THE SYNDICATE

A narrative podcast series from Foxtopus Ink and Imperative Entertainment

 
 

Buried cash. DEA moles. Sibling rivalries. Skydiving planes. Armed robberies. Cocaine. Partying. Fast cars. And an exploding hash lab. A group of college friends took advantage of Colorado’s medical marijuana laws to create one of the longest, most lucrative smuggling runs in U.S. history. Under the guise of running medical marijuana grow houses, the group trafficked thousands of pounds of pot out of state for sale on the black market—and raked in cash. So much that it filled up their closets and offices. They threw bags of money with GPS trackers off cliffs in the Rocky Mountains with the intention of picking them up later.

The good times couldn’t last. When a drug mule flipped, the whole scheme came tumbling down. Within months, SWAT team officers and DEA agents kicked down the doors of 32 individuals around Denver. In the ensuing plea deals and manhunts—what has become known as “Operation Golden Go-Fer”—the Feds realized that the smugglers had redefined what it means to be a criminal organization in the era of legal weed and that the marijuana black market is not just evolving, but thriving. Welcome to The Syndicate.

 

“Flying into town, cocaine, girls, booze…I mean, we were exchanging half a million dollars at a time.”
– Joe Johnson.

About Chris

 
Syndicate-7.jpeg
 

Chris Walker is the host of The Syndicate and an award-winning journalist based in Denver, Colorado. His reporting has spanned four continents for publications including The Atlantic, Playboy, Atavist Magazine, VICE, NPR, Rock and Ice, Forbes, and LA Weekly, among others.

Walker currently serves as an associate editor at 5280 Magazine. Previously, he was a staff writer with Denver's alternative weekly, Westword, where he specialized in narrative longform stories. Those ranged from investigative pieces about immigration detention and police surveillance to more adventurous dives into Denver’s secret LSD laboratories during the 1960s and how “pirate DJs” in the Rocky Mountains took on the F.C.C. with illegal radio broadcasts.

Walker’s website, list of journalism awards, and work can be found at www.chrisallanwalker.com.