Over the course of two decades, Ryan James Wedding went from a promising snowboarder competing in the Olympics to what officials have said is one of the most violent and ruthless criminals in the world, responsible for orchestrating murders and running a billion-dollar cocaine cartel.

FBI Director Kash Patel compared the 44-year-old — whose nicknames include "El Jefe," "Public Enemy" and "Giant" — to Pablo Escobar and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Wedding is accused of ordering a hit on a witness in the U.S. government's case against him and enlisting assassins to murder rival traffickers.

Watch NBC 5 free wherever you are WATCH HERE

Court documents say that Wedding's crime spree began in 2008, six years after his failed Olympic debut. They detail the alleged dark journey of a you

See Full Page