The Hidden Third

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Go to http://betterhelp.com/mariana for 10% off your first month. At 23, Sequoyah Thiessen moved to L.A., believing the “Rehab Riviera” would help her kick opioids. Instead, she was pulled into the shadow economy of fraudulent rehab programs, where people in crisis are bought and sold on a multi-billion-dollar black market. She sits down with Mariana to tal...

Days before reporting to prison, Mathew Bowyer, the bookie at the center of the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal, sits down with Mariana to walk her through his illegal betting operation, why it collapsed, and what he believes Ohtani knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Go to http://betterhelp.com/mariana for 10% off your first month. Go to http://topodesigns.com and use code TOPOHIDDENTHIRD for 10% off your order. When Michael Santos was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for cocaine trafficking, he turned a cell into a classroom, earning degrees, writing books, and, inspired by Frederick Douglass, becoming a leading...

FBI veteran Kurt McKenzie joins Mariana for the inside story of Operation Oxy Alley- the takedown of what’s widely described as the largest pill-mill trafficking operation in U.S. history. Mariana recounts her own investigation and how it led to her being chased down I-95 by the brothers at the center of the case, and how it wasn’t the last McKenzie investigation she got pulled into. Learn more ab...

Pro skater and actor Fabian Alomar takes Mariana from L.A.’s skate scene to years in a high-security prison, where survival meant being ready for anything - even stashing blades where the sun doesn’t shine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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...