Once a Canadian Olympic snowboarder, Ryan Wedding is now accused of leading a billion-dollar cocaine trafficking network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel
The arrest of Ryan James Wedding — a former Canadian Olympic athlete and one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives — marks the end of a long international manhunt and exposes how organized crime has evolved into a global, highly sophisticated, and deeply violent enterprise.
Wedding, who represented Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was arrested this week after voluntarily surrendering at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, authorities in both countries confirmed. His capture followed more than a decade on the run, during which investigators say he was shielded by networks linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
FBI Director Kash Patel described Wedding as a “modern-day version of Pablo Escobar and Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán” when announcing his arrest and transfer to the United States to face drug trafficking and murder charges. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the organization Wedding allegedly led generated more than $1 billion annually through cocaine trafficking from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into the United States and Canada.
U.S. and Mexican officials emphasized the binational nature of the operation. Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, said Wedding’s surrender occurred within the framework of strengthened cooperation agreements between the two governments, prioritizing intelligence sharing while respecting national sovereignty.
The case has also renewed concerns over the violence associated with transnational drug trafficking. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated that Wedding orchestrated the murder of a federal witness, Jonathan Acebedo-García, who was executed in Medellín after his image was allegedly posted on a fake news website, according to court records cited by Canadian media.
For Latino communities in the United States and across the region, the case is not just an isolated crime story. It underscores how international trafficking networks fuel regional insecurity, forced migration, and community destabilization. Security analysts have warned that Wedding’s profile — educated, internationally mobile, and able to operate across borders — reflects a new generation of criminal leaders who challenge traditional law enforcement models.
While authorities on both sides of the border are portraying Wedding’s capture as a significant blow to organized crime, it also raises a larger question: are justice systems equipped to confront criminal organizations that operate without clear borders, command vast resources, and deploy calculated violence on a global scale?
