, Los Angeles Police Force, and all the US. and Canadian law enforcement that took. part in this. They spent countless of hours and many. sacrifices to lead us to where we're at. here today. And without their results, we can finally say that our communities, our countries are much safer with the. arrest of Ryan Wedding. Thank you very. much. >> Thanks. Thanks. We'll take a few questions.

>> Without getting into operational. sensitivities, Ryan Wedding was. apprehended last night in Mexico City. and to safeguard the integrity of the. ongoing investigation. We will not go. into that. But I think it goes without. saying to go down to Mexico to find a. guy who's been on the lamb for multiple. years for some of the most egregious. crimes on planet Earth takes an inter. agencywide effort led out by President. Trump, our DOJ, and our partners in. Mexico and very grateful for that. partnership.

>> Did you hear that? Sorry. Go ahead. >> Who was the second person? >> Un unrelated to Mr. Wedding's. apprehension. An individual by the name. of Mr. Castillo, another top 10 fugitive. on the FBI's most wanted list, was. apprehended also in Mexico last week. We. are going to be transporting him east. right after we depart here today.

>> Mr. As as as the gentleman stated, Mr. Wedding is in custody already. He's not. on this. >> He was transported off the plane. >> The indictment stems from the Los. Angeles US Attorney's Office. So, the. investigators, the police will uh handle. that appropriately in that jurisdiction. This arrest was a success of inter.

agency law enforcement putting itself to. the max every single day relentlessly. We will not comment on anyone regarding. the rewards. >> We'll take one more question. >> Ontario, sir. >> Sorry, I can't hear you. to Ontario. >> Well, we came to Ontario because the. weather's pretty nice here, but we also. have to maximize operational security. We make these decisions jointly with our. partners who run these airports. We make.

these decisions jointly with the local. police force and our inter agency. officers. There are trigger points and. ear marks that we have to meet to safely. transport an individual of the level and. caliber of Ryan Wedding. And so that. collective decision was made to ensure. the security of both the transportation. and the federal transfer of custody that. the FBI executed and also to ensure the. safety of his confinement and ultimate. prosecution. Thank you everybody. Have a. great day. Now to give you a sense of. who we're talking about, okay, how.

monumental this is. This was our prior. coverage on Ryan Wedding. You may know. his face from Olympic glory, but now. Ryan Wedding, he is the man that the FBI. calls a modernday Pablo Escobar. According to a superseding indictment. that was unsealed in the Central. District of California, the former. Canadian snowboarder who once competed. for his country is now accused of. running a billiondoll international drug. empire. US authorities claim that he is.

the largest distributor of cocaine in. Canada, flooding the US with enough. narcotics each year to equal the weight. of 40 cars. Now, this story, as laid out. by the Department of Justice, it gets. even more sinister. After being. indicted, Wedding is now accused of. orchestrating the murder of a federal. witness who was set to testify against. him. The FBI claims that this witness. was gunned down in a restaurant in. Colombia. The State Department has. raised the reward for his capture to a. staggering $15 million, calling him one.

of the world's most dangerous fugitives. So, the question becomes, if these. allegations are true, how did an. Olympian become an alleged drug lord? What does his shocking indictment reveal. about the brutal nature, the reach of. this alleged criminal enterprise? So, I. want to connect the dots here. Try to. understand this because it's shocking to. say the least. how a promising athlete. became one of the world's most wanted. men. It all starts back in 2002 in Salt. Lake City. Okay, you have a young.

Canadian snowboarder named Ryan Wedding. He was just he was just 20 years old and. he competed for his country in the. parallel giant slalom. Now, he didn't. medal. He finished 24th, but he was an. Olympian. And after his athletic career. ends, this is when things allegedly take. a dark turn. Because by 2008, court. records show that he was arrested in. California for trying to buy cocaine. from a US government agent in a sting. operation. He's convicted in 2010, serves about 3 years in US prison. And.

once he's released and back in Canada, authorities claim that the scale of his. operations explode. According to. reporting from CBC, in 2015, the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, charge him in Montreal as part of a. massive cocaine trafficking ring. But. this is the critical moment, okay? He. apparently doesn't stick around to face. the music. No. Prosecutors believe that. he flees to Mexico. And for the last. decade, he has been on the run, according to them. He is accused of.

building his empire from afar. And I got. to tell you what an empire this. reportedly became. From his base in. Mexico, authorities alleged that Wedding. began overseeing a transnational machine. with a second in command named Andrew. Clark. He is accused of working directly. with the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most. powerful and violent criminal. organizations in the world. The product. was cocaine sourced from labs in. Colombia. The route was through Mexico. across the US border and into Southern. California, Los Angeles, and the.

surrounding counties. They became. allegedly his logistics hub where the. drugs were stored before being shipped. north by a Canada based transportation. network using longhaul semitrs. This is. allegedly a real organization, a complex. organization. And the numbers I I got to. say are almost incomprehensible. Federal. prosecutors claim that his organization. was responsible for importing 60 metric. tons of cocaine into the US every single. year. And to put that into perspective,

that is roughly the weight of 40. standard cars. But according to. authorities, moving that much product, it requires absolute control. And that. is where the alleged violence comes in. The indictment lays out a pattern of. brutal killings that were used to settle. scores and enforce discipline. That's. their narrative. That's what the. prosecution is going to allege if this. goes to trial. And in one instance, he. is accused of ordering a hit on a. Canadian trucking dispatcher that he.

believed stole a 300 kg shipment from. him. The assassins allegedly broke into. the wrong house in Ontario in November. of 2023, killing two innocent people, seriously injuring a third, mistakenly. believing they were this dispatcher's. family. And the violence didn't stop. there. He's also accused of ordering. another murder in May of 2024 over a. drug debt, plus an April 1st, 2024. murder in Ontario carried out by Clark. and an associate named Malik Cunningham. This is another allegation. The case.

that put wedding on the FBI's 10 most. wanted list in March of 2025 was already. massive. But what happened next is what. elevated this from a drug case to. something out of a thriller. Okay? because after his indictment was. concealed, a federal witness was set to. testify against him. And in January of. 2025, that witness was located at a. restaurant in Medí, Colombia. A gunman. apparently walked in and shot him five.

times in the head. US authorities say it. was Ryan Wedding who ordered that hit, placing a $5 million bounty on the. witness's head with Chapman paying to. have a photo of the man posted online on. a website to help track him down. And. this operation was sophisticated. They. apparently used an $18,500. phone interception tool to track the. witness and had a photographer document. the corpse as proof. So that act led to. this week's dramatic escalation. The.

reward for Wed's capture was raised to. $15 million. And in Operation Giant. Slalom, 10 of his alleged associates. were arrested in a coordinated. international takedown with 18. additional defendants being named. And. it's a group that included a Canadian. lawyer, a regatone musician, the. operator of that very website that I. mentioned before. Plus, you have some. key alleged money launderers like. professional poker player Roland. Solowski, Bianca Castillo Madrid, and a.

new sprawling indictment was unsealed. charging Wedding directly with this. witness's murder. Now, the financial. scale is staggering because the. indictment alleges that Wedding moved. over $27 million through a Tether. cryptocurrency wallet using a. sophisticated laundering system to hide. again what is assumed to be billions of. dollars worth of profits. So now the. manhunt is more intense than ever and. the former Olympian known on the street. as Giant and Elfe is believed to be.

hiding in Mexico protected by the very. cartel that he works with. That's the. allegation. He is 6'3. Giant indeed. And the FBI believes that. his size and his notoriety make him hard. to hide. But so far, this is a guy who's. managed to evade capture for 10 years, proving just how powerful and elusive. that if these allegations are true, this. alleged kingpin has become. So, how does. an operation of this scale and brutality.

actually work? What are the real legal. challenges in bringing a fugitive of. this magnitude to justice? If these. allegations are true, how do they handle. a case like this? Are they going to. catch wedding? I mean, that's a big. question. So to break all this down, I. want to bring in criminal defense. attorney and former felony prosecutor. Eric Fattis. Eric, thank you so much for. coming on. I just got to say as I laid. all this out, I'm still in shock of. these allegations. I've I mean, I've. heard of drug operations before. I've. heard of cartels. I've never heard of a.

civilian, right? Somebody who was a. former Olympian accused of doing. something like this. I mean, you look at. this alleged progression, this timeline. This is I mean just your reaction to. something like this. >> Oh gosh. I mean um you know very. unexpected. A lot of people this is the. last person they thought would be. involved in in such serious allegations. You know according to reports cash Patel. the director of FBI as characterizing uh.

Ryan wedding as a modern-day Chapo. Guzzman, a modernday Pablo Escobar. And. and and that's just such a far cry from. how the public knew him as this former. Olympian snowboard. A and you my. understanding is you have prosecuted. highlevel drug traffickers uh in the. past. When you hear about the operation. um there is an element of such. complexity. There are these moving. parts. This was a real organization. Were you surprised that if the. allegations are true that he has been.

able to be operating in this space for. so long and by the way currently hasn't. been captured? Well, Jesse, without a. doubt, if the allegations are true, this. is a complex, sophisticated, multinational. uh drug trafficking ring a at which Ryan. Wedding was at the helm. Um, and you're. right, you know, there are so many. witnesses. You look at the indictment. itself. There are so many individuals. listed there. Um, all of these witnesses. supplies different alleged incidents um.

that span uh multiple countries here. Uh. and so um it's going to be a massive. undertaking by the federal government to. try to bring these folks to justice. Uh. assuming that these allegations are. true. H. >> how do they prosecute a case like this. when you're talking about multiple. people indicted? All different parts of. this alleged operation. This feels like. again a massive undertaking. What is the. goal of an indictment like this? How do. prosecutors structure it? Are they going. to be trying to work out deals to try to.

get uh Ryan Wedding to maybe get some. information about his whereabouts? Um, how does this work? >> Right, Jesse? So, there um I'm sure. during the investigative phase um there. were things like wire taps. There were. things like confidential informants um. and and things of that sort. And then. when it comes to the prosecution, uh it. is so multi-layered. There are so many. moving pieces. You have to uh uh not. only apprehend these folks and it's. going to be difficult to find them. They're hiding. They're probably using. aliases. They might be using false.

appearances even. Uh but but you have to. get your ducks in a row. have to line up. your witnesses, get them under subpoena. I'm sure they are going to arrest some. of the lower level folks, try to turn. them into cooperating witnesses for the. government against Ryan Wedding. Um, but. but getting all of those things together. and having it happen in America is going. to be difficult considering that that. all of these folks are sort of spanned. out across multiple nations, Canada, America, uh, uh, Mexico, and others. >> What did you make of the federal murder. charge? Right. because it's not just.

about drug trafficking, it's about. alleged violence that he's accused of. ordering assassinations. Uh the. assassination of that federal witness. Um is that I would imagine that's common. to see that level of violence if you're. talking about a drug operation. Um. again, still shocking to take the. allegations as true that a former. Olympian at is at the head of it. But. when you talk about the payment. structure, the casing of the area, the. photographs, I mean, the idea of posting.

on this Canadian website, you know, the. dirty news to post pictures of the. witness to track him down, using. technology to track the witness down. That's a that's brazen in a level of. sophistication, but it leads into this. federal murder charge, right? >> Oh, exactly. And you know, um, it's. common for criminal organizations to. want to avoid prosecution and conviction. by eliminating witnesses who might bring. evidence against them in those cases.

That that's one of the allegations here. And and um, you know, alarmingly, that. might not be the last uh uh alleged. instance of witness intimidation or even. killing of a witness as um the uh. players in this whole scheme become more. public. uh and and and as uh the the. cartels learn of who is sort of. informing against them, we could see. even more violence. On top of that, like. you mentioned, there are financial. crimes that are alleged uh even. involving cryptocurrency. There's going. to be a document trail. Uh and so um you.

know, so many different types of alleged. crimes that go into this larger. conspiracy case. >> He's been a fugitive uh since 2015. Um, and for nearly a decade, he's evaded. capture, reportedly protected by the. Sinaloa cartel. What makes that. difficult? What makes that, how is that. complicated uh to try to catch him to. try to, you know, I even if there's is. it a failure of international. cooperation? Is there protections? Are.

there trade? You know, there's specific. things that they have to do. Um because. I I I think that makes it very very. difficult even with the federal. government raising the reward to $15. million for information leading to his. capture. This is still going to be a. massive undertaking, right? >> Yes. And I mean um to a lot of these. folks who might have knowledge, you. know, 15 million's a ton of money, but. that's not necessarily worth their life. You know, I think they have a very real. fear that if they, you know, let's say. they see Ryan um down in Mexico.

somewhere, uh they're going to be. disincined to go to the government, to. go to authorities, certainly go to the. American government and say, "Oh, yeah, hey, he's right here." Uh because, you. know, in a week from that from that. time, they could have put themselves in. grave peril. Uh and so, um just locating. him is going to be difficult. And then. if he's out of the country, there's an. extradition process. if he makes to a. country like Vietnam, uh they don't. extradite to America. And so my my.

apprehension is that he is probably uh. making travel plans as we speak if he. has not affffectuated those already. >> And I'm going to go more into the um the. indictment and get your perspective on. different aspects of it. But let's say. he is captured and let's say he does go. to trial on a plethora of different. charges here. What is a realistic legal. outcome for him? because I am curious. what is a possible defense that he could. mount in other federal drug trafficking. cases where uh drug kingpins or alleged.

drug kingpins were brought to trial. What are some of the defenses that you. see and what is a realistic legal. outcome um based on this? >> You know, if these allegations are. proven at trial, he's looking at decades. and decades in prison, probably his. entire life. Uh but that's that's not. going to be as easy as as some folks. might think. You know, um within these. larger criminal organizations, there are. so many layers. There are so many levels. of of of of authority. And so, you know, they're saying that Ryan went um uh.

ordered a hit on somebody. Well, how do. you prove that? Do you have text. messages? He probably didn't put it in. an email. And so, um you've got to tie. it to him. uh and and that's going to be. difficult when there are actual other. people carrying out uh his his alleged. bidding. And so um you know, he's going. to try to remove himself from that. organization and say, "Hey, look, this. was all other folks doing this kind of. stuff. I kind of got caught in the. crosshairs." And um and on top of that, he even might try to strike a deal with. the government. You never know.

>> And let me ask you this. Oh, you mean. Oh, you mean him being a witness against. other members of a cartel? Sure. Yeah. I mean, you look at um the Chapo. Guzman case, my understanding is that. there was a family member, might have. been his son or something, who was. cooperating at one point with the. government. Uh and so it wouldn't be. unheard of even for highlevel folks in. such a sophisticated criminal. organization uh to explore that option. >> If these allegations are true, is one of. the things that kept him I I don't know.

if it's under the radar or or or able to. create an organization like this. again. if these allegations are true because. he's not somebody who was born, you. know, in one in a foreign country that. was, you know, part of a family, part of. a cartel from the from the beginning. that he has such a he was a civilian. Is. that one of the things that maybe helped. him again if these allegations are true. to to be able to pull off something like. this? Well, gosh, I mean, he's not the. typical person that immediately comes to.

mind when you think of some allegedly. murderous uh large drug cartel. He's, you know, he's the former Olympian and. um and so uh perhaps there was sort of. less eyes on him as this alleged. criminal enterprise grew and and. continued its conduct and he was able to. sort of fly under the radar and and. avoid um detection. you know, he's not. uh at least from from the outset wasn't. associating with with folks who are, you. know, career criminals and that kind of. thing. It seems like there was some kind.

of turning point and I think the public. is really looking at how uh things. evolved into the place that we're at. presently. >> Yeah. The sheer scale of these. allegations, it demanded a response from. the very top of American law. enforcement. And that is why we saw this. response on November 19th at a press. conference from the US Department of. Justice. You had Attorney General Pam. Bondi who laid out the charges, painted. a picture of a criminal operation that. she called quote one of the most. prolific and violent in the world. Take. a look.

>> Today, the Justice Department is proud. to announce new developments in our. ongoing investigation into Ryan James. Wedding. Wedding is the former Olympian from. Canada, who is now the leader of a. transnational criminal enterprise. He's currently on the FBI's and has been. top 10 most wanted list. He controls one. of the most prolific and violent drug.

trafficking organizations in this world. He is currently the largest distributor. of cocaine in Canada. Wedding collaborates closely with the. Sinaloa cartel, a foreign terrorist. organization to flood not only American. but also Canadian communities with. cocaine coming from Colombia. His. organization is responsible for. importing approximately.

60 metric tons of cocaine a year into. Los Angeles via semitrs from Mexico. To. put that in perspective, 60 metric tons. is approximately 40 the weight of 40. standard cars. Imagine that. That's how much cocaine. the weight of 40 cars he is bringing. into our country a year.

In the course of the investigation, more. than 35 individuals have been indicted. Over 2,000 kilos and numerous weapons. have been seized. Approximately $3.2. million in cryptocurrency has been. recovered. [snorts] and over 13 million. in physical assets has been confiscated. Wedding is also accused of murdering a. federal witness after he was indicted in.

2024. He used a Canadian website called the. Dirty News to post photographs of the. witness and his wife in order to locate. him, which ultimately succeeded. The witness was gunned down in a. restaurant in Medí before he could. testify against wedding. >> And then you had FBI director Cash Patel. who stepped to the podium and he made a. stunning comparison. Okay, we talked.

about this before putting Ryan Wedding. in a category with the most notorious. drug lords in history. Make no mistake. about it, Ryan Wedding is a modern day. iteration of Pablo Escobar. He's a. modern-day iteration of El Chapo Guzman. This Justice Department and this FBI. will work with our Canadian counterparts. and the government officials across the. world to bring him to justice. He is. responsible for engineering a narot. trafficking and naroterrorism program. that we have not seen in a long time. He.

will not evade justice. We are here. today because this Department of Justice. behind attorney general's brilliant. leadership and the deputy attorney. general have made it clear to the. American people with the indictments. they have brought that law enforcement. and agencies like this FBI will lead the. effort to go out there and make sure. these animals are brought to justice and. that's exactly what we will do. And. finally, the official from the US. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, where. the case is going to be prosecuted, sent.

a direct message to Wedding and his. entire organization. Your days are. numbered. Our agents and prosecutors. will relentlessly pursue you and anyone. who assists you uh and bring you to. justice. Not just anywhere. We're going. to bring you to justice in the United. States of America. And I want to just. add a couple things here. Mr. wedding is. the most prolific cocaine trafficker in. Canada. But he used Southern California, my district, as a hub for his logistics.

to move the cocaine. The reason he. selected California is because of. California's weak laws on crime. They. knew if they were popped with cocaine in. California, they probably wouldn't get. much of a sentence. But they made one. big miscalculation. They didn't think. about us, the US Department of Justice, Attorney General Bondi, and what this. administration would do to individuals. like him who use the United States to. traffic their drugs. And uh he will be. brought to justice. I'm confident of. that, >> Eric, to hear these statements, what.

stands out to you? Clearly, it has been. an objective of the Trump administration. uh to go after drug trafficking, certainly to go after uh international. drug trafficking when the source is. outside of of our country. You know, you. heard from the um uh federal prosecutor. a comment about California's drug laws. So, there are some political undertones. here uh that I think are uh motivating. this prosecution. But um but that being. said, uh you know, they're allowed to go.

after drug traffickers. That that's. their job. And so um it sounds like they. are going to do so with zeal and and. fervor. And um this is going to be. something that continues to escalate. within the legal system and and I'll be. interested to see how it plays out. >> Yeah. A and talk to me real quick. because before we get into the. indictment, you had the US attorney said. that they're going to bring him to. justice in the United States, but if. he's being protected abroad, how does a. capture like this work exactly? Is it a.

negotiated surrender? Is it a raid? Do. the foreign authorities get involved? What exactly are we looking at here? >> You know, I don't anticipate uh Ryan. Wedding, you know, waving the white flag. and saying, "Hey, I'm over here. Come. get me." I I think what what uh the. federal government's going to have to do. is they're going to have to work. handinhand with their international. counterparts in in law enforcement uh to. try and identify where he is and then. effectuate an apprehension even if they. locate him. Um he like you said he is.

likely going to be protected by the. communities out there and and you know. in America we think of the FBI going in. and doing a raid in some uh trap house. or whatever. Uh but but in other. countries in Mexico, it's it's not that. smooth. It's not that easy and and it. could be exponentially dangerous uh to. to try and apprehend him and bring him. to this country for prosecution. >> And and real quick before I get into the. indictment, what is the value of. indicting him before arresting him?

>> You know, I I think a number of things. One is that uh obviously there are. pending charges. It has gone public and. and you know, we're doing this show. about it. So, it's increasing public. awareness uh and people are going to. start to see these things and then. perhaps notice him. So, I think it's. going to help potentially in the. apprehension. It also allows them to. apprehend other uh alleged. co-conspirators and begin working on. their cases, begin trying to flip them. as witnesses while they're still trying. to find wedding. Uh so so once they do.

get him, if they do, uh they're going to. already be in a good position, well. postured to move forward with the. prosecution at that juncture. >> I want to move into the actual. indictment with you. So this is a. massive document, but there are a few. details that really uh illustrate the. alleged scope and brutality of this. enterprise. The indictment again details. that one alleged murder order from. November of 2023. It states that Wedding. and his second in command quote issued. an order to kill a TP driver. co-conspirator CC1 whom they believe.

stole 300 kg of cocaine from them. And. the document then describes what was. essentially the tragic result because on. November 20th, 2023, members of that. conspiracy broke into a rental property. and quote, "shot and killed victims B. and C and shot and wounded victim D, mistakenly believing they were CC1's. family members." Eric, I mean, that's. interesting, right? Because how does. charging wedding for a murder where he.

allegedly targeted the wrong people, how. does that impact the case per se when. you're trying to prove something like. this? >> Sure. So, there's a concept in the law. called uh Jesse called transferred. intent, which essentially means if if. you intended to kill person A and you um. uh were ordered a mistaken belief and. you you killed person B, that doesn't of. course somehow absolve you from from. murder. Um, and so the fact that that. the uh shooters allegedly got it wrong,

doesn't somehow insulate any of the. co-conspirators, including Wedding. Uh, but that being said, they're going to. have to prove that these orders came. from Wedding and that this wasn't just. some other sort of uh, you know, intracartel dispute or intercartel. dispute uh, that that resulted in. bloodshed, which we see all of the time. Uh, tying it to to wedding is going to. be difficult. And, you know, do they. have texts? Do they have emails? Probably not. And now I want to talk. about the witness murder which is the. centerpiece of this indictment, this new. indictment. So the document is. incredibly specific. It alleges that.

after his 2024 indictment, Weddings's. own lawyer allegedly advised him, and. I'm quoting here, if Victor A was. killed, the charges against them and. related extradition proceedings would. necessarily be dismissed. Okay, now. Eric, to get that advice from anybody, but allegedly from the lawyer, I mean, my gosh, what do you make of that? >> Uh, you know, um, there are ethical. rules that prohibit attorneys in America.

from, um, advising a client to engage in. criminal wrongdoing. Now, it sounds like. the attorney sort of tried to choose. their words carefully and said, you. know, hypothetically if this person was. killed. Uh but I think we can all sort. of read through the lines there. And in. fact, that lawyer uh styled in some. reports as the cocaine lawyer uh is. referenced in the indictment. Uh and um. you know, as an attorney, you you cannot. be materially involved in some kind of.

way, even if that's just giving legal. advice to criminals on how to commit. crimes. Can't do it. >> Yeah. And then the indictment describes. the chilling, methodical hunt for this. witness. It claims that Wedding placed a. bounty and enlisted help, including from. this Canadian website, and it alleges. that a co-conspirator paid the site's. operator, quote, approximately 10,000. Canadian dollars, not to post about. defendant Wedding and Clark, and instead. to post about victim A so that. enterprise members and associates could.

locate and kill victim A. That's uh uh. very very specific here. Um your. thoughts on that element of this case? >> Yeah. Well, like you said, it's sort of. an audacious move to to do something so. public that that can be just accessed on. the internet that that might be in. reference to killing a person. Uh and. and and uh you know, it's sort of. putting a public bounty. You know, we. think about in the Old West where it's. a, you know, you see something on a.

signpost and it's a a piece of paper. saying, you know, wanted dead or alive. for somebody. This is essentially that. in the criminal context in in in uh the. 2025. And so, um, you know, certainly it. it might show intent. It might show a. conscious objective on behalf of the. person initiating all this. And. certainly the person who paid for it was. paying for it for a reason. And now we. have this outcome. A and the finally the. indictment describes this assassination. in stark in very stark clinical detail.

because on January 31st 2025 in Medían. it states quote LNU2 entered the. restaurant approached the table where. victim A was eating and shot victim A. approximately five times in the head. killing victim A. It then alleges that. immediately after the murder, Wedding. himself sent a photograph of the. victim's corpse to his associate. Now, Eric, again, if we're talking about a. potential defense here and trying every. which way to make sure that he is not.

connected to that, this is where it. becomes very specific and this is where. you can see federal authorities maybe. are working with local law enforcement. to get some of those details. But this. could be a challenge for him, right? this could be a challenge for him to. separate himself from something like. this. >> Uh, oh my gosh, why have like a picture. of a dead body on your phone and and. sending that to people, especially when. the allegation is that you were directly. tied to that and ordered that? Uh, it it.

is uh and it's kind of a a bit of an. amateur-ish misstep, which seems um. curious considering how sophisticated. the organization appeared to be. otherwise. Uh and so it's sort of you. know in our modern era these digital. devices uh can be a trove of evidence. and and and can be deeply incriminating. and and certainly that allegation if. true is. >> talk to me realistically before we wrap. things up. What would a trial really. look like? Is everybody tried together?

Is it multiple trials? I mean what. exactly would we be looking at? >> Yeah. You know um I think the the. federal government and the courts have. some options here. uh it wouldn't be. unusual to sever some of the cases, to. sever some of the trials. Uh you know, we're not going to have a trial where. there's dozens of defendants and it's. going to take, you know, a year or two. years. Typically, that's not how it. works. Uh what'll usually happen is a. lot of those defendants will either. plead guilty or not be found or, god.

forbid, die or something like that. Uh. and so things will sort of get. whittleled down typically to the. leadership of the organization and then. that is when the case takes center stage. and and goes to trial. Can still involve. multiple defendants, but it's it's not. going to be everybody who's referenced. within that indictment. Um so it's sort. of going to crescendo to a head as these. legal proceedings progress through the. courts. >> Eric Fattis, my gosh, thank you so much. for coming on. Really, really appreciate. it. What a case. Great to be with you.

>> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe [music] on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. [music] I'm Jesse. Weber. I'll speak to you next time. [music].