The Syndicate
Buried cash. DEA moles. Sibling rivalries. Skydiving planes. Fast cars. And an exploding hash lab. A group of college friends took advantage of Colorado’s medical marijuana laws to create one of the longest, most lucrative smuggling runs in U.S. history. But when a drug mule flipped, the whole enterprise came crashing down— and revealed how the marijuana black market is not just evolving in the era of legal weed, but thriving.New episodes publish Tuesday mornings.
- Update frequency
- every 18 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 14
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2023
Cover Up: Ministry of Secrets
Cover Up is a series of investigative stories that take us on a journey into a world of subterfuge and secrecy - a world where the truth is concealed under a blanket of lies. From corrupt individuals…
00:05:41 |
Mon 06 Mar 2023
Wondery Presents: Frozen Head
Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid.
When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, you might think that’s the end of his story. But, …
00:05:22 |
Mon 23 Jan 2023
Special Preview Episode: Elizabeth the First. The Early Years
Here’s your special preview episode of the new series Elizabeth the First – about the remarkable life of Elizabeth Taylor.
In this preview, we learn how Elizabeth’s ambitious spirit was unmistakable…
00:33:23 |
Tue 22 Nov 2022
A POTTED PLANT HISTORY | Bonus Episode 2
An extended conversation with drug historian Emily Dufton about history of cannabis in the United States, the protagonists who shaped it, and what we might expect for nationwide legalization going fo…
00:37:04 |
Tue 06 Oct 2020
FOLLOW THE MONEY | Bonus Episode 1
In this first bonus episode, Special Agent Steve Bratten with the Colorado Department of Revenue discusses the prior cases and investigative techniques he devised that informed his investigation of t…
00:24:21 |
Tue 29 Sep 2020
ALL GONE TO POT | Chapter 8
Lifelong friendships and familial bonds shatter as law enforcement pressures members of the Syndicate into ratting on one another to avoid lengthy prison sentences. But looking back, did their outcom…
00:42:40 |
Tue 22 Sep 2020
OPERATION GOLDEN GO-FER | Chapter 7
After Joe Johnson flips and becomes an informant, the noose starts to tighten around the Syndicate. In October 2014, police execute 18 simultaneous search warrants, bringing down the entire enterpris…
00:40:47 |
Tue 15 Sep 2020
FAMILY MAN | Chapter 6
The backstory of the Syndicate's kingpin. We explore Tri's motivations, his history with the Syndicate's key distributor in Minnesota, and why he reacted the way he did when things in Denver started …
00:45:37 |
Tue 08 Sep 2020
ALMOST LEGAL | Chapter 5
Even as the Syndicate hits its stride as an illegal operation, Tri sets up a big play to go legal. He wants to leave the black market forever. But what will it take -- and what will the Syndicate sac…
00:43:51 |
Tue 01 Sep 2020
PEST CONTROL | Chapter 4
Even as the Syndicate's growing network expands, distribution remains a problem. Getting the organization’s product across state borders is as risky as it is profitable. And early on, the Syndicate g…
00:44:05 |
Tue 25 Aug 2020
MORE PATIENTS, MORE PLANTS | Chapter 3
Tri takes his marijuana business from a cottage industry to full scale industrialization with growing facilities all over Denver. The weed mogul also devises ways to perfect his "caregiving" model to…
00:36:13 |
Tue 18 Aug 2020
SETTING UP SHOP | Chapter 2
Andrew Cohen moves to Colorado to help his longtime college friend Tri Nguyen start a marijuana business. But when Tri throws a duffle bag filled with cash and a GPS tracker off the side of a mountai…
00:43:25 |
Tue 11 Aug 2020
THE DRUG RUNNER | Chapter 1
In June 2014, a Kansas State Patrolman pulls over a minivan on a routine traffic stop, only to discover $374,000, a gun, and 66 pounds of pot stuffed into the rear luggage compartment. The roadside b…
00:34:27 |
Tue 11 Aug 2020
Trailer: The Syndicate
A group of college friends gamed Colorado’s marijuana laws and made millions in the most sophisticated black market growing operation we’ve seen in America since states began legalizing pot. This 10-…
00:03:12 |
Mon 15 Jun 2020
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