Frank Meeink was once one of the most prominent neo-Nazis in the U.S. and inspiration for the character played by Edward Norton in the 1998 film American History X. At 17, he was hosting a neo-Nazi cable-access TV show and touring around the co

Meth in the Badlands: The Story of Pastor Al Peratt

Dec 29th, 2021 45m 30s

Al Peratt’s trafficking career started when he was in the military: legal clerk by day, hashish dealer at night. The gig turned to heroin, and after a lengthy prison sentence, to dealing meth in San Diego’s biker scene. He later fled the city—b

Brotherhood to Betrayal: Frank D’Alesio’s Story

Dec 22nd, 2021 42m 56s

By the 1980s, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs had been deemed “organized crime on wheels” by federal agencies. This was the world that Frank D’alesio entered as a rookie ATF agent, when he began the string of undercover operations that would define his

High Tide: The Coronado Company

Dec 15th, 2021 45m 30s

Just off the coast of San Diego, a group of high school surfers and their former Spanish teacher get involved in an unusual extracurricular activity: international weed smuggling. They called themselves the Coronado Company and Lee Strimpel was

Trust Me: The Story of Derek Alldred

Dec 8th, 2021 36m 14s

Derek Alldred could have been an actor. He first invented characters to fuel an addiction, putting on costumes and playing trustworthy roles that put people at ease and got him what he wanted. But as his lies left a trail of destruction, he had

Shots in the Dark: The Black Madam

Dec 1st, 2021 39m 18s

The Black Madam was an aspiring rapper who made her money building a business she believed in—administering illegal silicone injections to give trans (and cisgender) women the bodies they dreamed of. After all, she’d once been in their shoes. B

Coming soon: Trafficked Season 2

1 Nov 22nd, 2021 2m 11s

The companion podcast to National Geographic’s Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller. In season two, investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller goes deep with masterminds behind black markets and underground economies, including illegal plastic s

The Young Gun & The Old Ammo: David Packouz

Jan 7th, 2021 47m 16s

Mariana talks with David Packouz, one of the two notorious young men who inspired the movie War Dogs. He made headlines when he sold illegal ammo to the US government in what was called “The Afghan Contract.” We hear how he became a major playe

Cocaine Captain: The Story of JC Perez

Dec 31st, 2020 50m 16s

Cocaine production is at an all-time high, but it came to fame in the Miami Vice era of the 1980’s with the help of the “Cocaine Cowboys.” In this episode, Mariana sits down with JC Perez, who piloted cocaine smuggling runs for one of the bigge

The Hollywood Madam: Heidi Fleiss

Dec 24th, 2020 39m 18s

Heidi Fleiss is perhaps best known as the “Hollywood Madam.” Despite having started her business at just 22, she developed a star-studded list of clients, all meticulously organized in her red Gucci planner. Among them was Charlie Sheen, who fa

The Art of the Steal: The Story of Michel van Rijn

Dec 17th, 2020 38m 1s

Mariana dives into an underground world of subterfuge, heists, counterfeiting, smuggling, and organized looting with Michel van Rijn, one of the world’s most prolific artifact smugglers. In a career full of legendary antics, he once sold a truc

All-Star Dealer: Tony Bosch

Dec 10th, 2020 45m 26s

Mariana breaks down how a major player made it big—and lost it all—in the dangerously unregulated, billion-dollar black market of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Tony Bosch’s Biogenesis of America was behind the largest PED scandal in Ameri

An Outlaw and Oxy: the Story of Struggle Jennings

Dec 3rd, 2020 39m 23s

Oxycontin has sparked the deadliest drug crisis in American history. Struggle Jennings, an outlaw country rapper — and the grandson of country music legend Waylon Jennings — once got busted for trying to purchase a big load of oxycontin in a Wa

Trailer

Coming soon: The Trafficked Podcast with Mariana van Zeller

Nov 19th, 2020 2m 9s

The official companion podcast to National Geographic Channel’s new series premiering Dec 2, Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller brings us one step closer to understanding the lives of traffickers. Join investigative journalist Mariana van Zelle