I’m a podcast listener. I listen to a dozen or more each week, and I’m someone who cannot differentiate between (or among) multiple hosts most of the time. One podcast that I listen to fairly regularly is Reply All, hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman. Their February 14th episode (#136) was entitled The Founder, and either PJ or Alex talked about Paul LeRoux, former programmer, former criminal cartel boss, and informant to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It was incredibly interesting hearing the discussion with Evan Ratliff, CEO and co-founder of Atavist, a media and software company. I kept thinking “Ratliff – that name is familiar”… then I remembered I had a copy of his book, that I received from Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was hooked!
The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. is the story of Le Roux, the man who created an Internet-based cartel that started as an online prescription drug network, supplying painkillers worth hundreds of millions of dollars. As the business expanded into endeavors beyond prescription drugs, there were a ton of great stories including yachts carrying $100 million worth of cocaine, safe houses in Hong Kong filled with gold bars, weapons deals with Iran, meth from North Korea, mercenary armies in Somalia, and hit men in The Philippines. Among the difficulties the authorities faced in trying to solve the problem was that LeRoux’s technology skills ensured there were encryption programs that were so advanced that the government was unable to break them.
It’s an amazing story, and Ratliff has done a masterful job telling it, including lots of juicy details and suspense, with the end result being true crime that reads like fiction. I loved it. Four stars. And (SPOILER ALERT!) LeRoux is currently in custody in New York.