(Image Credit: IMAGN) FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers carried out a series of enforcement operations in Los Angeles in late-February, 2025.
Los Angeles, California – Federal agents swept up ten suspects this week in a sprawling international takedown linked to a fugitive former Olympic snowboarder who prosecutors say abandoned the podium for a position atop one of the world’s most violent drug empires. The arrests, part of “Operation Giant Slalom,” crack open a murder-for-hire conspiracy that left a federal witness dead in Colombia — and pushed the alleged ringleader, Ryan James Wedding, onto the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.
Wedding, 44, a Canadian national believed to be hiding in Mexico under cartel protection, is accused of running a multinational cocaine pipeline with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and ordering hits on anyone who threatened his operation. The United States is now offering up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest — one of the largest rewards in FBI history.
Authorities say Wedding placed a bounty on a cooperating witness in his 2024 federal narcotics case. The witness was gunned down inside a Medellín restaurant on January 31, 2025. Prosecutors allege Wedding “eliminated threats” the way he expanded his empire: violently, deliberately, and without hesitation.
The arrests announced Tuesday include an unlikely cast:
• Deepak Paradkar, 62, a Canadian criminal barrister known online as “cocaine_lawyer,” accused of advising Wedding to kill the witness and supplying him with classified case files.
• Gursewak Bal, 31, co-founder of a gangland gossip site called The Dirty News, who allegedly took cash to avoid posting about Wedding — and instead posted the victim’s photo to help assassins locate him.
• Edwin Basora-Hernandez, a reggaeton musician, charged with providing the victim’s contact information to the killers.
Others rounded up include Canadian nationals, Colombian associates, and alleged U.S.-based facilitators. Eleven defendants are now in custody; four others, including Wedding, remain at large.
Federal officials painted an alarming picture of a former athlete turned global narco boss. Once celebrated for Olympic ambition, Wedding is now described by the FBI as importing “tons of cocaine” into the U.S. every year. Agents say his criminal enterprise was fortified by lawyers, entertainers, tech-savvy scouts, and corrupt insiders who helped launder drug money and silence threats.
“Whether you’re a kingpin or a dealer on the street, we will hunt you down,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Wedding controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
Law enforcement agencies across the U.S., Canada, and Colombia continue searching for Wedding and three other fugitives believed to be moving between Mexico, Vancouver, Montréal, and the Dominican Republic.
If captured and convicted, Wedding and his co-defendants could face life in federal prison — a far cry from the Olympic heights where his story began, and a stark reminder that even world-class talent can descend into world-class violence.
