Retired Lt. John Nores spent 28 years as a California game warden, and most of that career fighting a hidden war most Americans don’t know is happening. In 2005, he was ambushed by cartel gunmen in the mountains above Silicon Valley, within eyesight of the eBay campus. His partner took an AK-47 round through both legs and nearly bled out waiting three hours for rescue. Out of that day came the Marijuana Enforcement Team or MET, the elite tactical unit Nores co-founded and led for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
He talks about what it’s like to walk into a cartel grow on public land, the banned nerve agent poisons killing wildlife and watersheds, poisoned cannabis reaching legal dispensary shelves and unwitting consumers, the billion gallons of water stolen every year, trafficked workers imprisoned at grow sites, the Chinese crime groups partnering with Mexican cartels, the war’s shifting front to the Northern border and tribal lands, and the full story of what happened on August 5, 2005.
John Nores is the author of Hidden War and War in the Woods, a recipient of the Governor’s Medal of Valor, star of three seasons of Nat Geo’s Wild Justice, and co-host of the Thin Green Line podcast. He founded El Oasis, a nonprofit sheltering orphaned children in Baja, Mexico. Now retired, he lives in Montana with his family.
Sponsored by Ranch Vision — Profit planning software for grazing operators. Sign up now for a free 2-week trial, no credit card required!
Show Notes
Read John Nores’ books:
Hidden War, 2nd Edition (foreword by Jack Carr):
Follow John:
Instagram: @johnnores
Mentioned in this episode:
John’s congressional testimony, “Securing Our Border: Saving Our National Parks,” House Committee on Natural Resources
His second testimony, “Cartel Impacts to Tribal Lands throughout America”
NARCOFORNIA, Daily Caller documentary featuring John Nores
Nat Geo’s Wild Justice, three seasons featuring John Nores and the MET
Hippies & Cowboys: The Murder of Mendocino County Rancher Dick Drewry, my written investigation into an unsolved killing on Bell Springs Road
High Country Murder, the documentary short streaming free at Real Clear Politics, directed by Keely Covello & Michaela Gillies
Show credits:
Produced and edited by Josh Woolwine
Intro by Josh Woolwine
