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Ryan Marriage ceremony, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who allegedly turned the pinnacle of a billion-dollar drug trafficking group, is ready to plead not responsible to a number of expenses in opposition to him, his lawyer mentioned forward of a scheduled court docket listening to on Monday.
Marriage ceremony, who was in hiding for greater than a decade and on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wished Fugitives” record, was arrested final week. He’s charged with 17 felonies in two separate indictments.
Anthony Colombo, who’s representing Marriage ceremony, mentioned he had met together with his consumer and described him as being “in good spirits.”
Marriage ceremony, who was identified by many aliases, together with “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy,” is accused of changing into a significant trafficker of cocaine into Canada and the US and a ruthless chief who ordered killings, together with one in every of a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case in opposition to him. The alleged order resulted within the sufferer being shot to loss of life in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2025, prosecutors mentioned.
The previous Olympic snowboarder was charged in a 2024 indictment with operating a seamless legal enterprise, assorted drug trafficking expenses and directing the murders of two members of a household in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell mentioned final week that Marriage ceremony’s alleged international drug trafficking group “used Los Angeles as its major level of distribution.”
Akil Davis, assistant director accountable for the Los Angeles FBI area workplace, mentioned after Marriage ceremony’s seize that his alleged group shipped roughly 60 metric tons of cocaine by way of Southern California on its option to Canada.
Authorities have arrested 36 individuals in reference to their function within the transnational group and the U.S. Treasury Division has sanctioned 19 individuals, together with Marriage ceremony, in accordance with Davis.
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi beforehand mentioned Marriage ceremony’s operation was chargeable for producing greater than $1 billion a 12 months in unlawful drug proceeds.
“Simply to inform you how dangerous of a man Ryan Marriage ceremony is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the biggest narco trafficker in trendy occasions,” Patel mentioned in a information convention Friday asserting the arrest. “He’s a modern-day El Chapo, he’s a modern-day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he might evade justice.”
Marriage ceremony competed for his dwelling nation, Canada, within the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis.
An skilled lawyer, Colombo beforehand represented Rubén Oseguera González, often known as “El Menchito,” the son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” the chief of the Jalisco New Era Cartel.
Oseguera González was sentenced final 12 months to a time period of life in jail plus 30 years to run consecutively for his function in a significant drug trafficking conspiracy.
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