The Olympic Athlete Who Became a Drug Kingpin - The Ryan Wedding Story
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Who is Ryan Wedding and what was his Olympic journey?
Did you hear about this Olympic snowboarder who suddenly became a drug kingpin? Now the guy's name is Ryan and Ryan's about 21 when this story starts and he's living in Vancouver in 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, 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.
How did Ryan transition from snowboarding to drug dealing?
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 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.
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