How Ryan Wedding’s drug case compares to ‘El Chapo’s’ court case

Before and after his arrest last week on charges of drug trafficking and murder, US authorities called Ryan Wedding “a modern-day El Chapo.”

Prosecutors now hope the marriage will meet the same fate as a notorious Mexican drug lord: spending the rest of his life in prison.

Marriage, a Canadian Olympic snowboarder-turned-alleged drug kingpin, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges accusing him of running a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise that smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the US and Canada.

Authorities say the couple worked with, and received protection from, the Sinaloa Cartel, which Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman led for decades before he was captured in 2016 and brought to the US to face justice.

In 2019, after a three-month trial and six days of deliberations, a New York jury found Guzman guilty of 10 criminal charges against him – many of which related to the charges against the couple.

Although the two cases differ in scope, and Guzman is accused of working for a much larger organization over a longer period of time, they share many similarities, said Richard Donoghue, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York during Guzman’s trial.

“We’re talking about massive drug trafficking, violence, and the kind of ongoing criminal activity that was brought up in the El Chapo case and the Ryan marriage case,” he said in an interview.

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Former FBI deputy director weighs in on Ryan Wedding’s arrest

The couple faces 17 charges, including operating a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute and sell cocaine, witness intimidation and conspiracy to murder a potential witness. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The US Department of Justice did not comment when asked whether it would seek the death penalty.

When Guzman was arrested, US authorities said they had collected “masses of evidence” since the late 1980s showing that Guzman and his Sinaloa Cartel associates made billions of dollars by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the US.

Guzman faced six different charges in the US and was the target of multiple investigations before he was caught.

“The evidence that was collected against El Chapo was absolutely stunning,” Donoghue told Global News.

“The number of associates, the number of officers who could testify about the interception of goods, the number of contacts we had – an important part of that investigation was to get into his communication system, because then you could see the actions of the defendant at that time that we could tie him to.

“So that’s part of the challenge [in presenting the case to the jury] he was reducing it.”

The more complex case against Guzman and Wedding, who run a criminal enterprise, requires prosecutors to prove a series of violations to keep the business going.

The law is similar to federal and state racketeering laws.

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In Guzman’s case, the jury had to consider 27 different predicate offenses under that one charge, eventually finding him guilty of 25 of them.

Donoghue said evidence presented in a major drug-trafficking case will include records of the alleged business found by investigators.

“The Sinaloa Cartel, like many others [cartels]it’s a business,” he said, “It’s a multinational business, a multibillion-dollar business, and they keep records, they keep spreadsheets, they keep records of shipments and aircraft and marine vehicles used. They maintain the posting of bills and credits.

“A lot of times you’ll find, in cases like this, something that looks like a fortune 500 company’s books, but it’s about selling drugs.”

Even more compelling in such a case, he added, would be any personal communications that show the defendant’s direct involvement.

In Guzman’s case, the court heard recordings of his phone conversations with distributors, lieutenants and family members discussing cartel business.

Donoghue said that to prove the drug trafficking charges, prosecutors need to show evidence of the contraband that was seized and arrested from Guzman and his associates.

That will also apply to allegations that his marriage was a conspiracy to instigate the killing of witnesses and rivals, he said.

Another important part of the prosecution’s case will be the evidence and testimony provided by witnesses who are partners in the criminal organization.

That includes communications, location information and surveillance that shows their involvement, Donoghue said.

Guzman’s case was heard by 56 prosecution witnesses, twelve of whom were close friends who agreed to testify against their former boss.

Those statistics provided overwhelming and colorful evidence for the case.

Among the revelations were details about the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel and Guzman’s role in torturing and killing rivals and perceived traitors – including ordering one man to be buried alive.

The defense attorney said Guzman was being forced to testify for the government and urged jurors not to believe people who “lie, steal, cheat, sell drugs and kill people.”

Donoghue said that’s why it’s important for prosecutors to back up that testimony with hard evidence.

“What you want to tell the judge at the end of the day is that you should not believe these co-witnesses because they are good people, because they are not,” he said. “You have to trust their testimony because it is proven by independent evidence in the case, so you have to make sure that you have done your job.

“By their very nature, cooperating witnesses are defendants who have pleaded guilty and are at high risk. And that can always be a trap for the prosecution.”

So far, 36 people suspected of being friends of the Wedding have been arrested by the American and Canadian authorities, including his lawyer who is accused of advising the alleged murder of the witness and the Lieutenant of the Wedding.

Some co-accused remain at large, which could pose a security risk to both the case and potential witnesses.

Convincing people to cooperate or turn themselves in is one of the biggest challenges prosecutors face until the case goes to trial, Donoghue said.

“No matter how much you meet them or how much you prepare them, no matter how much danger they are in, you really don’t know what they will say until they get to the top,” he said.

“So that’s always a concern, but what you want to do in that situation is everything you can do to assure those co-witnesses that they will be safe, that their family members will be safe, no matter how they testify.”

Guzman’s trial was held under unusual security measures because of his history of terrorizing and ordering the killing of witnesses and two successful escapes from Mexican prisons. At one point, the judge presiding over the case denied Guzman’s request to hug his wife.

The jurors were kept anonymous and were escorted to and from court by US Marshals. Guzman was also given a heavy security detail and kept in solitary confinement when not in court.

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El Chapo has been found guilty of all charges, and is expected to go to prison

After Guzman was found guilty in February 2019, Donoghue called the verdict “a victory for the American people who are suffering the most.”

The Sinaloa Cartel continued however, eventually turning to fentanyl as its main export under the leadership of Guzman’s sons Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez.

The brothers, known in Mexico as the “Chapitos” or “little Chapos,” separately pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in the United States last year in exchange for reduced prison terms.

The marriage is accused of helping to further the cartel’s work in Canada, which Guzman himself had identified as a key market for cocaine and other drugs.

Donoghue said that taking on drug-trafficking organizations will continue to be a challenge, but he hopes that convictions and harsher prison sentences will be a deterrent.

“Everything you send that you stop, and everyone that you stop from engaging in goods or business in general, is a life that we hope you have saved on the road,” he said. “So it’s a fight worth having.”

— via files from The Associated Press