Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Olympic Athlete Who Became a Drug Kingpin - The Ryan Wedding Story

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, transitioned from professional athletics to becoming one of North America's most wanted drug kingpins.

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Ryan and Ryan's about 21 when this story starts and he's living in Vancouver and Canada. And Ryan, he really loves snowboarding. In fact, he loves it so much that he's determined to make a name for himself in the sport. And so one day in 2002, he gets the opportunity to do that because he's chosen to represent Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics. But, unfortunately, he fails to qualify for the final round. So, he's out. And poor Ryan, he's devastated. I mean, snowboarding was his whole life. Now what's he going to do? Well, turns out he ends up getting a pretty regular job as a bouncer at a local nightclub. Now, while he's working at this club, Ryan is exposed to a lot of different types of people. Some of those people are drug dealers. And these drug dealers, they got like,

you know, the expensive clothes and they drive really nice cars. And Ryan sees all that, and he wants some of that for himself. And so eventually he decides that he's going to get into the drug business. So he teams up with a friend who owns a warehouse out in the countryside. And in that warehouse, Ryan starts growing a bunch of cannabis plants, like a bunch, like 6,800 cannabis plants. And he'll like harvest them twice a month and he'll move the product to his supplier. And this whole scheme actually works and soon enough he's making some serious cash. So he finally has the means to buy himself what the other drug dealers have. Expensive clothes, nice rides, he even gets himself a few snowmobiles.

And then a few years go by, and we're now in 2006. And around this time, unfortunately for Ryan, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police receive a tip that a ton of cannabis plants are being grown on that property. And so, boom, the Mounties, who I always assume are on horseback, raid the warehouse, and they discover about $10 million worth of cannabis. And so they seize all of it. Now, lucky for Ryan, And he wasn't present during the raid, so police have trouble tying him directly to the operation. So he walks away free. But instead of seeing this as a warning, he sees this as proof that he can beat the system. So he starts to go bigger. And two years later in 2008, Ryan levels up and he gets into cocaine trafficking. So he connects with a couple of really shady guys. And together, they drive all the way down.

to San Diego. And there in San Diego, they plan to meet up with this ex-KGB agent guy. Because they plan on buying a bunch of cocaine off of him, and they're going to traffic it back up to Canada. Well, unfortunately for them, the ex-KGB agent guy is actually an undercover informant for the FBI, and this is all a setup. But of course, Ryan and the other two guys, they don't know this. So once one of Ryan's friends meets up with this ex-KGB agent guy, suddenly, bam, the feds arrest him. Meanwhile, Ryan and the other guy are waiting at a hotel. But after a while, they get hungry and they decide to go and get food.

And when they leave the hotel, bam, the FBI arrests them both. And so they throw Ryan in jail while he waits for his trial and his sentencing. Here's the thing, though. This actually turns out to be a good thing for Ryan. Because while he's locked up, he gets to meet other criminals. other experienced criminals, including experienced drug traffickers. And Ryan takes full advantage of this, and he starts building relationships with them. And over time, they teach him everything he needs to know about the logistics of large-scale cocaine trafficking.

And so years pass, and it's now 2010. And Ryan is released from lockup, and he gets deported back to Canada. And when he gets there, he uses all the conditions. connections he made back in prison to start his own drug trafficking ring. And it isn't long before Ryan is in the Caribbean on St. Kitts Island, where he somehow has been able to get his hands on a couple hundred kilos of cocaine. And he wants to smuggle it all all the way back to Newfoundland. Therefore, he's going to need a couple of ships to help him do that. So he meets up with this guy, who will just call undercover police, because he's an undercover

Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Of course, Ryan doesn't know that. And so Ryan meets up with undercover police, and undercover police starts working his magic, and he tells Ryan that he actually does own a couple of ships that he's been using to smuggle things from the U.S. to Canada, and he says Ryan can totally use his ships. And so they make a deal, and they move forward with their operation, and they load up all the drugs on the ships to traffic, and the ships take off. But before these ships reach their destination in Newfoundland,

Boom, the Mounties come in and they sees everything. So now they're looking for the guy who was trying to do all this smuggling, Ryan. And so they put a warrant out for his arrest. But see, Ryan, he knows what's up, and he's already long gone. He's actually fled to Mexico where he's now hiding out. And here's where things get to an even crazier level. While he's in Mexico, he starts working with a cartel called the Sinoloa cartel. And this cartel works out a deal with him.

In exchange for their protection, he will help traffic their drugs up into the United States and Canada. And so they all agree on this, and they get to work. So we're in like 2015 now. And Ryan has started moving up to 60 tons of cocaine a year for this Sinaloa cartel. And these shipments are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And pretty quickly, he becomes literally the largest cocaine distributor in all of Canada. And as his power grows, Ryan apparently becomes pretty brutal and ruthless about how he runs his operation. Like he's willing to kill people to protect the business he's got going.

And sometimes he does send gunmen to kill people on his behalf. And he does this multiple times, like he'll target workers and rival traffickers. He'll target anyone who he believes is a threat. And this goes on for years. And so we're in 2023 now. And by this point, the feds in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, they've been able to link all of this drug trafficking activity back to Ryan. And so they're all looking for him.

But they're just having a lot of trouble finding him. So it's starting to look like Ryan, he's just too powerful now, and these guys will never catch him. This episode is brought to you by Total Wine and More. College basketball's biggest tournament is coming up. And if you're hosting the watch party this year, you're going to need to head to Total Wine and More. You can grab a few crowd pleasers, something everyone will drink, plus a couple of options for cocktails.

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And they convinced Jonathan to flip on Ryan. And so Jonathan starts talking and giving them details about safe houses and truck routes and other people involved. And with this information, the feds are able to arrest about 14 people and seize about two tons of cocaine worth over $30 million. So that's good. But Jonathan is actually scheduled to testify against some of the people arrested. and before he gets a chance to, he suddenly gets shot and killed. And that hit was allegedly ordered by Ryan. And so now the feds are pissed.

I mean, they've been setting this case up for years only to have their star witness die. And so they go and add him to their 10 most wanted fugitives list. And they offer up to a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest. They also release multiple surveillance. photos of him so that people can easily identify him and turn him in. And eventually, the feds are able to track him down and bam, he gets arrested in Mexico. And I don't have a mugshot, but here is a

picture of him in handcuffs. And so ultimately, he gets extradited to the U.S. where he's currently waiting for his trial. So technically, a lot of this is alleged because he hasn't had his trial yet.