The Darkest Cartel Operations Happening in Small American Towns (with Trafficked’s Mariana van Zeller)
October 1, 2025
58 min
4
9
Full
145 of 186
Episode 9 · October 1, 2025
The Darkest Cartel Operations Happening in Small American Towns (with Trafficked’s Mariana van Zeller)
0:00 / 58:03
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Ironclad Episodes Around October 1, 2025
Episode 145 of 186 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
The Darkest Cartel Operations Happening in Small American Towns (with Trafficked’s Mariana van Zeller)
Summary
On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy sits down with award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller, host of National Geographic’s Trafficked, to explore cartels, black markets, and human trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. Mariana discusses how cartels operate in small American towns, use domestic flights for smuggling, and recruit American citizens as distributors. She also examines the trade of Vietnamese brides into China and the broader social and economic factors that enable these crimes.
The conversation highlights the scale of drug trafficking and human exploitation and emphasizes the need for awareness and solutions that address the root causes.
Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original
Sponsors:
Firecracker Farm
Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/
AmmoSquared
Visit https://ammosquared.com/ today for a special offer and keep yourself fully stocked. With over 100,000 members and thousands of 5-star ratings, Your readiness is their mission.
TacPack
Visit http://www.TacPack.com
and use code IRONCLAD at checkout to get a free $70 tactical gift
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.
