The Mastermind

Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

By: Evan Ratliff

Narrated by: Evan Ratliff

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 21st 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)

©2019 Evan Ratliff (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The Mastermind is a tour de force of shoe-leather reporting - undertaken, amid threats and menacing, at considerable personal risk. Ratliff’s reportage unfolds in crisp, atmospheric prose, and he brings a dispassionate eye to a milieu lousy with unreliable narrators, triangulating where possible to separate fact from legend.” (Los Angeles Times)

“If truth is stranger than fiction, then The Mastermind is the truest book you’ll read this year. The only thing predictable about it is how quickly you’ll turn the pages.” (Noah Hawley, author of Before the Fall and creator of the TV series Fargo)

“As directors, we spend countless hours imagining heightened plots and memorable characters that will leave a lasting impression on audiences. The true tale of obsession, genius, intrigue, and vengeance detailed in The Mastermind is as gripping and cinematic as anything we could endeavor to conjure up.” (Joe and Anthony Russo, directors, Captain America and Avengers: Infinity War)

“This is a mesmerizing, absolutely bonkers story about a man as brilliant as he is villainous. You’ll find yourself sucked in, freaked out, and ultimately blown away by Ratliff's storytelling and tireless reporting. The Mastermind is a masterpiece.” (Nick Thompson, editor-in-chief, Wired)

Fascinating!

Had it not been mentioned early on that this actually happened, I would have thought it was the basis for a Hollywood blockbuster. Well done Evan!

Gripping...a must-listen if you like 'Org-crime'

Evan Ratliff did a fantastic job both in narration and in the reporting that led to this book. The story is captivating and really hard to stop listening to. It has all of the gripping, page turning, 'what happens next' elements. The cast of characters is wild...and getting this close to them without having to endanger oneself is awesome.

I think the book is a must read for anyone who likes true crime, international conspiracy, organized crime, cyber crime and the like. It's just a fantastic book. Well done Evan.

If I were to mention a single foible, it would be the speed at which Evan narrates. Too fast for me...but thankfully there are a bunch of controls in an audio book to make it perfect. (.9 was my huckleberry)

Movie?

So when is the movie coming out? This story deserves one. It's a great story. WOW!

Spellbinding

Amazing true crime story written by an excellent writer with a impressive command of his craft.

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Wild story about a character with whom I was not familiar. Narration is matter of fact without any inflection. Fine for me. Held my attention through. Meticulously researched and reported. Phenomenal job by Evan Ratliff.

Brilliant. Evan Ratliff has no peers.

Not for people with a limited attention span. This guy had to cover so many people across so many nations under so many different conditions over so many years you have to have mathematical abilities to keep up with his meticulous mathematics. That he was even able to document this crime spree and deliver it qualifies him as a peer to Noah Webster writing a dictionary. Brilliant. You could never know this story without these amazing abilities of communication combined with mathematics. He can think with every red flag, moral, legal, economic, cultural, and policial. And lay it all out for you to understand. I mean, wow is this guy qualified to raise awareness! Internet crime is a whole new venue. : Evan Ratliff is one of the first "true crime" writers to get it. Brace yourself. His panoramic views may stretch your thinking abilities. He really takes your heart into humanity with all of it if you just surrender in trust, you will understand this labor of love in teaching you about real and current social dichotomies. You will never forget this story. Listen.Evan Ratliff went the distance to get to what is real.

Phenomenal

This story is wild and the author did an insane amount of research to tell it right. This is so much more than the telling of a criminal kingpin that you most likely never heard of. It explains why you never heard about it, detailing the bizarre approach that the southern district of NY and federal government took, and the reasoning behind not wanting it to get out. Fascinating listen, highly recommend.

one of the bedr

as good as it gets. mesmerizing. great plot and. performance . don't start if you need to get anything else done

GREAT

fantastic audio book

This is an incredible story about a monster who took everyone for a ride and the crazy shit he did.

Hunting Leroux was a better book

I felt that Hunting Leroux was a better story on Paul Leroux. I found The Mastermind to be a little more general in the content than Hunting Leroux. It was still enjoyable to listen to but if you can, listen to both!