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)
