Book 2 Post 1: The Mastermind

The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

In late September, 2012, a nondescript Zimbabwe-born programmer named Paul Le Roux was arrested by DEA agents during a sting operation in Monrovia, Liberia. Despite his unremarkable appearance, the public would learn that Le Roux was actually a ruthless cartel leader who used his programming skills to single handedly build a sprawling criminal empire. In this book, The Mastermind, journalist and author Evan Ratliff details the decade-long investigation that uncovered a staggering story worthy of Breaking Bad. Le Roux began his career in 2003 with a legally questionable business called RX Limited, which used a network of doctors and pharmacies across the U.S. to sell prescription drugs online. This highly profitable enterprise ultimately played a major hand in the nation’s opioid crisis. But in 2007 Le Roux turned to highly illegal activities, building his own encryption software to hide from prying government eyes. By the time he was arrested, he had been linked to arms smuggling with Somali militias, methamphetamine purchases from North Korea, and a global ring of ex-military assassins, to name just a few. Throughout this book, Ratliff aims to reveal how Le Roux created his business, as well as the way the DEA managed to untangle his convoluted web. 

The Mastermind obviously wasn’t on our list of available books. But I came across the story of Paul Le Roux just a few weeks ago, and began reading Ratliff’s account right before we had to choose our second book for class. After mentioning this to Professor Hansen in conversation, he suggested that I continue reading it instead of switching to one of our initial options. But this initially sparked my interest because of the sheer impossibility of everything Le Roux managed to do. He was the only person who knew the full extent of his empire’s activities, and the business was so vast and convoluted that it took investigators ten painstaking years to find a way to reach him. Even then, most of their major breakthroughs were not due to a fault in Le Roux’s security, but rather due to blind luck and fortunate circumstances. I think it’s astonishing that something like this can be made possible through the digital world, and I always remain captivated by similar stories of ingenuity in crime.

I am nearly halfway through The Mastermind, which so far has been extraordinarily fascinating. Ratliff put an incredible amount of work into this book in order to get the complete story, interviewing everyone he possibly could that played a hand in Le Roux’s empire. He thoroughly covers both the steps Le Roux took in the creation of his business, as well as the full thought process of the DEA in conducting their investigation. Readers can’t help but remain riveted as Ratliff conveys the shock of the DEA agents while they make one incredible discovery after another. Whether they were finding out that Le Roux’s online drug business made $250 million per year, or coming across the warehouses where he stored thousands of pounds in gold, there is no shortage of exciting moments throughout the entire story. I truly cannot wait to see what exciting twists and turns remain in store for me in the rest of the book.