Game Warden vs The Cartel cover art

Game Warden vs The Cartel

Game Warden vs The Cartel

Listen for free

View show details

LIMITED TIME OFFER | Get 2 Months for ₹5/month

About this listen

 Most people think of America's public lands as a place to hike, camp, or escape. John Nores spent decades learning they were also a war zone. As a Game Warden with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Nores co-developed the Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) and the CDFW's first wilderness special operations sniper unit — an elite force with a mission most Americans have never heard of: hunting Mexican drug cartels growing toxic marijuana deep inside U.S. national forests, state parks, and public wilderness areas. Between 4,000 and 6,000 cartel trespass growers take to the woods of California every year. They arrive armed, they stay for months, and they are ready to defend their cash crop at any cost. They divert waterways, deploy pesticides and fertilizers so toxic they were banned by the EPA over a decade ago, and leave behind environmental disasters that may take generations to repair. And they do all of this not in some remote foreign country — but in America's own backyard, sometimes within miles of population centers. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Mariana sits down with Nores to pull back the curtain on this largely invisible conflict — one that sits squarely at the intersection of drug trafficking, environmental destruction, cartel violence, and wilderness law enforcement. Nores walks Mariana through the dangerous operations his team ran deep in the backcountry, the shootouts they survived, and the environmental toll of an illegal industry that generates billions in black market revenue every year. He also explains why marijuana legalization did nothing to stop the cartels — and why the black market is still booming. If you've ever hiked a California trail, camped in a national forest, or followed the war on drugs, this conversation will change the way you see both. 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCiI8nJacn8gDiHxr6aQGA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-third/id1845989117 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj3BgVuEYaiZ6SotF MARIANA: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariana_vanzellerInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
No reviews yet