“A scorching, hair-raising glimpse into a new kind of criminal who’s altogether terrifying because he’s altogether real.” —Dennis Lehane, #1 New York Times–bestselling author

With a foreword by four-time Oscar nominated filmmaker Michael Mann

Paul LeRoux was born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa. After a first career as a pioneering cybersecurity entrepreneur, he plunged hellbent into the dark side, starting up businesses that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of arms, drugs, chemicals, bombs, missile technology and murder. The criminal empire he built was Cartel 4.0, utilizing the gig economy and the tools of the Digital Age: encrypted mobile devices, cloud sharing and novel money-laundering techniques.

Nevertheless, LeRoux gained the attention of the 960 Group, an element of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, that had launched some of the most complex, coordinated and dangerous operations in the agency’s history. They used unorthodox methods and undercover informants to penetrate LeRoux’s inner circle and bring him down.

For five years Elaine Shannon immersed herself in LeRoux’s shadowy world. She gained exclusive access to the agents and players, including undercover operatives who looked LeRoux in the eye on a daily basis. She puts you in the room with these people and their moment-to-moment encounters, jeopardy, frustration, anger and small victories, creating a narrative with a breath-taking edge, immediacy and a stranger-than-fiction reality.

“An investigative masterpiece . . . one of the most intriguing and frightening criminals I’ve ever read about . . . A stunning work.” —Don Winslow, New York Times–bestselling author