Game Warden Shot by Cartel Grower in First Officer Shooting on U.S. Marijuana Operation
"One shot went off ahead of us, and it wasn't from one of our guns. And this was like a medium bore, like a.30 caliber, like an AK or a 30-30. Fired one shot, and then I heard my young warden partner, a year out of the academy, and this is his first raid, all fired up and mojo goes, I'm hit. Starts yelling a bunch of profanity. The fucker hit me. And then he just dropped. He's on the ground, he's down, but he's not panicking. 4 holes, Danny. And, you know, a grapefruit size of tissue on his inner right leg missing and a big exit wound out of the right."
About this episode
In this episode, host Danny Jones sits down with retired California game warden John Nores, who spent nearly 30 years battling Mexican and Chinese cartel operations on American public lands. Nores recounts how a routine wildlife enforcement career transformed into a hidden war after he discovered armed Sinaloa Cartel growers operating near Silicon Valley in 2004. The conversation centers on a shocking 2005 incident in which one of Nores' officers was shot by cartel gunmen during a raid in the Los Gatos foothills, marking the first time any U.S. law enforcement officer had been shot by marijuana growers tied to organized crime. Nores explains how cartel operations employ EPA-banned nerve agent insecticides like carbofuran on marijuana crops, killing endangered wildlife and sickening officers, while producing poison-tainted weed that floods the black market nationwide. He reveals that a captured Sinaloa plaza boss openly referred to California as 'Mexico North' and detailed how deported growers are smuggled back across the border within days for as little as four thousand dollars. The episode takes a geopolitical turn as Nores describes recent Chinese cartel involvement, explaining that Chinese criminal organizations now partner with Mexican cartels to dominate black market marijuana while laundering fentanyl cash and supplying precursor chemicals from mainland China. Nores, who now lives in Montana, warns that as the southern border tightened under recent enforcement, cartel operations have shifted to the largely undefended 5,000-mile northern border, where fentanyl is manufactured in Canadian labs and walked across remote forest trails into American communities. He criticizes California's Proposition 64 for reducing illegal growing penalties from felonies to misdemeanors, effectively eliminating deterrence and allowing cartel grows to explode across multiple states. Throughout, Nores calls for national prioritization of the issue, arguing it represents the greatest domestic threat to American wildlife, public lands, and youth safety.
Key takeaways
- Nores' officer was shot with an AK-47 by Sinaloa Cartel growers in 2005 near Silicon Valley, the first such shooting in U.S. history involving marijuana operations.
- Cartel marijuana operations use EPA-banned nerve agents like carbofuran in concentrated doses, killing endangered species and sickening law enforcement officers who raid sites.
- A captured Sinaloa plaza boss told Nores that cartels refer to California as 'Mexico North' and can smuggle deported growers back across the border for $4,000 to $7,000 in under a week.
- Chinese criminal organizations have partnered with Mexican cartels to dominate U.S. black market weed while offering cheaper money laundering and supplying fentanyl precursors from mainland China.
- As southern border enforcement tightened, cartel operations shifted to the largely undefended 5,000-mile northern border where fentanyl is now manufactured in Canada and trafficked across remote forest trails.
- California's Proposition 64 reduced illegal growing from a felony to a misdemeanor, eliminating deterrence and enabling cartel operations to explode across multiple states including Oklahoma, Maine, and Michigan.
- Nores co-founded California's Marijuana Enforcement Team after multiple officer-involved shootings and advocates for treating cartel grows as a national security priority requiring coordinated federal response.