Hunting LeRoux

A methodical history of a pioneer of cybercrime who founded an international empire based on the sales of drugs, armaments, and technology and on the currency of fear and murder.It's unfortunate that Shannon's (Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can't Win, 1988, etc.) account of the criminal genius Paul Le Roux appears in the same season as Evan Ratliff's Mastermind, which covers just the same ground and is the more vigorously written of the two. Still, Shannon opens on a smart note given current events: She contrasts the old-school criminal empire of Joaquin Guzmán, aka "El Chapo," with the new one of Le Roux, who "has introduced the principles of twenty-first century entrepreneurship to the dark side of the global economy"--and, in the process, "is changing everything." Transnational in nature--for Le Roux was born in what was then Rhodesia and has lived, it seems, just about everywhere since--the postmodern, postindustrial criminal empire Le Roux founded resisted law enforcement simply by not having a country of its own: a murder in Manila here, a drug deal in Hong Kong or Pyongyang there, bank transfers in Dubai and London and Jerusalem there, and it all made it difficult to keep tabs on. Le Roux's model wasn't one of loyal Mafia foot soldiers but of disposable--literally--contractors, whether renegade bikers or well-trained mercenaries or mild-mannered accountants. Shannon is very good on procedural matters and especially on how the American Drug Enforcement Administration pieced together its multiagency, multigovernmental case against Le Roux. Among her sources are undercover DEA agents and informants, including one who "posed as a Colombian cartel representative in order to bring Le Roux to justice." That story is fascinating, especially as government agents figure out how to lure their target--or, failing that, arrange for him to be dispatched in some distant place, even if "U.S. military and NATO rules of engagement forbade summary executions of noncombatants." For sizzle, then, one wants to read Ratliff's book first, but there's plenty of steak here.A painstaking, fascinating account of crime and punishment.

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Starred review from March 18, 2019
Journalist Shannon (The Spy Next Door) delivers an exceptional account of the outlaw career of Paul LeRoux, who here emerges as perhaps the most significant contemporary criminal not known to the general public for his having “introduced the principles of twenty-first century entrepreneurship to the dark side of the global economy.” LeRoux, who grew up in South Africa, used his sophisticated computer skills to create an online pharmaceutical business in 2004 that yielded him millions. Carefully constructed to appear on the up-and-up, RX Limited linked pill-buying consumers with a network of physicians and pharmacies, randomly assigning repeat customers to different providers to allow them to make as many purchases as they wanted without raising any red flags. LeRoux moved on to create a “digitally powered, high-volume warehousing and delivery operation for drugs and arms” or, put another way, a “black-market Amazon.” Unlike Evan Ratliff’s recent book on LeRoux, The Mastermind, which focuses on the lower-level DEA investigators who first found evidence that RX Limited was a criminal scheme, Shannon starts with the DEA’s 960 Group, an elite unit of undercover agents whose efforts led to LeRoux’s arrest in 2012. True crime fans will want to read both to get the full story. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory.