Pill City

November 15, 2016
A tale of "one of the most profitable illicit opiate dealing schemes in American history."The most impressive element of this book is that Newsday criminal justice writer Deutsch (The Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York's Bloods and Crips, 2014) was able to get behind the technology that hid the identities of the two computer-programming drug dealers from the police, the public, and the many of those deeply involved in an operation that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and claimed hundreds of casualties through overdoses and gang rivalries. The story begins in Baltimore with the highly controversial death of Freddie Gray at the hands of the police. The riots sparked by the outrage provided the perfect opportunity for the looting of "approximately $100 million worth of prescription opiates and heroin in little over a day." The author terms this "a feat unprecedented in the annals of American crime," but what really distinguished the operation were the methods through which the dealers distributed the drugs and spread their network. The masterminds were two techie teenagers who employed programming and encrypting to ensure efficiency and anonymity. "It looked like Uber, but it was built for [dealers] to get product to customers," said one gang leader. "For two 18-year-old kids to run a business like this...it's genius, from a criminal's perspective," marveled one of the detectives. "But it's also just about the most horrible thing you can do to places that are already suffering from poverty and violence." Despite the riveting setup, much of the book finds the author reporting dialogue remembered by participants from years earlier, re-creating scenes that he never witnessed, and trying to interweave context from police and addiction authorities with the street narrative, which has a completely different tone. An important story meticulously reported but that nonetheless strains toward novelization in the telling.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2016

Newsday crime reporter Deutsch (The Triangle) here shares the story of Brick and Wax, two teenagers who take advantage of protests and riots in 2015 Baltimore and coordinate raids on several dozen pharmacies, stealing prescription narcotics. Coding their own app to provide a drug delivery system, the two make millions while offering cheap, easily accessible opioids. Deutsch covers the rise of Wax and Brick while also outlining how the police and community tried to contain the spread of broken lives. The pair took advantage of the situation until finally it came back on them. Deutsch offers snapshots of the community during the months that Pill City, the name of Wax and Brick's outfit, operated, and how sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers are victims of their empire. The book shows communities both torn apart by and responding to an opioid epidemic. Deutsch's analysis looks at the two young men, a mob war, and the neighborhood caught in the middle. VERDICT This story is not well known, but it should be. Recommended for those who are interested in reading about drug wars, community opioid addiction, and civic engagement.--Ryan Claringbole, Wisconsin Dept. of Pub. Instruction, Madison

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017

In April 2015, Freddie Gray died while in the custody of the Baltimore police, spurring protests witnessed by millions of Americans through television and social media broadcasts. What viewers didn't see was the looting of thousands of opiate pills from pharmaceutical stores. An ingenious distribution scheme that relied on technology to deliver these pills directly to addicts ("an Uber of drug dealing") kicked off a spate of deaths that would extend across the country. The masterminds of "Pill City" were two high school boys. Dubbed "Brick" and "Wax" by author and veteran reporter Deutsch, the teens launched their unorthodox business model out of a desire to make money, like "those white boys in Silicon Valley." Using firsthand accounts from Brick, Wax, gang members, recovered addicts, police detectives, medical personnel, and others, Deutsch skillfully twists together a horrifying narrative. Were this fiction, readers could close the book with a shudder. But Deutsch makes it impossible to forget the people, both living and dead, who bring new urgency to the term opioid epidemic. VERDICT Recommend to teens interested in true crime, political activism, and the ethical issues surrounding technology.-Diane Colson, Librarian, City College, Gainesville, FL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 15, 2016
In a remarkable feat of discovery, Deutsch, a veteran crime reporter for Newsday, exposes the perpetrators and victims in America's opiate wars and those who are risking their lives to undermine their criminal enterprise. He takes a deep dive into a surprise addendum to the riots in Baltimore that followed the death of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries sustained while in police custody in April 2015. It turns out that a deadly cooperative venture was formed between a drug gang and two hotshot teen-aged computer programmers who took advantage of a city seething with racial turmoil. They systematically looted prescription opiates from local pharmacies and heroin from drug corners and stash houses, which then were sold through a technology platform that Deutsch calls the Uber of drug delivery. Soon affiliates were trafficking the stolen drugs across the country, and drug-related deaths spiked dramatically. Deutsch lets the authentic and powerful voices of those involved reveal the ruthless tactics employed to dominate the illegal drug markets and the equally dramatic efforts by law enforcement to curtail and repair their damage. Pill City is not for the faint of heart. With raw language and violence, it paints a bleak and grimly complex picture and issues a siren call for societal changes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)