The Truth About "Canadian Chapo" Ryan Wedding?
The snowboarder may be guilty of cocaine trafficking but comparisons with Escobar are massively overblown
Para leer en español click aquí.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi claims Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, now “controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world.” FBI director Kash Patel stepped in to say: “Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He’s a modern-day iteration of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.” Rolling Stone has already announced a deal to make a TV series about him, with the jazzy title, “Snow King: From Olympian to Narco.”
The State Department has upped the reward for him to $15 million. The feds say he is hiding in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, and some bright sparks on the internet twisted it to say he is running a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. An indictment lists a score of nicknames for him including “El Jefe,” “Giant” (he is 6 foot 3), and “Public Enemy.”
The Treasury published photos of alluring bling, including a $13 million special edition Mercedes, and of Wedding’s beautiful Mexican wife and equally beautiful Colombian girlfriend.
It’s refreshing in some ways that feds and media are going after a white Anglo narco instead of the usual Mexican or Colombian suspects. Yet while the actual facts in Wedding’s indictment look credible, the public claims made by Bondi, Patel and the media are clearly overblown, and easy to knock down. It’s a fun story that makes TV dollars. But what really do we know about Wedding’s alleged operation and how it compares to Escobar, Chapo or Mayo? Here, I show how some claims are patently exaggerated and paint a more realistic portrait of the Canadian cocaine king.
Sorry folks, you need to subscribe to read this story. But it’s only the price of a cuppa coffee and you get the complete archive including exclusive interviews with top players and maps of cartel territory. And now is a great time to subscribe as we will be following these issues with detailed reports you can trust as big things break in the coming months.