The Hidden Third

Britt Elmore, former undercover narcotics detective, spent years embedded inside the operations most people only see in crime dramas — building cases against dealers, managing informants, and navigating the moral gray zones that define modern drug enforcement.

In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on how undercover operations really work: the mechanics of infiltrating criminal networks, the fragile trust between officers and informants, and how drugs move from international suppliers all the way down to local street corners. He traces the full supply chain of the underground drug economy — and explains why it continues to evolve faster than law enforcement can keep up.

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Sonny Von Cleveland survived years of childhood sexual abuse, 18 years in prison, and 19 months in solitary confinement. But it was in that isolation cell where everything changed — through daily conversations with a Muslim mentor in the cell across from his, Sonny found accountability, forgiveness, and a reason to live differently.

Today he mentors at-risk youth in juvenile detention centers across Southern California, serves on Riverside County's Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, advocates with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles, and leads The Von Cleveland Foundation. He was named Palm Springs Person of the Year in 2023 and has received Congressional Recognition for his work.

His memoir Hey White Boy: Conversations of Redemption is the raw, unfiltered story of how a child failed by the world around him found his way back — and decided to make sure others don't walk the same road.

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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_vanzeller

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz
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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
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Go to http://factormeals.com/hiddenthird50off and use code hiddenthird50off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year.

What happens when one of the most powerful corporations in the world –  Amazon – decides your family is a threat? Amy Nelson, attorney, mother of four, and founder of The Riveter,  found out the hard way: frozen bank accounts, FBI raids, federal subpoenas, and the full weight of the Department of Justice deployed against her family without a single charge being filed.

In this episode of The Hidden Third, Amy sits down with Mariana to break down exactly how a company so powerful that it could weaponize the federal government against a single family used civil asset forfeiture and its relationship with federal law enforcement to try to force a guilty plea from an innocent man — and how her family refused to break.

This is a David vs Goliath story that reveals who actually controls the machinery of American justice. It's about what it costs — financially, emotionally, and personally — to stand up to a trillion-dollar company. And it's about what it means to win when the system is stacked against you.

If you've ever wondered whether ordinary people can fight back against extraordinary power, Amy Nelson is your answer.

ABOUT THE HIDDEN THIRD: 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.

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_vanzeller

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://expressvpn.com/hiddenthird to secure your online data and get up to four extra months.

At 14, Christian Picciolini was a lonely kid from an Italian immigrant family in Chicago when he was recruited into the Chicago Area Skinheads — one of America's first neo-Nazi skinhead groups. By 16, he was leading it. He fronted white power punk bands, helped merge his group with the violent Hammerskin Nation, opened a record store selling hate music, and toured Europe playing to thousands. For years, he recruited young men into a movement built on violence and fear.

Then something broke. In 1996, he walked away.

Today, Christian is one of the most important voices in the fight against extremism. He's the author of “White American Youth” and “Breaking Hate”, and has spent decades helping people leave hate groups — doing the painstaking, one-on-one work of deradicalization.

In this episode of THE HIDDEN THIRD, Christian joins me to unpack how radicalization actually works: the loneliness, the emotional hooks, the sense of belonging, the slow normalization of hate — and the personal unraveling that comes when your entire identity is built around an ideology designed to destroy. We talk about what pulled him in, what finally pushed him out, what extremism looks like today — and why, in the right conditions, almost anyone can be recruited into something they never imagined.

Subscribe for more conversations from the underworld.

ABOUT THE HIDDEN THIRD: 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.

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