#580 - Mariana van Zeller on Gaining Cartel Trust, Scammers & US Drug Crisis
Bobby Bones Presents: The BobbyCast
Nashville Podcast Network
4.8 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller joins Bobby to break down what it really takes to gain the trust of cartels operating in and around the U.S. and why no story is ever worth a life. She shares what she’s learned embedding with traffickers, how drugs move through America, and why the crisis isn’t just criminal, it's public health. They also dive into the psychology of scammers, from international fraud rings to headline-making con artists, and debate whether the people behind these crimes see themselves as villains at all. It’s a conversation about power, opportunism, corruption, and the uncomfortable truth about America’s role in fueling it all.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:10.7 | It wasn't safe for us to leave Sinaloa |
| 0:13.4 | cartel territory, so we actually stayed with them until that night |
| 0:17.1 | and spent a day filming them while they did cocaine |
| 0:20.4 | and showed us their cash of guns. |
| 0:24.9 | Hey everybody, Bobby Bones here. My next guest is really one of the most legit people I've ever met. |
| 0:31.7 | It's Mariana Van Zeller. Just some of her accolades. She's an Emmy and a P.Bot Award-winning investigative |
| 0:37.3 | journalist. She has gone and done it Peabot Award-winning investigative journalist. |
| 0:38.5 | She has gone and done it all. |
| 0:40.8 | Like we talk about the cartel where she was with the cartel. |
| 0:43.2 | But she hosted a show called Trafficked on Nat Geo. |
| 0:47.8 | And it was everything from cartel to like black market to it's crazy. |
| 0:54.1 | You should go and watch those if you can because they're so good she has a podcast that i feel like as a version of that as well just a little more long form it's called the hidden third and she sits down with people i'm talking smugglers hackers survivors whistleblowers but just about her she she speaks five languages. She rides motorcycles. I am constantly |
| 1:16.0 | in fear for her life, and she is not, which we talk about. But she's really one of the coolest |
| 1:20.6 | people that I know. I think you're going to love this. Here she is, Mariana Van Zeller. |
| 1:26.1 | I've been super excited to do this one, but I want to say ahead of time, I'm going to ask questions |
| 1:30.5 | that seem of probably lesser intelligence, and it's not on purpose. |
| 1:35.3 | Like, I'm not asking these questions to be a dumb guy. |
| 1:39.0 | I think in some of these worlds that you live in, I am a dumb guy. |
| 1:42.8 | So I'm not being funny. |
| 1:44.1 | I think most people are |
... |
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