NYC Drug Kingpin Turned Weed CEO | The Hidden Third with Mariana van Zeller

At 11 years old, Coss Marte was hustling on the streets of New York City's Lower East Side. By 17, he was making over $2 million running what he claims was the first 24/7 drug delivery operation in NYC — bringing cocaine and weed on demand across the five boroughs. Then a betrayal inside his own team brought the entire empire down, and he was suddenly facing up to 25 years in federal prison. Behind bars, a doctor delivered a brutal warning: his cholesterol was dangerously high, and unless he completely changed his lifestyle, he would have a heart attack before turning 30. Faced with that reality — and a transformative experience in solitary confinement — Coss made a decision that would change his life. He started working out in his cell, recruited fellow inmates to join him every day, and lost 70 pounds. He also did something most people in his position never do: he wrote a business plan. That plan became ConBody — a gym concept built on the discipline and intensity of a prison workout, staffed entirely by formerly incarcerated people. But the story doesn't end there. Coss is now back to selling drugs — this time legally. His cannabis dispensary ConBud has multiple locations across NYC, including one on the exact corner of the Lower East Side where he once dealt illegally. The same neighborhood. The same hustle. A completely different life. This is a story about reinvention, resilience, and what it really takes to rebuild from zero. 0:00 - Intro 0:27 - Growing up Dominican in the Lower East Side 4:55 - From bodega worker to teenage drug kingpin 13:12 - Getting arrested over 300 times by NYPD 20:35 - Running NYC's first 24-hour drug delivery operation 31:25 - The day the DEA took down his empire 42:03 - Facing life in prison on LSD in court 46:06 - Surviving Rikers Island and the gangs 56:12 - First day upstate: fighting for respect 1:03:36 - The doctor's warning that changed everything 1:04:35 - The shock program: ex-Marines breaking inmates 1:12:32 - Beaten by guards and thrown in solitary 1:15:01 - The miracle stamp that fell from the Bible 1:22:24 - Released with $40 and a bus ticket 1:26:12 - ConBody: turning prison workouts into a business 1:29:03 - From illegal dealer to legal dispensary owner 1:35:07 - Selling weed legally on his old drug corner 1:40:30 - Speaking at the UN about criminal justice reform 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: @marianavanzeller Instagram: Instagram: thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj... MARIANA: TikTok: TikTok: mariana_vanzeller Instagram: Instagram: marianavz