THE MASTERMIND: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

New York:: Random House,, (2019). Hardcover first edition -. Very good in a near fine dust jacket (a new copy but binding flaw affecting the index and rear endpaper - creasing to pages, but text still readable, short closed tear to rear fold of dj). First printing. A combination of true crime and investigative journalism, this describes 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. It all started as an online prescription drug network, supplying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of painkillers to American customers. 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. . . 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."Photographs, notes, index. xxxi. 446 pp.