Follow-Up: South L.A. Gang Member and Cartel Boss Charged With Helping Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding Traffic Drugs and Evade Capture
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 10 that a South Los Angeles gang member living as a fugitive in Mexico and a cartel boss shot to death by Mexican police have been charged in separate federal indictments with using political ties and law-enforcement information to help former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding run a billion-dollar drug trafficking operation and evade capture by U.S. authorities.
According to the indictment announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Roberto Gomez, 51, a U.S. citizen formerly of the Central-Alameda area of South Los Angeles, is a reputed member of the 38th Street gang. He fled Los Angeles County for Mexico after being charged in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2000 with two counts of second-degree robbery, and a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted him in January 2018 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. He is considered a fugitive in both cases.
The newly announced six-count indictment charges Gomez with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to import controlled substances, three counts of accessory after the fact, and one count of attempting to transact and deal with a specially designated narcotics trafficker. From 2016 to 2026, prosecutors say, Gomez operated as an intermediate supplier of narcotics to multiple transnational criminal organizations, including Wedding's, transporting cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into Mexico via aircraft and maritime vessels through Central America, followed by land-based transportation into the United States and Canada. He met and communicated with leaders of organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG, and obtained law-enforcement sensitive information, including arrests, drug seizures, warrant executions and the filing of criminal charges, which he provided to co-conspirators including Wedding.
From October 2024 to January 2026, Gomez assisted Wedding to hinder and prevent his apprehension, trial and punishment in the United States, the indictment says. He also attempted to broker the sale of approximately 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of methamphetamine to Wedding, whom the U.S. has labeled a specially designated narcotics trafficker, for approximately $550,000 in cryptocurrency. If convicted of all charges, Gomez would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum of life imprisonment. An indictment contains allegations; Gomez is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
In a related matter, prosecutors unsealed a two-count indictment against Edgar Aaron Vazquez Alvarado, 42, known as El General, who was shot to death last week by Mexican police. Vazquez presented himself as a founder and boss of El Cartel Nuevo Imperio, a violent criminal organization that predominantly operated in Mexico City, according to the indictment. He trafficked cocaine for Wedding's criminal enterprise and provided its members with near-daily, rotating code words that couriers relayed to Mexican law enforcement and military personnel at checkpoints, permitting them to pass through safely. He also paid Mexican public officials to slow down criminal investigations, dispose of and manipulate inculpatory evidence, and dismiss criminal charges against members of the enterprise. From October 2024 to January 2026, Vazquez helped Wedding evade detection by U.S. law enforcement, prosecutors say.
Wedding, 45, a Canadian national and former Olympic athlete, is charged with ordering several murders, according to the Justice Department. The FBI investigated the case with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Federal Policing, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Buffalo. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lyndsi Allsop and Joshua J. Lee of the Transnational Organized Crime Section are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国联邦调查局总部大楼。GSM 联邦固定图库图。 / Photo: FBI headquarters in Washington. Via the GSM federal fixed image library.
- 2026-11-05Mexican Federal Judge Arrested on U.S. Charges of Accepting $2 Million Bribe to Free Drug Trafficker Tied to Ryan Wedding
- 2026-11-11Follow-Up: South L.A. Gang Member and Cartel Boss Charged With Helping Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding Traffic Drugs and Evade CaptureThis story
