(footsteps)
(electricity buzz)
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: California is the epicenter of a massive social experiment,
legalized marijuana.
♪ Theres not many roads left to follow ♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: Supporters claimed it would rein in the world's largest
marijuana black market or crush it all together.
♪ Cos you are the kind that can't be denied ♪
♪ Oh, I'll never let you go ♪♪
VAM ZELLER: But four years in, no one could have predicted that
legalization would have the opposite effect,
energizing the illicit trade that's now three times larger
than the legal one.
JUAN: The black market for weed?
It's exploding right now, man.
♪ ♪
♪ Concentrate, now concentrate, now concentrate ♪
♪ Now concentrate, now concentrate, now concentrate. ♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: Drive anywhere in LA, and before long,
I guarantee, you'll pass by a weed shop.
They're everywhere.
The telltale green crosses of weed shops are now just as
much a part of the landscape as the palm trees
and taco trucks.
♪ Ready? ♪
♪ With the box cutters and the machetes ♪
♪ Level than most like Angels smokin' dope. ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: But all is not what it seems.
Tell me some of the examples of people,
you don't need to say names if you don't want to,
but people that you've sold weed to.
NNERG: Well, a little bit of everybody, high and low.
Homeless people, people that appear to be out of their mind,
doctors, lawyers, rock stars, rap stars,
you know, athletes.
You know what I mean, everybody knows about me.
VAN ZELLER: Is that true? NNERG: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: What do they know you by?
NNERG: Saying I'm the king of $5 gram.
I started $5 gram.
VAN ZELLER: What's $5 gram?
NNERG: That means that people could smoke on a budget.
If you didn't have a lot of money,
I would give you a gram of some, you know,
fair weed for $5.
VAN ZELLER: Is that still profitable for you though?
NNERG: If you get 1,000 of them in a week, it can,
it can make sense.
VAN ZELLER: The man behind the wheel, NNERG,
is taking me to his dispensary in South LA.
(buzzer)
NNERG: Thank you, sir! Enjoy that.
What's up, man? Whatchu need? A gram?
VAN ZELLER: You're weighing everything here?
CLERK: Yes.
VAN ZELLER: Ah, it's the $5 gram!
NNERG: Yeah. It's $5 gram.
VAN ZELLER: Due to the hefty taxes as high as 45% in California,
a gram of weed can set you back 15 to 20 bucks.
So you might be wondering how NNERG's dispensary can
afford to sell weed at such rock bottom prices.
The answer is simple.
So the business you're running here is illegal?
NNERG: Yeah, technically.
VAN ZELLER: Get this, four years after California
legalized marijuana in 2016,
up to 80% of dispensaries in the state are
just like NNERG's, illegal.
(singing in spanish)
VAN ZELLER: They're part of a bustling $9 billion
black market that's blossomed in the wake of legalization.
And I am itching to understand how the state got
it all so wrong.
When you think about illegal marijuana,
you don't think about dispensaries.
People think that they're all legal.
BILL: After it was legalized,
the black market actually grew.
Right now in California, there are more unlicensed
dispensaries than licensed dispensaries.
VAN ZELLER: And that's what you're going after today?
BILL: Correct.
VAN ZELLER: Wow.
There's another surveillance camera right above the door here.
Here's the thing about these underground shops.
Do you want to be licensed?
NNERG: Yeah. Why not?
They just got so many hurdles.
VAN ZELLER: Many of them wanted to go legal,
but the path to licensing is fraught with problems.
MIKE: It's taxed like three or four times the amount that
alcohol is taxed.
SARAH: All of the hoops that you have to jump through.
NNERG: We won't have the capital,
the licenses are too expensive.
VAN ZELLER: It's an entrepreneur's worst nightmare.
Someone like NNERG faces a minefield of complex regulations.
And above all, they need cash, lots of cash.
Often hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for upfront costs,
license fees, and rent for an unopened storefront.
And good luck getting a loan, since virtually no banks will
issue them while cannabis remains federally illegal.
And guess who doesn't have access to that much capital.
NNERG: You know, and just by our history in this country,
I didn't think we had anything coming as the people.
And I was right.
VAN ZELLER: The same communities that were locked
up the most for cannabis offenses are the ones getting
locked out of the legal market.
NNERG: They're saying that out of 187 dispensaries,
only three of those people are black owners.
VAN ZELLER: In all of LA? NNERG: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Do you think that's why so many people just
prefer to stay in black market?
NNERG: Yeah, because it's easier.
VAN ZELLER: Withso much money being made in marijuana,
they aren't about to close up shop either.
BILL: Right now, the mission is basically serve the search warrant,
seize all cannabis and all the ill‐gotten gains.
VAN ZELLER: So the state is going after them.
OFFICER: Police! Search warrant.
VAN ZELLER: And using a portion of the tax revenues
from legal sales to bust many people who would love
to be paying taxes.
NNERG: You'll spend more money locking me up than
I probably made.
VAN ZELLER: While crackdowns from cops are on the rise.
Today, you guys busted three of these illegal dispensaries.
How many more do you think there are out there?
BILL: Thousands, thousands.
VAN ZELLER: Robberies and break‐ins are rising too.
REPORTER: Armed and violent.
Putting a gun to the neck of an employee.
Points the gun right in her face.
Grabbing several thousand dollars' worth of cash out
of the till.
NNERG: I've had a robbery attempt where I had to fight
the guys off with a gun.
I had people come through the ceiling,
come through the walls, come through the doors.
VAN ZELLER: That's why you have the surveillance cameras
here as well?
NNERG: Yeah. Yeah.
REPORTER: Suddenly, a man outside rushes in and opens fire.
One woman is killed, a man is wounded.
TOBY: I've been armed robbed, home‐invaded, burglarized.
VAN ZELLER: Really?
TOBY: I've been tied up, left naked, zip tied.
VAN ZELLER: No, really?
TOBY: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
VAN ZELLER: What's crazy is that the chaos swirling around
these dispensaries is just one of many unintended
consequences of legalization.
The legal supply chain is competing with a paralleled
universe of black market growers and distributors.
So who are the players making all of this money and
how are they getting away with it?
That's exactly what I want to know.
♪ ♪
One of the hot spots for growing marijuana is a place
you'd least expect.
The middle of the Mojave Desert.
How often do you guys do these raids?
RICH: Every week, we try and do between three and
twelve search warrants a week.
VAN ZELLER: Wow, that's a lot.
RICH: Yeah!
VAN ZELLER: Criminals can't grow it fast enough to satisfy
the high demand.
Luckily for them, marijuana is, well, a weed.
With the right know how, you can grow it almost anywhere.
This is it?
RICH: This is it.
VAN ZELLER: Okay. This is it, guys,
just be careful, slowly behind them.
Yeah.
RICH: Hit it.
(pounding)
OFFICER: Sheriff's department, search warrant.
Demand entry.
Sheriff's department, search warrant.
RICH: Go ahead. Moving up.
Clear the truck.
OFFICER: Clear. Take it, go, go, go, go.
Sheriff's department, search warrant.
Going through the rear.
Left center.
VAN ZELLER: Wow, there's a lot of plants.
It smells. Really strong smell.
They're currently looking for people they know that they are workers here,
people actually living in the trailer.
RICH: No one here.
VAN ZELLER: So you think they knew you guys were coming?
RICH: They may have seen us as we were driving in.
We'll count the plants,
we'll go in and cut them all down and
load them up in our trailer,
and then we're onto the next one.
VAN ZELLER: And this is your typical day on the job.
RICH: This is a typical day.
Yeah, we do this all day every day.
VAN ZELLER: Growing weed used to be a felony.
It's now a misdemeanor with just a $500 fine.
If you were risking it before legalization,
there's less cause for concern now than ever before.
Six gardens in this, just this location alone.
A street value of around half a million dollars.
It's created a new wild west green rush for
the 21st century.
♪ Give me that money, g‐g‐give me that money ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: And everyone is scrambling to get a piece of the pie.
SHERIFF: If you're successful at your marijuana grow,
you stand to profit quite handsomely.
♪ Give me that money, g‐g‐give me that money ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: The underground supply chain works like this,
growers from all over the state cultivate weed for three to four months,
then it's harvested and brought to the market,
where sellers meet buyers.
VAN ZELLER: We've been given a GPS location where we're going
to meet some people we don't have a lot of information.
Still not sure what we'll be given access to.
I'm heading to the weed cultivation epicenter in
Northern California.
An area that retains bragging rights for growing
some of the world's best bud.
This is like such an idyllic beautiful place, right?
It's not where you'd expect illegal stuff to be happening.
Or maybe it is the perfect place, actually.
Out in these remote hills, it's anyone's guess what's
waiting at the end of the road.
Okay. So, now,
we just stop here and wait for somebody to come and pick us up.
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: I've been in this situation a lot over the years,
heading to meet a contact.
It's a pretty secluded spot.
With no idea what I'm walking into.
Check this out, it says, "Smile, you're on camera."
Whoever is at the end of the road tends
to be packing heat.
Is it here?
Escorted by an armed entourage.
And generally suspicious of our intentions.
I think this is our guy.
Hi.
VAN ZELLER: Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having us.
VAN ZELLER: But the big boss man waiting for me
defies all these expectations.
BUDDY: Welcome, come on in.
VAN ZELLER: So this is your property, it's beautiful.
BUDDY: It sure is. I'm lucky.
VAN ZELLER: Buddy kicks off the grand tour.
And at a first glance, it hits every stoner cliche
you could think of.
Chill vibe, eccentric art, and of course,
a true love of the ganja.
BUDDY: I have been growing my whole life since
I was a teenager.
You know, selling pot in high school,
eighths and stuff.
But taken it seriously for the last 12 years.
VAN ZELLER: Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly
like a younger version of "The Dude" from
The Big Lebowski.
BUDDY: My whole entire life, yes.
VAN ZELLER: First off, there's his grow,
inside the garage.
BUDDY: I have 148 plants, $360,000, I think.
VAN ZELLER: $360,000 a year,
if you're lucky just from this room alone?
BUDDY: Just from this room.
VAN ZELLER: And out in the backyard.
Oh, wow.
BUDDY: Yup.
There's a vibration, there's frequency that we create that
the plants receive.
I tell all my employees that every tickle is a nickel.
Touch as many branches as you can.
Every time you touch them, you send them positive vibes
and that makes more money off of that plant.
VAN ZELLER: Every tickle is a nickel.
Legalization was supposed to grant outlaw growers like
Buddy a five‐year grace period to establish themselves before
big companies could get licensed.
Were you excited when you found out that it was
going to be legalized?
BUDDY: Not at all. I did not want it to be legal.
VAN ZELLER: Why not?
BUDDY: It wasn't protecting people like me.
VAN ZELLER: But the regulations undercut this
with a loophole allowing single growers to
obtain multiple permits.
BUDDY: Big business came right in and bought up tons of
property and really took over the industry.
VAN ZELLER: Smaller growers couldn't compete at that scale,
so only a tiny fraction of the estimated
60,000 outlaw growers like Buddy has gone legal.
BUDDY: We were all upset at the way the law was written.
We saw that it was just a corporate takeover.
VAN ZELLER: Huh.
BUDDY: I spent $60,000 on lawyers and permits only to
find out there's more permits and more hoops to jump through,
which they didn't explain.
VAN ZELLER: So the police could come in here right now
and you would have no warning that they were coming.
BUDDY: Exactly.
VAN ZELLER: Have they done that to you?
BUDDY: Oh, yeah.
I got raided on a 100 acre property that I was expanding.
Lost a quarter million dollars.
I lost 60 pounds of pot.
I've lost five pounds at a time.
10 pounds here.
VAN ZELLER: Hasn't that made you think that,
"Maybe I should continue trying to become legal."?
BUDDY: Not really. I pay my taxes.
I don't just, I just don't pay it to the IRS.
VAN ZELLER: Of the 60,000 estimated outlaw growers like
Buddy, only a tiny fraction have managed to get licensed.
♪ My heart ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: Many others have dropped out of the game entirely.
♪ Rolls out to you ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: With demand for weed higher than it's ever been,
dangerous criminals are rushing in to fill the void.
Do you think there will always be an illicit side
of this business?
BUDDY: So, everything in life, there's always going to be a
shadow in the bright light.
VAN ZELLER: There's one group of growers making even more money,
a group that few people know about.
YU: Good Morning VAN ZELLER: Good morning.
So this is it, huh?
YU: This is it.
The curtain here, you're gonna leave it.
And then behind that curtain, you're going to put plywood
VAN ZELLER: So the neighbors outside will see the curtains.
YU: Exactly.
VAN ZELLER: But in fact this is all hidden?
YU: Correct.
VAN ZELLER: This could be any family's dream home.
YU: You have water sources everywhere, so, you know,
watering the plants with the water pump and timer
would be ideal.
VAN ZELLER: But some home buyers have other intentions.
YU: This is where the biggest grow would take place.
VAN ZELLER: Tom Yu is a former gang detective with the LAPD.
He's raided hundreds of homes just like this one.
YU: The biggest activities of organized crimes is indoor
marijuana grows.
VAN ZELLER: Here in California's pricey real estate market,
criminals are shopping for homes exclusively
to grow weed.
YU: These groups of people, they don't want attention.
Their goal is to make money.
VAN ZELLER: And how much money can you make from an
indoor grow like this?
YU: Two or three million, minimum.
VAN ZELLER: A year? YU: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Wow, that's a lot of money.
YU: A lot of money.
And the punishment is virtually none.
VAN ZELLER: Lessened penalties have only emboldened growers
to expand operations.
And in return, caused law enforcement to
expand their crackdowns.
RICH: Well, we got several complaints from neighbors
about the smell of the marijuana.
Our guys went out there,
heard the humming from the equipment inside.
VAN ZELLER: So, you're pretty sure that there's an indoor
marijuana grow in there?
RICH: Yeah, my guys, they've, they're very rarely wrong.
VAN ZELLER: And in terms of the approach,
anything we should be cautious about?
RICH: These grows have been getting hit with a lot
of home invasion robberies.
So a lot of the growers have started to arm themselves.
So, we always keep in the back of our mind that
these guys could open fire, so.
VAN ZELLER: Hence the body armor?
RICH: Hence the body armor.
VAN ZELLER: This is police body cam footage of officers
executing a search warrant on a suspected grow house in
San Bernardino County, outside LA.
One example of many, many others.
OFFICER: Police, stay where you are.
In fast. Police!
VAN ZELLER: All across California,
authorities are busting multimillion dollar marijuana grows.
REPORTER: Hundreds of plants, rooms are now green houses
VAN ZELLER: Right in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
REPORTER: On this street alone the sheriff's department
identified seven problem houses.
YU: What the community don't want do is have a bunch indoor
marijuana grow in a community where their kids play outside.
OFFICER: They attract robberies, assaults.
YU: We've seen murders, we've seen kidnappings arising
from these type of individual grows.
VAN ZELLER: An average pot grow house draws an enormous
amount of electricity.
REPORTER: Holes drilled in walls for impromptu electrical
wiring and a bypass circuit breaker.
VAN ZELLER: Enough to rack up an electric bill costing
almost $100,000 a year.
But these criminal groups have a workaround for that too.
Using makeshift wiring,
they bypass the home's electric meter,
allowing them to draw power without being charged,
and more importantly, without drawing attention.
OFFICER: They're paying less power here than what would be
in an apartment.
VAN ZELLER: But even more surprising is who's growing
all of this illegal weed.
OFFICER: We have two Asian suspects in custody,
they are both from China.
VAN ZELLER: Since legalization,
the authorities have continued busting scores of
grow houses operated by Chinese syndicates.
REPORTER: Officers arrested two Chinese nationals at the home.
YU: I would say 99.9% of all indoor grows are Chinese
nationals or criminal enterprises.
REPORTER: A story involving drugs, guns,
millions of dollars, and a rocket launcher.
YU: We've seen everything from an AR‐15, to AK‐47s,
to your traditional semiautomatic,
you know, handguns.
VAN ZELLER: They fly the workers over,
put them up in a newly purchased home,
and task them with growing weed until their debt
is paid off.
RICH: They're working off almost indentured servitude.
VAN ZELLER: And when the people at the bottom are busted,
the top dogs simply move on to the next one.
YU: Unfortunately, 90% of apprehensions do not
involve the people on top.
They're insulated.
VAN ZELLER: Do you think these places will keep popping up?
YU: 100%.
If your demand is higher in a post‐legalized marijuana world.
So where does the supply come from?
It comes from dispensaries, or these type of engagements.
VAN ZELLER: The criminal underworld.
YU: Correct.
VAN ZELLER: Although the Chinese gangs are big players,
I want to see how the biggest ones operate.
I'm told the biggest black market growers are also not
from the United States.
They are the Mexican cartels.
And they're growing in our national forests.
VAN ZELLER: You may think of the Mexican cartels as
smuggling weed over the border,
the truth is they're planting it right here
in American soil.
Ironically, legalization has created a kind of
safe haven for them to operate in California.
We're heading to an area where cops are finding a lot of cartel grows,
where land is free and abundant.
Our national forests.
♪ When you are near me ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: They're literally just picking up and dropping two guys
at a time into the field, into the mountains there.
VAN ZELLER: Nowadays, if you head out for a hike,
you might just wander into a multimillion dollar drug operation.
OFFICER: Okay.
Do not drive forward in the (inaudible) okay?
(overlapping chatter)
RICH: Okay.
People don't bring their kids out here anymore because they
ran into cartel members with guns and they just were
fearful for their safety.
VAN ZELLER: Oh, wow!
RICH: So with all these plants standing up under this cover,
it's pretty much a little forest in here.
VAN ZELLER: And who's coming out here and growing this?
RICH: All of the forest grows that I've encountered have all
been Mexican nationals,
I've never seen anyone other than Mexican nationals
in the forest.
VAN ZELLER: It's estimated that at least 40% of all of
California's black market weed is growing on
public lands just like this.
RICH: So you see this bottle right here, carbofuran.
The skull and crossbones,
this has been banned in the United States because
it's so toxic.
VAN ZELLER: They leave in their wake a trail of
environmental damage,
dead animals, and toxic chemicals.
This is to stop the animals from eating the plants or
destroying the grow?
RICH: Yeah. Yeah.
They'll mix that carbofuran into the water supply.
And it's so toxic that about a quarter teaspoon will
kill a black bear.
So if we got a good dose of that, we're gonna die.
VAN ZELLER: Even with all of this stepped up enforcement,
the authorities are only able to eradicate 20%
of the state's harvest.
RICH: This is a good vantage point to just look out over
the valley and see all the different marijuana grows.
One there.
One right there. Another back there.
VAN ZELLER: Oh, my god.
They're not even trying to hide.
Are they dangerous? Are they armed usually?
RICH: They are definitely armed.
We've had hikers and hunters get guns pulled on them.
And we've had people get snatched up.
REPORTER: The raids have found growers that are heavily armed.
A game warden got shot through both legs with an AK 47.
SOLDIER: Don't move. Stay down! Stay down.
REPORTER (over TV): Shocking twist in the murder of an El Dorado
County Sheriff's deputy.
VAN ZELLER: The huge massive amount of product and cash
being generated by these operations has led to violence.
WOMAN: It's just getting really concerning and scary.
SHERIFF: To say that the California laws that have been
passed are gonna be able to adequately deal with
this situation is a fallacy.
VAN ZELLER: The profits from illegal weed growing on our public lands,
is helping the cartels pay for all manner
of sinister operations.
MAN: The single biggest source of the money for the guys with
the horrific violence along the border on the Mexican side
and now our side now are making it from marijuana.
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: No matter if it's Mexican cartels,
Chinese home growers, or outlaws like Buddy,
the most dangerous part of the game is the next link
in the supply chain.
Distribution.
When millions of dollars of product and cash
are in the same location at the same time.
So do you think they're catering for the weed
businesses around here?
SARAH: Oh, for sure.
The distro that I work out of, there's people selling
hundreds of pounds a day in that one location.
VAN ZELLER: I'm meeting a contact in an area she says is
the distribution epicenter of the state's multi‐billion dollar
black market.
Ironically, this few blocks in downtown LA where it all goes
down is just around the corner from the hall of justice.
SARAH: People that I meet all the time in business are
telling me that they have distros downtown.
VAN ZELLER: Sarah's what you call a small fish.
She works as a trimmer inside distribution warehouses
in this area.
Some legal, and some not, so we're hiding her identity.
SARAH: We're going to meet George,
who is a big player in this industry.
He has several distributions moving millions of dollars a
day of product.
VAN ZELLER: That's right.
$1 million a day.
This is the big leagues.
But even with so much on the line,
her contact has agreed, reluctantly, to meet with me.
I know that you've been trying to help us get access
to this world.
How long have you been trying to convince him?
SARAH: For about two months.
VAN ZELLER: Has George made any requests in terms of what
we can and cannot film?
SARAH: Yeah, a pre‐mixed vocal changer.
VAN ZELLER: So not only does he want us to distort his
voice once this episode airs,
he also wants to distort his voice immediately.
SARAH: Exactly.
VAN ZELLER: That's the first time we've ever been asked to do that.
SARAH: Yeah, people are scared in this industry.
VAN ZELLER: Okay.
♪ ♪
(sirens)
VAN ZELLER: This is sort of a distribution center for weed?
VAN ZELLER: I found my way inside a distribution
warehouse in LA, in an area considered the heart of the
marijuana black market.
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: One of the big players in that world.
Someone I'm told moves more than $1 million worth of
product daily, has agreed to meet me.
Well, kind of.
Okay. We ready?
GEORGE: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: So I'm currently in an empty room and
in front of a table with nine pounds of all sorts of
different kinds of weed.
George, I'm just explaining what's happening to the camera
because it feels really weird that it's just me here,
so I'm just explaining.
GEORGE: Yeah. Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: George didn't want his actual voice recorded.
George is actually out of view.
Didn't feel comfortable being on camera.
But he can hear me because of my mic.
So we're using a voice changer that alters it
while he speaks.
If I were a buyer, I would come in here,
you'd have all these bags out here with the different samples.
They look at it, smell it.
GEORGE: Yeah. Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Possibly try it. Smoke it.
VAN ZELLER: And then they place orders. Is that it?
GEORGE: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: On the table is a variety of high‐end,
exotic indoor and outdoor weed.
Each pound bag costs between $2,000 and $4,000.
What's the largest order you've ever received?
GEORGE: I mean...
VAN ZELLER: Just one order that size is worth around $1 million.
How much money is there to be made in illegal weed?
VAN ZELLER: I decide not to push it.
So, George, you operate just as a black market business or
do you operate also in legal business?
VAN ZELLER: A licensed as well.
If you were to give me a general sense of how much
money you make with your legal versus your illegal business,
what would you say?
VAN ZELLER: Wow.
VAN ZELLER: So why operate a legal business if you're not
even making any money out of that?
VAN ZELLER: You know, you don't feel comfortable with
even being in the same room;
why do you think there is so much fear and mistrust?
VAN ZELLER: Do you carry a gun?
VAN ZELLER: Okay. So I think we're close guys.
Getting people to talk to us has been insanely hard but we got sent a location,
somewhere downtown where we're going to
meet with someone.
Not entirely sure who yet.
Unlike George, who operates on both sides of the law,
I'm told that this new contact runs a distribution warehouse
that is 100% illegal, it's known as a trap house
and it's just a few blocks away.
Oh, here, is it here?
But the only other information I'm given is
where to meet him.
Kind of looks like a, just a parking structure.
At first glance, there's nothing out of the ordinary.
Are we sure this is the right place?
But once we reach the top, I can't believe my eyes.
(sirens)
(sirens and horns)
VAN ZELLER: I'm meeting a contact who supposedly
operates a trap house selling bulk purchases in
the weed black market.
This is very strange.
It turns out this location is more than just
a meeting point.
They're looking at us.
I would put cameras down.
It's the trap house itself.
Hi, how are you? Mariana. Nice to meet you.
(overlapping chatter).
VAN ZELLER: Right there, at the top of this random parking
garage in downtown LA,
they're dealing millions of dollars' worth of illegal weed.
CASPER: You're more beautiful than I thought.
VAN ZELLER: Oh, thank you. You're making me blush right off the bat.
CASPER: I might have to ask,
I might have to ask you out on a date.
VAN ZELLER: Depends on how you answer my questions.
CASPER: Oh, okay. Okay.
VAN ZELLER: Wait, so this is your place?
CASPER: Uh, maybe.
VAN ZELLER: Their operation is so brazenly out in the open,
that I'm amazed they can pull it off.
CASPER: So, yo, why are you doing this though?
For real?
VAN ZELLER: Why am I doing this?
CASPER: Yeah. And are you the cops?
VAN ZELLER: No, I am not the cops.
CASPER: Are you, are you, are you DEA?
VAN ZELLER: No, I'm not DEA.
But as we talk,
they lay out the upside to a location like this.
So you sell.
Is this sort of like a distribution center?
CASPER: This business is based on a black market model.
We're a trap.
You know what I mean?
A glorified trap house.
VAN ZELLER: It's kind of like the Costco for weed.
Ample parking, bulk purchases, and lots of free samples.
So people come in here.
And that's what we're seeing?
These customers coming up here and buying weed from you guys?
CASPER: Yeah, they come in and they donate their funds and capital.
And they get to leave with some great flowers and products.
VAN ZELLER: Weed grown all over California.
By outlaws like Buddy, the Mexican cartels,
the Chinese syndicates,
it all ends up moving through an underground
distro just like this.
How much money do you think is made here every day?
CASPER: Um, it pays the bills.
Pays the bills.
VAN ZELLER: I mean, it does more than just pay the bills, I assume?
CASPER: What would you say, what we're doing?
MAN: 700,000 a week.
VAN ZELLER: 700,000 a week?
No.
CASPER: I mean, this is a billion dollar industry, so, you know,
I'm just somebody getting a little piece of the pie.
You know, a little small piece.
VAN ZELLER: Their shelves are stocked with the bags
of what looks like brand‐named marijuana.
Some of the same kinds that I've seen sold at legal dispensaries.
We have no way to confirm.
But they swear it's the real deal.
And if it is, then buyers are getting some of the world's
best weed without having to pay a cent of those hefty taxes.
So the weed that you sell here, where does it go?
CASPER: I really don't know.
I don't, I don't, I don't ask any questions.
VAN ZELLER: I mean, if they're buying this amount,
all these pounds, they're probably going and reselling it, right?
CASPER: Yeah. The black market businesses, that's what you do.
You buy tennis shoes at one price,
and you flip it and sell it for another price.
VAN ZELLER: In the supply chain,
think of it as the place that dealers go to get their weed
in bulk before selling it to individual consumers.
Do you guys, because we were able to pretty much
just drive up.
Do you guys have lookouts?
Do you have people knowing who comes in and out?
CASPER: Yeah. I mean, there's a,
there's a strategic system in place.
VAN ZELLER: Is that your security guard behind you?
CASPER: No.
VAN ZELLER: This guy stands, with the gun behind you?
CASPER: That's not a gun. VAN ZELLER: That's what? CASPER: That's not a gun.
VAN ZELLER: That's not a gun? What is it?
CASPER: I don't know. VAN ZELLER: Okay.
CASPER: I can be honest with you though.
VAN ZELLER: Please. CASPER: I got things around.
And if there's a problem, somebody's going to be
attentive to it, for real.
VAN ZELLER: Got it. Okay. I won't ask you again then.
CASPER: Aw, you're so sweet.
I knew you were sweet.
I'm about to get that date, I'm telling you.
VAN ZELLER: I asked if I can talk to any of the buyers,
but he's not willing to risk losing a potential client.
Do you, would you want to be legalized?
Would you want to run a legal operation, if you could?
CASPER: Yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Or do you prefer the black market?
CASPER: No, I'd rather go legal.
VAN ZELLER: So, what do you think would happen to you if you got caught?
VAN ZELLER: Why do you say it's a risky business?
CASPER: Because firepower.
VAN ZELLER: Hmm. Guns.
CASPER: Right now, you know, its jungle rules.
You know, the bigger dog wins.
VAN ZELLER: Still, after seeing the massive size of this operation,
the question remains, who's buying all of this weed?
And where is it headed?
♪ ♪
VAN ZELLER: I still have one question that I need to answer.
So, I'm heading to an old connection.
So we're meeting a guy I know here in LA that traffics guns,
and fentanyl, and meth, and a bunch of other drugs.
There's police everywhere.
Dude, I can totally smell it from here.
(Juan laughs)
Right?
JUAN: Yes, ma'am.
VAN ZELLER: I've been all over the state working my way
through the supply chain.
What I want to know is where is all this weed going?
So what do you have here, Juan?
JUAN: Got a little bit of crystal meth.
VAN ZELLER: Is that a pound?
JUAN: Yeah. It's about a pound right here.
We got a little bit of different types of marijuana.
We got a little bit of everything, you know.
VAN ZELLER: In the ten years that you've been in business,
what's made you most money?
JUAN: The marijuana.
VAN ZELLER: Where do you get it from?
JUAN: Different sources. Can't say.
VAN ZELLER: But do you grow it or do you buy it?
JUAN: Yeah, we buy it in bulk.
VAN ZELLER: And then you package it.
JUAN: Mm‐hmm.
VAN ZELLER: Is this your packaging?
JUAN: Yes, ma'am.
VAN ZELLER: And then you sell it.
JUAN: Yeah, this right here is about an ounce.
VAN ZELLER: Ooh. That's so intense. That is...
JUAN: Yes, this is the good stuff right here.
(knock)
Oh, excuse me. I got somebody, real quick.
VAN ZELLER: Is it a client? JUAN: Yes. VAN ZELLER: Customer?
JUAN: Yes, ma'am. Come on in, guys.
MAN: How are you, brother? JUAN: Pretty good. Pretty good.
VAN ZELLER: Hi, how are you? MAN: All right.
JUAN: I hope you guys don't mind,
I'm doing a little documentary in here.
VAN ZELLER: Hi, Mariana. MAN: Yeah. Yeah. JUAN: But we Good. We good.
VAN ZELLER: Obviously, you guys are covered already. So, you know.
MAN: It's that COVID. We gotta be like this.
MAN 2: Right.
MAN: Oh, yeah.
VAN ZELLER: Uh, do you guys live in LA?
MEN: Nah.
VAN ZELLER: Oh? You, where?
MAN: We live in the south side Brooklyn.
MAN: We live in the, yeah. VAN ZELLER: Where? MAN: South side of Brooklyn.
VAN ZELLER: You're from New York?
MAN: Hell yeah.
VAN ZELLER: What, did you come all the way to
California to buy weed?
MAN: Hell yeah. VAN ZELLER: You serious? MAN: Yeah.
♪ Do‐do‐do‐do‐do‐do‐do ♪
♪ This is... ♪♪
MAN: Light that up.
VAN ZELLER: In fact, up to 80% of the weed grown in
California ends up in the hands and the lungs of consumers
outside the state.
MAN: So what kind of questions you wanted to ask me?
VAN ZELLER: So you're going to fly with, or do you fly or do you drive back?
MAN: I get it back... VAN ZELLER: My mind is blown. So do you fly?
VAN ZELLER: You teleport? MAN: Teleport.
VAN ZELLER: That means you don't want to answer my question?
MAN: That means we teleport.
VAN ZELLER: That's the weed talking right here.
MAN: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
♪ You held me tight, you felt desire ♪♪
VAN ZELLER: Transporting weed over state lines is a felony.
MAN: Gotta risk it to get the biscuit.
You know what I'm saying?
VAN ZELLER: Their preferred destinations?
JUAN: Here we go.
VAN ZELLER: States where weed is still illegal.
BUDDY: They'll end up close to East Coast or Midwest,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida.
REPORTER (over TV): The drugs were found inside a car being hauled
cross country from California.
YU: And it will go as far as flushing New York, to Atlanta.
REPORTER: The drugs were headed to New Jersey.
VAN ZELLER: Where it sells for double, even triple the price.
MICKEY: Where you're really going to make your money is in
black market in other states.
MAN: The marijuana in California is about
$1,000 a pound.
MICKEY: Ships it, drives it, sends it, wherever it's illegal.
MAN: Once you get to Alabama,
the price may be $3,500 per pound.
VAN ZELLER: The way it's transported.
MAN: Every way you can possibly think of.
Air. Mail. Train. Bus. Mules.
MAN 2: RVs.
With the people that put it in their luggage on airplanes.
Grandma's driving.
I mean, literally, if there was camels,
it would be camels.
VAN ZELLER: But I'm told if you're truly a big player in the game,
you're in the trucking business.
REPORTER (over TV): Police unloaded 500 pounds of marijuana from a semi,
REPORTER 2 (over TV): 60 bags piled high with marijuana.
REPORTER 3 (over TV): The drug sniffing dog pointed police to boxes of
narcotics in the trailer.
MICKEY: You put on a shirt, tie,
put a little cross in the rearview mirror.
And if you get pulled over when you're driving pounds of
weed, you just go,
"I know that God brought you here for a reason.
Do you believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?"
VAN ZELLER: Since 2012, recreational marijuana
legalization continues to gain approval at the ballot box,
one state after another.
If California is any indication,
get ready for some black market grows in your forests
and in the house next door.
That is if they aren't there already.
BUDDY: We're all black market and we always will be.
VAN ZELLER: One thing seems certain.
Until the US decides to legalize weed nationwide.
OFFICER: Sheriff's department, search warrant!
VAN ZELLER: The outlaws will have the upper hand.
SHAGGY: The black market will be here as long as the legal
market keeps screwing up.
VAN ZELLER: Did you think that legalization was going to
change anything?
RICH: I honestly thought that, "Okay, that's it. The marijuana team is done.
There won't be any need for them anymore."
OFFICER: Sheriff's department, search warrant!
Search warrant. Search warrant.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.