An extended conversation with drug historian Emily Dufton about history of cannabis in the United States, the protagonists who shaped it, and what we might expect for nationwide legalization going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first bonus episode, Special Agent Steve Bratten with the Colorado Department of Revenue discusses the prior cases and investigative techniques he devised that informed his investigation of the Syndicate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lifelong friendships and familial bonds shatter as law enforcement pressures members of the Syndicate into ratting on one another to avoid lengthy prison sentences. But looking back, did their outcomes consitute justice? And what did “Operation Golden Go-Fer” mean for marijuana's black market? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Joe Johnson flips and becomes an informant, the noose starts to tighten around the Syndicate. In October 2014, police execute 18 simultaneous search warrants, bringing down the entire enterprise with SWAT teams and over a hundred armed police officers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The backstory of the Syndicate's kingpin. We explore Tri's motivations, his history with the Syndicate's key distributor in Minnesota, and why he reacted the way he did when things in Denver started to go terribly sideways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even as the Syndicate hits its stride as an illegal operation, Tri sets up a big play to go legal. He wants to leave the black market forever. But what will it take -- and what will the Syndicate sacrifice in order to go legit?

Even as the Syndicate's growing network expands, distribution remains a problem. Getting the organization’s product across state borders is as risky as it is profitable. And early on, the Syndicate goes through growing pains and personnel issues.

Tri takes his marijuana business from a cottage industry to full scale industrialization with growing facilities all over Denver. The weed mogul also devises ways to perfect his "caregiving" model to fool cannabis regulators, all the while hiding his criminal activities in plain sight.

Andrew Cohen moves to Colorado to help his longtime college friend Tri Nguyen start a marijuana business. But when Tri throws a duffle bag filled with cash and a GPS tracker off the side of a mountain in the Rockies, Cohen begins to realize the business is not exactly above-board.

In June 2014, a Kansas State Patrolman pulls over a minivan on a routine traffic stop, only to discover $374,000, a gun, and 66 pounds of pot stuffed into the rear luggage compartment. The roadside bust seems insignificant, but will ultimately lead to the takedown of a multimillion dollar criminal enterprise. Welcome to The Syndicate.

A group of college friends gamed Colorado’s marijuana laws and made millions in the most sophisticated black market growing operation we’ve seen in America since states began legalizing pot. This 10-episode, narrative podcast follows the group’s rise... and spectacular fall. Series launches August 11.