The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

The incredible true story of the decade-long quest to bring down Paul Le Rouxâ€”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

â€œA tour de force of shoe-leather reportingâ€”undertaken, amid threats and menacing, at considerable personal risk.â€â€”Los Angeles Times

It all started as an online prescription drug network, supplying hundreds of millions of dollarsâ€™ 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 Rouxâ€”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 Rouxâ€™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.

â€œA wholly engrossing story that joins the worlds of El Chapo and Edward Snowden; both disturbing and memorable.â€â€”Kirkus ReviewsÂ (starred review)

â€œWith his relentless and fearless reporting, Evan Ratliff has pried open a hidden world filled with high-tech gangsters and drug kingpins and double-crossers and stone-cold hitmen. The story is as fascinating as it is terrifying, and it is one that will hold you in its grip.â€â€”David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2019-01-29
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2019-01-29
Format	Kindle eBook

The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

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