Central District of California | 16 Defendants Charged in Superseding Indictment Alleging Bulk Shipments of Cocaine to Canada, Four Murders

LOS ANGELES – A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder and 15 different defendants have been charged in a 16-count superseding indictment for allegedly operating and collaborating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped lots of of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, via Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and different areas in the US, and whose leaders orchestrated a number of murders in furtherance of those drug crimes.

Ryan James Wedding ceremony, 43, a Canadian citizen residing in Mexico, and Andrew Clark, 34, a Canadian citizen additionally residing in Mexico, had been beforehand charged within the authentic indictment with operating a seamless legal enterprise, homicide, and conspiring to own, distribute, and export cocaine. Clark was arrested October 8 by Mexican legislation enforcement and is detained. Wedding ceremony is a fugitive.

The primary superseding indictment, unsealed on October 16, names 14 extra co-defendants. The superseding indictment alleges that Wedding ceremony, Clark, and others conspired to ship bulk portions of cocaine – weighing lots of of kilograms – from Southern California to Canada via a Canada-based drug transportation community run by Hardeep Ratte, 45, of Ontario, Canada, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, of Ontario, Canada, from roughly January 2024 to August 2024. The cocaine shipments had been transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles space, the place the cocaine trafficking group’s operatives would retailer the cocaine in stash homes, earlier than delivering it to the transportation community couriers for transportation to Canada utilizing long-haul semi-trucks. 

As alleged within the superseding indictment, the group resorted to violence – together with a number of murders – to realize its goals. Wedding ceremony and Clark allegedly directed the November 20, 2023, murders of two members of a household in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo that handed via Southern California. One other member of that household survived the capturing however was left with critical bodily accidents. Wedding ceremony and Clark allegedly additionally ordered the homicide of one other sufferer on Could 18, 2024, over a drug debt. Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a resident of Canada, are charged with the April 1, 2024, homicide of one other sufferer in Ontario, Canada.

Wedding ceremony, whose aliases embody “El Jefe,” “Big,” and “Public Enemy,” and who competed for Canada within the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis, is the superseding indictment’s lead defendant. Wedding ceremony is charged with eight felonies: two counts of conspiracy to distribute managed substances, one rely of conspiracy to export cocaine, one rely of main a seamless legal enterprise, three counts of homicide in reference to a seamless legal enterprise and drug crime, and one rely of try to commit homicide in reference to a seamless legal enterprise and drug crime. Clark, whose aliases embody “The Dictator,” is charged with the identical eight felonies, plus a further rely of homicide in reference to a seamless legal enterprise and drug crime.

“As alleged within the indictment, an Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with main a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and homicide, together with of harmless civilians,” mentioned United States Legal professional Martin Estrada. “My workplace’s mandate is to guard the general public and stopping refined and violent organized crime teams goes to the guts of that mission.  We’ll proceed to collaborate with our federal, native, and worldwide legislation enforcement companions to carry these teams to justice.”

“The FBI stays steadfast in its mission to establish, goal, and dismantle violent transnational organized crime syndicates in our communities. As we speak, in collaboration with a number of native, federal, and worldwide companions, we reaffirm our dedication to the American folks by dismantling a violent organized crime community trafficking massive portions of medication into the US and orchestrating a number of homicides to eradicate the competitors,” mentioned Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Cost of the FBI’s Los Angeles Discipline Workplace. “The group, led by former Olympian Ryan Wedding ceremony, cultivated a violent transnational drug trafficking empire that prolonged from Canada to the US, Mexico, and Colombia. Whereas key members of Wedding ceremony’s legal enterprise had been efficiently apprehended this week, he stays at massive. The FBI is providing a reward of as much as $50,000 for any data resulting in his arrest.”

“Organized Crime teams create immense hurt in all our communities, not simply with the poisons they ship, however via the tragic violence that inevitably comes with it,” mentioned Liam Worth, Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Director Normal of Worldwide Particular Providers. “This community offered a risk to communities in Canada, the US and abroad. That’s the reason we, as Canada’s nationwide police pressure, labored carefully with the FBI and others to disrupt it. This operation demonstrates the worth and the impression of shut collaboration with amongst worldwide companions to fight transnational organized crime, serving to maintain our communities secure. We’ll all the time look past our borders to the place these threats originate and attempt to cease them at supply.”

“The Wedding ceremony Drug Trafficking Group and its unremitting, callous and greed-driven crimes has been working for a lot too lengthy, spanning a number of nations, from Colombia via Mexico, the U.S. and to Canada,” mentioned Matthew Allen, Particular Agent in Cost of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Los Angeles Discipline Division. “They’ve triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, together with brutal murders. Wedding ceremony, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a lifetime of incessant crimes. DEA and our companions stand firmly in our resolve to dismantle his operation. I wish to thank our DEA investigators and all our companions, together with the FBI, LAPD, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Worldwide for his or her collaboration, expertise and large worth that assist embolden our mission.”

“This advanced investigation spans a number of jurisdictions and businesses, with an alleged retaliation over stolen medicine tragically impacting an harmless household in Ontario, Canada,” mentioned Marty Kearns, the Deputy Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.  “As we speak’s announcement displays the tireless months of labor undertaken by businesses in each Canada and the US, in addition to help from legislation enforcement in Mexico and Colombia. It is a testomony to how collaboration and investigative diligence cross borders to establish perpetrators and produce essential solutions to victims and their households.”

“As we speak’s investigative outcomes stand as a robust testomony to the tireless dedication and collaboration of legislation enforcement businesses throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia,” mentioned Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah. “These investigative outcomes are vital for the households who’ve endured tragic loss, casualties of legal greed and a drug trafficking warfare. Peel Regional Police stays unwavering in its dedication to working alongside our international companions to carry these accountable for violent acts and homicides – each inside Peel and past – to justice.”

Through the investigation, legislation enforcement has seized multiple ton of cocaine, three firearms, dozens of rounds of ammunition, $255,400 in United States foreign money, and greater than $3.2 million in cryptocurrency. In response to the superseding indictment, in March 2024, the group delivered a complete of roughly 293 kilograms (646 kilos) of cocaine to representatives of Ratte and Singh for eventual cargo to and distribution in Canada. The next month, the group tried to ship roughly 375.1 kilograms (827 kilos) of cocaine to representatives of Ratte and Singh for eventual transportation to Canada, however investigators interrupted the supply and seized the cocaine. In whole, a number of defendants possessed a complete of roughly 1,800 kilograms (1.8 metric tons) of cocaine, in keeping with the superseding indictment. One-thousand eight hundred kilograms of cocaine carries a road worth between $23.4 and $25.2 million {dollars} in Los Angeles.

A number of of the defendants arrested are anticipated to make their court docket appearances throughout the coming week in Los Angeles, Michigan, and Miami.

An indictment incorporates allegations {that a} defendant has dedicated against the law. Each defendant is presumed to be harmless till and until confirmed responsible in court docket.

If convicted, Wedding ceremony, Clark, and Cunningham would face a compulsory minimal penalty of life in federal jail on the homicide and tried homicide fees. The persevering with legal enterprise fees additionally carry a compulsory minimal penalty of life in federal jail. The drug trafficking fees carry necessary minimal penalties between 10 and 15 years in jail. 

The FBI investigated this matter with the Los Angeles Police Division, the DEA Los Angeles, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – Federal Policing. As well as, important help was supplied by U.S. legislation enforcement companions, together with Homeland Safety Investigations – Detroit and United States Customs and Border Safety – Buffalo; Canadian legislation enforcement companions, together with Niagara Regional Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Toronto Police Service, and Peel Regional Police; Mexican legislation enforcement companions, together with the Legal professional Normal’s Workplace (Fiscalía Normal de la República) and the Prison Investigation Company (Agencia de Investigación Prison); and Colombian legislation enforcement companions, together with Colombian Nationwide Police – Directorate of Prison Investigation and Interpol, Particular Interagency Investigation Group (Policía Nacional de Colombia – Dirección de Investigación Prison e Interpol, Grupo Especial de Investigación Interagenciales). This investigation was carried out with the help of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Pressure (OCDETF).

Assistant United States Attorneys Lyndsi Allsop and Maria Jhai of the Violent and Organized Crime Part and Ryan Waters of the Asset Forfeiture and Restoration Part are prosecuting this case. The Justice Division’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs supplied substantial help.

This case is a part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level legal organizations that threaten the US utilizing a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency strategy. Further details about the OCDETF Program might be discovered at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.