Canadian Ryan James Wedding finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but the snowboarder did not improve on his results in Turin four years later.

Instead, the FBI alleges the 43-year-old became the “boss” of a multinational drug-trafficking ring that allegedly moved tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine to four countries and ordered four murders in Canada.

In a 53-page indictment, unsealed by the US Department of Justice on October 17 and obtained by CTV News Toronto, officials laid out the inside elements of the alleged operation, which also names nine other Canadians.

The group allegedly trafficked 1,800 kilograms of cocaine, which has an estimated street value of US$25 million, over several months from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California and into Canada and other parts of the United States, using a complex network of dispatchers, drivers. , distributors and warehouses.

Here’s what we know about Operation Giant Slalom:

“El Jefe”

According to her Olympic bio, Wedding was named, but never charged, in a search warrant in Maple Ridge, B.C., investigating an illegal marijuana grow in 2006.

Two years after that, he was arrested and then convicted of trying to buy cocaine from a US government agent and sentenced to four years in prison.

That information, which is still publicly available on Olympia’s official website, serves as a preview of the criminal career the FBI alleges Wedding embarked on in the decade that followed.

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Boss” and “Giant,” ran his illegal drug empire from 2011 to 2024, the indictment notes, in California, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere. He was allegedly the “principal administrator, organizer and leader” of the criminal enterprise, along with Andrew Clark, 34, who is also Canadian.

The duo not only ran the operation together, but also allegedly led the Nov. 20, 2023, killing of a couple in Caledon, Ont. in “retaliation” for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California, the indictment alleges. However, the couple, Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, were the unintended targets of the shooting and “completely innocent,” police said. Their daughter Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, survived.

In addition to the double homicide in Caledon, Wedding and Clark allegedly ordered the killing of another victim in Brampton on May 18, 2024, over a drug debt.

Wedding, Clark and another suspect, identified as Canadian Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, also face charges in connection with a murder in Niagara Falls on April 1, 2024, local police said.

Clark, who the FBI says lived in Mexico and was known to his associates as “The Dictator,” was arrested in Mexico by local authorities earlier this month. Cunningham was arrested in April. The wedding, who apparently also lives in Mexico, is big.

Wedding is the lead defendant in the indictment and wanted on eight charges, including three counts of murder in connection with a further criminal enterprise. Clark faces the same charges, as well as an additional count of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

Beyond the charge, Wedding faces separate “unsolved” drug trafficking charges in Canada dating back to 2015, according to the RCMP.

Speaking at a press conference earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said investigators believe Wedding resumed drug trafficking after his release from prison for his 2010 conviction and has since been protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for his arrest.

Of the 16 suspects named in the indictment, 14 are in police custody.

Meeting in Mexico City

Details revealed in an extradition request obtained by CTV News Toronto show police south of the border knew where Wedding and Clark were in January 2024.

According to a statement of facts included in the application, under the direction of US law enforcement, a cooperating witness (CW) met with the pair somewhere in Mexico City that month.

CW, who began working with police last year, had been dealing drugs with Wedding for more than a decade before the meeting, officials allege.

The court document says the conversation was “lawfully recorded” and in it, CW was directed to coordinate with two Canadians in the trucking industry over the next month to coordinate shipments of cocaine.

“Clark told CW that Wedding would transport up to 350 kilograms of cocaine at a time,” the document states.

The wedding was not arrested.

Transport

The FBI said Wedding and Clark used a Canadian drug shipping network to move their product and identified Ontario residents Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30 years, as managers of that part of the operation.

“Defendant Clark would direct an individual to negotiate a transportation agreement with a Canadian drug transportation network (“TP”) run by defendants Ratte and Singh,” the indictment states.

According to the DOJ, the cocaine shipments were transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, stored in warehouses, and delivered to TP “couriers” for transport to Canada by long-haul semi-trucks.

In one incident, on February 20, 2024, the indictment alleges that Ratte and Singh had a one-on-one meeting in Toronto with CW since the meeting in Mexico City.

During this meeting, the FBI alleges, Ratte and Singh agreed to transport DTO cocaine from California to Canada for a flat fee of $220,000 per load.

Under Ratte and Singh were two other Canadians, Rakhim Ibragimov and Gennadii Bilonog, who the indictment alleges worked as “dispatchers” for the network, picking up cocaine from Central California for shipment to Canada.

In another incident, on March 4, the FBI said a defendant named Carlos Alberto Peña Goyeneche (who is not Canadian) delivered 293 kilograms of cocaine to Bilonog and sent Wedding the following message: “Boss ready delivered the order of 293”.

While Ibragimov was arrested by police in Ontario last week, Bilonog remains at large.

Two other drivers, identified as Canadians Ranjit Singh Rowal and Iqbal Singh Virk, were also arrested in the US for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy.

“Drive over Niagara blow this tips top off”

The statement of facts also points to an encrypted communication between Clark and Cunningham in which the former allegedly hired Cunningham “to kill a list of targets,” which included a victim identified as RF in the court document.

Officials said that on March 18, 2024, Cunnigham exchanged messages with Clark on Threema, an encrypted instant messaging app. Cunnigham reportedly wrote: “Okay, I want to take the easy way out and get up.”

Clark replied, according to the statement of fact, “Maybe Niagara Falls ginger lol. But 100,000 is not much and I will pay expenses. The Driveaway job was going to be done by someone else, but test your new military training skills.”

The documents went on to claim that Clark later told Cunningham to “drive over Niagara, this top guy.”

Other details, including vehicle descriptions and photos that matched evidence found by police at the crime scene, were found in Threema’s communications, court documents state.

Cunningham’s phone was also called two kilometers from RF’s residence on April 1, according to the statement of facts. Court documents claim Cunnigham took a photo on his phone two days after the murder, showing a gun and a large amount of Canadian currency with the caption “good night!”

Niagara Regional Police identified the victim as 29-year-old Ryan Fader.

Wedding, Clark threatens to kill co-defendant’s mother: indictment

Another Canadian listed in the indictment is Nahim Jorge Bonilla, who the FBI alleges was caught up in a drug debt with Wedding and Clark that saw the alleged ringleaders threaten his mother’s life if he didn’t pay.

While it’s unclear exactly when the transaction took place, the indictment says Wedding and Clark supplied Bonilla with 12 kilograms of cocaine. Bonilla paid for seven of those pounds on delivery and was ahead of the other five, authorities allege.

Bonilla then allegedly distributed and “attempted” to distribute the 12 kilograms of cocaine.

However, the deal went south when authorities say Bonilla failed to pay the five kilos he was owed.

“On June 14, 2024, through Threema, using coded language, Defendant Wedding told Defendant Bonilla that he was going to kill his mother,” the indictment states.

Bonilla was given until June 17 to pay the balance and would later send Wedding and Clark payment for two kilos via some form of cryptocurrency.

As for the remaining three kilograms owed, the DOJ said Bonilla agreed to send a driver to Laval, Quebec, to sell about 20 kilograms of methamphetamine as payment to Wedding and Clark.

“On June 25, 2024, through Threema, using coded language, Defendant Wedding told CS (a confidential source working with law enforcement) that Defendant Bonilla paid him in full for the 5 kilograms of cocaine.”

With files from Bryann Aguilar