When cops arrested a group of masked, black-robed protesters at a California campsite in 2019, most folks thoughts they’d caught some eccentric but harmless members of the Bay Area’s niche rationalist movement. But over the next few years the group would rally around its charismatic leader, Ziz LaSota, tearing across North America on a rampage of robbery and murder.
But even today, with LaSota in prison and several members dead, nobody’s quite sure what the Zizians are: a cult? A gang? Or just the most extreme Silicon Valley shitposters in history? We speak to journalist and author Evan Ratliff, who reported the Zizians for WIRED Magazine, to find out more — plus some bonus chat on Evan’s AI scam-led podcast “Shell Game”.
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1:11:53
The Chinese Mafia Takeover of America's Weed Industry
There''s a new king at the top of the US weed game, raking in tens of billions of dollars, so organized and prolific that they've replaced the cartels. A sprawling, shadowy empire of Chinese triads is running thousands of illegal grow ops across the U.S. From California suburbs to rural Maine, these operations are powered by slave labor, stolen utilities, and chemicals banned in America.
But it gets even crazier. Cause behind it all? Links to high-level officials in the Chinese Communist Party.
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58:14
How Diego Maradona Fueled the Rise of Naples’ Camorra
When Argentine soccer wizard Diego Armando Maradona swapped Barcelona for lowly Napoli in 1984, it shocked the sporting world — and sent Naples’ deadly Camorra into overdrive. Corrupt from the very start, the move would send the world’s greatest player into a tailspin of drugs, sex and crime, even while his onfield performances won Napoli its first league in over six decades.
But as Maradona Mania gripped the Italian city, the star’s underworld friends realized how big a cash cow he was — and flooded Naples with drugs, smuggled cigarettes, guns and shady property deals. And it was right when Maradona was at his peak — an Italian league, and World Cup winner — that things really began to fall apart.
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49:47
The Olympic Snowboarder Narco Kingpin
How did a Canadian former Olympian build a one billion dollar narco empire?
A few months ago, the feds added a new name to their 10 most wanted list: Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic athlete and middle class Canadian kid who managed to build himself into a powerful narco kingpin.
But how the hell did a middle class kid from small town Canada go from being one of the world's best snowboarders to ordering numerous hits across Canada, moving thousands of kilos from Mexico through the US, and having a 10 million dollar bounty on his head?
This is a wild one!
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47:22
The Sinaloan Train Robbers Causing Havoc in the Mojave Desert
You may have missed it, but there’s a new gang of train robbers in the American West — and they’re suprisingly like the bandits of old. For over a decade a team comprised mostly of Mexicans from the state of Sinaloa has been jumping aboard freight cars, sometimes at 70mph, and grabbing…Nike sneakers.
Yes, these enterprising thieves have got their eyes on a very particular prize: unreleased, limited-edition Nikes, mostly Air Jordans. And they’re good at it. This week’s show digs into the gang’s MO, what can be done, and some heists of yesteryears — including Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, and a remarkable gold heist that shocked Victorian London.
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Underworld exposes the secret world of transnational criminal networks that have flourished since there were banks to bust, drugs to smuggle, and scams to run. Journalists Danny Gold and Sean Williams bring their experience reporting on dangerous people and organizations to take listeners on a global tour of mobsters, warlords and crooks - from Brooklyn to Beijing, from the streets to the boardrooms - and everywhere in between. Underworld is a show about heroes, villains, and the barely visible mafias that affect all our lives, whether we know it or not.
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