Authorities revealed that he went by several aliases, including “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy,” and “James Conrad Kin.”
“He could be considered the modern-day El Chapo,” remarked Patel during a press briefing in California. This comparison was drawn between Wedding and the infamous ex-leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is currently serving a sentence in the U.S. following his admission of guilt to drug trafficking offenses.
According to federal records, Wedding had a previous conviction in the United States for conspiring to distribute cocaine, resulting in a prison sentence in 2010.
Currently, he is facing allegations of operating an international drug trafficking organization and being involved in the murders of a federal witness along with three other individuals.
There is no immediate information regarding whether Wedding has secured legal representation for these charges.
Federal court records do not list any attorneys representing him in the ongoing cases.
âIt takes a united frontâ
US authorities believe the former Olympian, who competed in a single event for his home country in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade before his apprehension.
âWhen you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front, and thatâs what youâre seeing here,â said Patel, who declined to give details about the arrest.
He praised Mexicoâs government and âglobal partnershipsâ for their roles in the operation.
A member of Mexicoâs Security Cabinet later told The Associated Press that individual was Wedding.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Davis said 36 people have been arrested in connection with the drug ring Wedding is accused of running, and authorities seized large volumes of drugs, weapons and cash, as well as millions of dollars worth of automobiles, motorcycles, artwork and jewelry from Wedding and others charged in the case.
Rewards of up to US$2 million ($2.9 million) are available for information leading to additional arrests and convictions.
Charges of ordering killings
Wedding was indicted in 2024 in the US on federal charges of running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes.
Prosecutors said Weddingâs drug ring moved large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other US locations.
The murder charges accuse Wedding of directing the 2023 killings of two members of a Canadian family in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, and for ordering a killing over a drug debt in 2024.
Last November, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Wedding had also been indicted on charges of orchestrating the killing of a witness in Colombia to help him avoid extradition to the US
Authorities said Wedding and co-conspirators used a Canadian website called âThe Dirty Newsâ to post a photograph of the witness so he could be identified and killed.
The witness was then followed to a restaurant in MedellÃn in January and shot in the head.
Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Second FBI fugitive also apprehended
Patel identified a second apprehended fugitive as Alejandro Rosales Castillo, a 27-year-old US citizen charged with murder in the 2016 killing of a North Carolina woman.
He also faces a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. ‘
According to the FBI, Castillo was arrested a week ago in Mexico.
Mexico has increasingly sent detained cartel members to the US as the country attempts to offset mounting threats by US President Donald Trump, who said last month US forces âwill now start hitting landâ south of the border to target drug trafficking rings.
