Drug Lord

Download Drug Lord PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN 13 : 1459617509
Total Pages : 514 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (596 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Drug Lord by : Terrence E. Poppa

Download or read book Drug Lord written by Terrence E. Poppa and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty years after writing Drug Lord, Terrence Poppa decided the information in his book was more important than ever. In an important interview with the Texas Tribune, Poppa explains that ''the Mexico that I wrote about in the book describes the old order of things: Mexico under the PRI. In that sense, the book was out of date, because how drug trafficking operated under the PRI is completely different than how it works today in a new Mexico, under the democratically transformed Mexico...There has been a decoupling of the highest levels of power from drug trafficking now. It's important for people to understand that, so I had to bring the book up to date.''

Coming Clean

Download Coming Clean PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1450046606
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (5 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Coming Clean by : Jorge L. Valdés

Download or read book Coming Clean written by Jorge L. Valdés and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2008-05-13 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I was a walking bankroll, wearing $150,000 worth of jewelry and carrying as much as $40,000 cash in my pockets. Yet my friends asked: "how are you doing?" I'd sometimes reply, "miserable. I hate every second of my life, and I do not know why." Jorge ValdesAll his dreams for wealth and power came true. Then the nightmare began.As a young man in his twenties with an insatiable thirst for money and power, Jorge Valdes worked his way up inside Colombia's powerful Medellin drug cartel. His key position as head of U.S. Operations brought him into direct contact with presidents, generals, Hollywood celebrities, hired killers and kidnappers. This Cuban immigrant, raised in poverty, was living the high life in more ways than one. His deeds took him from the lap of luxury to the depths of prison and back again.Then an incredible thing happened: Jorge Valdes encountered a person much more powerful than the strongest drug lord, someone who offered something more satisfying than women, drugs, money, prestige and power.Reading more like a fast paced novel of intrigue than a traditional biography, coming clean: the true story of a cocaine drug lord and his unexpected encounter offers an insider's view of the drug industry and the greed that drives it. Told that he would never be anything but a twice convicted drug dealer; today, dr. Jorge l. Valdes, who holds a master degree from Wheaton college and a PhD. In new testament studies from Loyola University in Chicago, is a renowned national speaker who brings a message of hope, forgiveness and the power to change. He has been featured in numerous magazine covers and appeared in many national and international television and radio programs.

Druglord

Download Druglord PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Druglord by : Terrence E. Poppa

Download or read book Druglord written by Terrence E. Poppa and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A first-hand account of drug kingpin Pablo Acosta.

Kings of Cocaine

Download Kings of Cocaine PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Garrett County Press
ISBN 13 : 1891053345
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Kings of Cocaine by : Guy Gugliotta

Download or read book Kings of Cocaine written by Guy Gugliotta and published by Garrett County Press. This book was released on 2011-07-16 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s they controlled more than fifty percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive -- supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a rag tag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings as they stumbled from small-time suitcase smuggling to levels of unimaginable sophistication and daring. The $2 billion dollar system eventually became so complex that it required the manipulation of world leaders, corruption of revolutionary movements and the worst kind of violence to protect.

El Chapo

Download El Chapo PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982133759
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis El Chapo by : Noah Hurowitz

Download or read book El Chapo written by Noah Hurowitz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning investigation of the life and legend of Mexican kingpin Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, building on Noah Hurowitz’s revelatory coverage for Rolling Stone of El Chapo’s federal drug-trafficking trial. This is the true story of how El Chapo built the world’s wealthiest and most powerful drug-trafficking operation, based on months’ worth of trial testimony and dozens of interviews with cartel gunmen, Mexican journalists and political figures, Chapo’s family members, and the DEA agents who brought him down. Over the course of three decades, El Chapo was responsible for smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, meth, and fentanyl around the world, becoming in the process the most celebrated and reviled drug lord since Pablo Escobar. El Chapo waged ruthless wars against his rivals and former allies, plunging vast areas of Mexico into unprecedented levels of violence, even as many in his home state of Sinaloa continued to view him as a hero. This unputdownable book, written by a great new talent, brings El Chapo’s exploits into a focus that previous profiles have failed to capture. Hurowitz digs in deep beyond the legends and delves into El Chapo’s life and legacy—not just the hunt for him, revealing some of the most dramatic and often horrifying moments of his notorious career, including the infamous prison escapes, brutal murders, multi-million-dollar government payoffs, and the paranoia and narcissism that led to his downfall. From the evolution of organized crime in Mexico to the militarization of the drug war to the devastation wrought on both sides of the border by the introduction of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, this book is a gripping and comprehensive work of investigative, on-the-ground reporting.

El Chapo

Download El Chapo PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Arcturus Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1839405244
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (394 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis El Chapo by : Terry Burrows

Download or read book El Chapo written by Terry Burrows and published by Arcturus Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-09 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The diminutive Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known universally by his nickname of 'El Chapo' ('Shorty' in Spanish), is the highest-profile narco-terrorist since the demise of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s. Loera began work at the age of nine as a gomero - a farmhand harvesting opium - and as he grew up he shot and murdered his way to the top. In 2009, he made the Forbes annual billionaires list and, before his capture by Mexican marines in 2016, the Sinaloa cartel which he commanded was turning over more than $11 billion in annual sales to North America, supplying more than 10 per cent of all illegal narcotics used on that continent. This made him Public Enemy Number One in the USA. El Chapo was among the most powerful individuals in the world. In Sinaloa, he was a folk hero and the subject of popular songs known as 'narcocorridos'. Meanwhile, America's Drug Enforcement Agency (the DEA) had sworn to hunt him down. Featuring the remarkable tale of El Chapo's arrest in Guatemala in 1993, how he continued to run his cartel from his cell in a Mexican jail and his subsequent escape in a prison laundry cart, along with his recapture in 2014, and ultimate extradition to the US for the Trial of the Century, this book gives you the inside track on the dog-eat-dog world of international drugs trafficking.

I Am a Drug Lord

Download I Am a Drug Lord PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781915711007
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Am a Drug Lord by :

Download or read book I Am a Drug Lord written by and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a unique and unbelievable first-hand account of how one man fought his way to the top of the criminal underworld - and what he needed to do to stay there. As you read this, someone somewhere is buying drugs. Across the globe, millions of people are involved in the brutal, cold-blooded world of drug dealing, but only a small number make life-changing money. Only a few get to the top, make the calls, know how it all works and truly become drugs lords. And even fewer survive. I know because I am one of those drug lords. After thirty years, I've decided to retire and tell the story of how I got to the top of this tainted profession, what's involved in being a serious criminal, the tricks of the trade, the art of the deal and what it really takes to stay alive for so long.

Pablo Escobar

Download Pablo Escobar PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781540885005
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (85 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Pablo Escobar by : Luke Johnson

Download or read book Pablo Escobar written by Luke Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of infamous leader of the Medellin Cartel and one of the world's most successful drug dealers, Pablo Escobar. See how a common street thug, became one of the wealthiest people in the world, that promoted his interests with murder, torture and terrorism. Here's some of what you'll find in this book... The Violence that Formed Escobar into a ruthless leader and drug trafficker, the heroic men that died pursuing Escobar. Interesting insights into the life of Escobar from his family and close associates The Money, Sex and Cocaine, See the death and destruction one man can create, on the altar of greed. Meet the man that changed the face of drug enforcement forever, See how a single organization managed to control an entire county with bribes, torture and death.

Hunting El Chapo

Download Hunting El Chapo PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062663097
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (626 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hunting El Chapo by : Andrew Hogan

Download or read book Hunting El Chapo written by Andrew Hogan and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The DEA agent who caught El Chapo recounts the high-stakes, seven-year manhunt in this “cinematic . . . captivating first-person account” (USA Today). Once a smalltown Kansas deputy sheriff, Andrew Hogan landed a job with the Drug Enforcement Administration, never imagining that he would eventually be put on the trail of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera a.k.a. El Chapo: the leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Public Enemy Number One in the United States. Six years later, Hogan links up with agents from Homeland Security Investigations to infiltrate Chapo’s intricate and sophisticated underworld network . . . But who can they trust with their intel? Will the details of their top secret operation leak back to Chapo before the hunt even begins? Hunting El Chapo follows Special Agent Hogan from the investigation’s beginnings to leading a white-knuckle manhunt through the cartel’s stronghold of Sinaloa. Andrew Hogan and Douglas Century’s cinematic crime story follows every beat of the relentless search, taking the reader behind the scenes on one of the most dangerous counter-narcotics operations in the history of the United States and Mexico.

Narco Mindset

Download Narco Mindset PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781654839581
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (395 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Narco Mindset by : Jorge Valdes Phd

Download or read book Narco Mindset written by Jorge Valdes Phd and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-03 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At 21, he was a drug lord and a millionaire playboy. He made between one and three million dollars a month. He had women, yachts, private jets and mansions all over the world. He had everything a man could want. Yet, he felt miserable.Jorge Luis Valdés, as a 20-year-old, dreamed of becoming a millionaire before he was 30. He had everything - technically speaking - to make his dream come true: family, education, a brilliant mind, and an enormous capacity for effort and sacrifice. He showed great promise, but one day he crossed a line he thought he never would; he succumbed to the temptation of money and power. He was seduced by a group of Colombian businessmen to put his financial genius at the service of international drug trafficking. Some years later, the group would be known as the Medellin Cartel. In less than six months, he had become a dangerous drug lord, responsible for 95 percent of the cocaine coming into the United States, facing prison, torture and betrayal.Narco Mindset not only tells the story of a drug lord from poverty to immense wealth to, ultimately, redemption, but it also uses the drug lord's life to focus on life principles and the decisions he made. The lessons he learned the hard way will challenge you to stop, listen and reflect on your life, inspiring you to act on that reflection, as you discover hope, passion, meaning, redemption, and what is truly important in life.

American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)

Download American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Holt Paperbacks
ISBN 13 : 1250209781
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club) by : Jeanine Cummins

Download or read book American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club) written by Jeanine Cummins and published by Holt Paperbacks. This book was released on 2022-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy--two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia--trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier's reach doesn't extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed when they finish reading it. A page-turner filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page, it is a literary achievement."--

Pure Narco

Download Pure Narco PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1538155583
Total Pages : 593 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (381 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Pure Narco by : Jesse Fink

Download or read book Pure Narco written by Jesse Fink and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a quarter century, Luis Antonio Navia worked as a high-level cocaine transporter for all of the major Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, including Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel, and flooded the United States and Europe with cocaine before his dramatic arrest in Venezuela in 2000 during the 12-nation Operation Journey. The story of Navia’s rise, fall, takedown, imprisonment, and redemption is expertly researched and told by acclaimed biographer Jesse Fink, who has gathered interviews with Navia, Navia’s family, and a dozen law-enforcement agents in the United States and Great Britain from agencies such as the DEA, ICE and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise (now Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs). Told in vivid detail, this true crime story will captivate the reader from start to finish.

Wolf Boys

Download Wolf Boys PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501126628
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Wolf Boys by : Dan Slater

Download or read book Wolf Boys written by Dan Slater and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tale of two American teenagers recruited as killers for a Mexican cartel, and the Mexican American detective who realizes the War on Drugs is unstoppable. “A hell of a story…undeniably gripping.” (The New York Times) In this astonishing story, journalist Dan Slater recounts the unforgettable odyssey of Gabriel Cardona. At first glance, Gabriel is the poster-boy American teenager: athletic, bright, handsome, and charismatic. But the ghettos of Laredo, Texas—his border town—are full of smugglers and gangsters and patrolled by one of the largest law-enforcement complexes in the world. It isn’t long before Gabriel abandons his promising future for the allure of juvenile crime, which leads him across the river to Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartel: Los Zetas. Friends from his childhood join him and eventually they catch the eye of the cartel’s leadership. As the cartel wars spill over the border, Gabriel and his crew are sent to the States to work. But in Texas, the teen hit men encounter a Mexican-born homicide detective determined to keep cartel violence out of his adopted country. Detective Robert Garcia’s pursuit of the boys puts him face-to-face with the urgent consequences and new security threats of a drug war he sees as unwinnable. In Wolf Boys, Slater takes readers on a harrowing, often brutal journey into the heart of the Mexican drug trade. Ultimately though, Wolf Boys is the intimate story of the lobos: teens turned into pawns for the cartels. A nonfiction thriller, it reads with the emotional clarity of a great novel, yet offers its revelations through extraordinary reporting.

Poster Child, the Kemba Smith Story

Download Poster Child, the Kemba Smith Story PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : First Edition Design Pub.
ISBN 13 : 162287370X
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (228 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Poster Child, the Kemba Smith Story by : Kemba Smith

Download or read book Poster Child, the Kemba Smith Story written by Kemba Smith and published by First Edition Design Pub.. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this long-awaited memoir, Kemba Smith shares her dramatic story, as it has never been told. Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story chronicles how she went from college student to drug dealer's girlfriend to domestic violence victim to federal prisoner. Kemba shares her story of how making poor choices blinded by love and devotion can have long-term consequences. In 1994, Kemba was sentenced to a mandatory 24 1/2 years in federal prison, with no chance for parole, despite being a first-time, non-violent offender. Fortunately, she regained her freedom when President Clinton granted her executive clemency in December 2000 after having served 6 1/2 years. Kemba's case drew support from across the nation and the world. Often being labeled the "poster child" for the campaign to reverse a disturbing trend in the rise of lengthy sentences for first-time, non-violent drug offenders, Kemba's story has been featured on CNN, Court TV, "Nightline," "Judge Hatchett," "The Early Morning Show" and a host of other television programs. In addition, Kemba's story has been featured in several publications, such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and Emerge, JET, Essence, Glamour, and People magazines. Author Bio: Kemba Smith Pradia is a wife, mother, national motivational speaker, consultant, author, and criminal justice advocate. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her courage and determination to educate the public about the devastating social, economic, and political consequences of current drug policies. Ultimately, Kemba knows there is a lesson in each experience in life, and she has embraced her experience, learned from it, and is now using that experience to teach others. For more information about Kemba, visit www.kembasmith.com. Monique W. Morris is a researcher, author, and social justice advocate who has nearly twenty years of professional and volunteer experience as a scholar advocate in the areas of civil rights and social justice. Monique is the CEO of MWM Consulting Group, LLC, a research and technical assistance firm that advances concepts of fairness, diversity, and inclusion. She is the author of Too Beautiful for Words and thirty-five published articles, book chapters, and other documents on social justice issues. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a regular contributor to MSNBC's TheGrio.com. For more information about Monique, visit www.moniquewmorris.com . keywords: Kemba Smith, Clinton Pardon/Clemency, Criminal Justice Issues, Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Drug Dealer Girlfriend, Women in Prison, First-time offender, Domestic Violence, Women's Issues, Teen Choices/Consequences

Manhunters

Download Manhunters PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250202906
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Manhunters by : Steve Murphy

Download or read book Manhunters written by Steve Murphy and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, legendary DEA operatives Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña tell the true story of how they helped put an end to one of the world’s most infamous narco-terrorists in Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar—the subject of the hit Netflix series, Narcos. Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brutal Medellín Cartel was responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine to North America and Europe in the 1980s and ’90s. The nation became a warzone as his sicarios mercilessly murdered thousands of people—competitors, police, and civilians—to ensure he remained Colombia’s reigning kingpin. With billions in personal income, Pablo Escobar bought off politicians and lawmen, and became a hero to poorer communities by building houses and sports centers. He was nearly untouchable despite the efforts of the Colombian National Police to bring him to justice. But Escobar was also one of America’s most wanted, and the Drug Enforcement Administration was determined to see him pay for his crimes. Agents Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña were assigned to the Bloque de Búsqueda, the joint Colombian-U.S. taskforce created to end Escobar’s reign of terror. For eighteen months, between July 1992 and December 1993, Steve and Javier lived and worked beside Colombian authorities, finding themselves in the crosshairs of sicarios targeting them for the $300,000 bounty Escobar placed on each of their heads. Undeterred, they risked the dangers, relentlessly and ruthlessly separating the drug lord from his resources and allies, and tearing apart his empire, leaving him underground and on the run from enemies on both sides of the law. Manhunters presents Steve and Javier’s history in law enforcement from their rigorous physical training and their early DEA assignments in Miami and Austin to the Escobar mission in Medellin, Colombia—living far from home and serving as frontline soldiers in the never ending war on drugs that continues to devastate America.

Drug Lords

Download Drug Lords PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781903854389
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (543 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Drug Lords by : Ron Chepesiuk

Download or read book Drug Lords written by Ron Chepesiuk and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cali drug cartel changed the face of organised crime. For over twenty years it pumped thousands of tons of cocaine across the world, laundered billions of pounds in illegal profits and was responsible for untold murders and assassinations. Based in the city of Cali, the three founders brought an unprecedented degree of organisation and planning to the drugs trade and through violence, terrorism, intimidation and bribery they became a major threat to society. For the first time the gang's founders are scrutinised and the efforts that brought them to justice are recreated.

The Mastermind

Download The Mastermind PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0399590420
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Mastermind by : Evan Ratliff

Download or read book The Mastermind written by Evan Ratliff and published by Random House. This book was released on 2019-01-29 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible true story of the decade-long quest to bring down Paul Le Roux—the creator of a frighteningly powerful Internet-enabled cartel who merged the ruthlessness of a drug lord with the technological savvy of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. “A tour de force of shoe-leather reporting—undertaken, amid threats and menacing, at considerable personal risk.”—Los Angeles Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Evening Standard • Kirkus Reviews It all started as an online prescription drug network, supplying hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of painkillers to American customers. It would not stop there. Before long, the business had turned into a sprawling multinational conglomerate engaged in almost every conceivable aspect of criminal mayhem. Yachts carrying $100 million in cocaine. Safe houses in Hong Kong filled with gold bars. Shipments of methamphetamine from North Korea. Weapons deals with Iran. Mercenary armies in Somalia. Teams of hit men in the Philippines. Encryption programs so advanced that the government could not break them. The man behind it all, pulling the strings from a laptop in Manila, was Paul Calder Le Roux—a reclusive programmer turned criminal genius who could only exist in the networked world of the twenty-first century, and the kind of self-made crime boss that American law enforcement had never imagined. For half a decade, DEA agents played a global game of cat-and-mouse with Le Roux as he left terror and chaos in his wake. Each time they came close, he would slip away. It would take relentless investigative work, and a shocking betrayal from within his organization, to catch him. And when he was finally caught, the story turned again, as Le Roux struck a deal to bring down his own organization and the people he had once employed. Award-winning investigative journalist Evan Ratliff spent four years piecing together this intricate puzzle, chasing Le Roux’s empire and his shadowy henchmen around the world, conducting hundreds of interviews and uncovering thousands of documents. The result is a riveting, unprecedented account of a crime boss built by and for the digital age. Praise for The Mastermind “The Mastermind is true crime at its most stark and vivid depiction. Evan Ratliff’s work is well done from beginning to end, paralleling his investigative work with the work of the many federal agents developing the case against LeRoux.”—San Francisco Book Review (five stars) “A wholly engrossing story that joins the worlds of El Chapo and Edward Snowden; both disturbing and memorable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)