The Hidden Third

Marta Barreto, survivor turned propulsion technician and prison speaker, rebuilt her life after abuse, addiction, and incarceration. She talks about trauma’s grip, the barriers that trap victims, and the long work of rebuilding identity and career. Her journey touches on therapy, education, aerospace work, and advocating for rehabilitation and second chances.

Britt Elmore, a former undercover narcotics detective with 25 years infiltrating drug networks and handling wiretaps and informants. He reveals how undercover operations build trust, trace drug supply chains from cartels to street dealers, and adapt to synthetic drugs like fentanyl. He also discusses large stings, jail undercover work, and the law-and-policy tensions shaping modern policing.

Sonny Von Cleveland, formerly incarcerated survivor who rebuilt his life in solitary and now mentors at-risk youth. He talks about the childhood abuse that began his criminal path, survival and transformation during solitary through a Muslim mentor and books like Man's Search for Meaning, and his work mentoring juveniles, advocating for justice reform, and leading The Von Cleveland Foundation.

John Nores, a former California game warden who co-created the Marijuana Enforcement Team and a wilderness special operations sniper unit. He recounts confronting cartel-run illegal grows in national forests. Short, tense stories cover shootouts, toxic pesticides like carbofuran, environmental reclamation work, human trafficking linked to grows, and why legalization did not stop the black market.

Amy Nelson, attorney, entrepreneur, and founder of The Riveter, fought back after her family’s bank accounts were seized and federal authorities descended. She recounts FBI raids, civil asset forfeiture, Amazon’s leverage with prosecutors, and going public on social media. Short, tense stories reveal how power, law, and publicity collided and what it costs to stand up to a trillion-dollar company.

Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi skinhead who renounced extremism and now helps people leave hate groups, tells his story. He discusses how loneliness and belonging fuel radicalization. He describes recruitment tactics, using music and strategy to spread hate, and how the internet and politics amplified extremism. He also outlines the personal turns that led him to walk away and to do deradicalization work.

Alex Barker, Financial Times media reporter who co-wrote The Kink Machine, and Patricia Nilsson, FT business reporter who traced the industry’s money. They dig into who really controls online porn. Short scenes cover secret ownership, tube sites that made porn free, industry consolidation, and the consequences for performers and studios.

Go to http://selectquote.com/mariana to save more than 50% on term life insurance. Kari Ferrell became known as “The Hipster Grifter” after her cons went viral. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Kari joins me to talk about how her scams worked — from bad checks to stealing from friends and lying about being a cancer survivor — and how things escalated after she moved from Salt Lake City to New York City, where she landed a job at VICE. We dig into what was driving her at the time, how easy it can be to manipulate trust, and what it’s like to become a public villain on the early internet. Kari walks us through the consequences, the fallout, and what accountability and rebuilding look like when your name becomes synonymous with a grift. 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_vanzeller Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Balliet, a retired DHS/ICE special agent with 25 years on the line, led high‑stakes wiretap operations and later worked in internal affairs. He recounts border patrol life, hunting cartel figures including the wiretaps that tracked El Chapo, militia violence on the border, problems from rushed ICE hiring, and why he chose to speak out about misconduct.

Go to http://selectquote.com/mariana to save more than 50% on term life insurance. Go to http://rocketmoney.com/hiddenthird to reach your financial goals faster. In this episode, I sit down with MS NOW correspondent and bestselling author Jacob Soboroff for a candid conversation about what it takes to report on the stories that shape our country, and the personal cost that comes with it. Jacob shares why he became a journalist, the biggest lessons he's learned in the field, the toll his work has had on his family, and even some secrets he's never divulged publicly. We talk about his groundbreaking reporting on the Trump administration's family separation policy – what he saw firsthand inside migrant child detention facilities and what went into writing his book Separated. Jacob reveals what has stayed with him long after the headlines moved on, and warns that families are being separated at an even bigger scale during the current immigration raids. Then we dive into his latest bestseller Firestorm, his firsthand account of the devastating January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Jacob reported live as his childhood home in the Pacific Palisades burned to the ground. He describes these fires as "the fire of the future" – not an isolated tragedy but a harbinger of America's new age of disaster driven by climate change, failing infrastructure, and political dysfunction. If you care about journalism, immigration, climate disasters, and the human stories behind the headlines, this conversation goes deep. 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 ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ MARIANA: ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices