Overview

DEA Agent Jack Riley, [Chicago's] most famous federal agent since the days of The Untouchables (-Rolling Stone) tells the inside story of his 30-year hunt for the drug kingpin known as El Chapo, and reveals the true causes of the American opioid epidemic. Jack Riley, grandson of a Chicago cop known for using his fists, was born to be a drug warrior. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera, who farmed marijuana and opium poppies as a teenager in Mexico, was born to be a drug lord. Their worlds collided when Riley, a career special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, was promoted to lead the fight against Chapo on the border at El Paso.Drug Warrior is the story of Riley's decades-long hunt for the world's most wanted drug lord, set against the rise of modern international drug trafficking, and America's spiraling opioid epidemic. Jack Riley started his career as an undercover street agent in Chicago busting small-time dealers. By the time he worked his way up to second in command of the DEA-a post few field agents ever reach-he had overseen every major mission to capture foreign drug kingpins since the 1990s, and had witnessed first-hand how El Chapo changed the game. As brilliant as he was lethal, Chapo not only decimated his competition, he foresaw Americans' dependence on opioids and heroin, and manipulated supply to increase demand. Riley's story culminates as he and the DEA win their greatest victory-the capture and extradition of his long-time nemesis-and Chapo faces his darkest fear: U.S. justice. A riveting memoir of life inside the drug wars, and a never-before-seen glimpse of the inner-workings of the DEA, Drug Warrior is a critical examination of how America's opioid crisis came to be, and the extraordinary people fighting it.

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9781549178368

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Reviews

Eventful...A sturdy, unadorned tale of true crime and its foes. -- Kirkus Reviews

The former acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Riley, with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Weiss, recounts his dogged thirty-two-year pursuit of the man most responsible for America's drug epidemic...For readers who enjoy true tales of heroic good guys chasing evil bad guys. -- Library Journal Retired DEA agent Riley reviews his three decades of combating drug traffickers in this gripping memoir...This accessible look at the dangerous work of the men and women of the DEA deserves a wide audience. -- Publishers Weekly A sturdy, unadorned tale of true crime and its foes. -- Kirkus Reviews For fifteen years, Chapo has been Riley's white whale, the object of an obsession that teetered on derangement and sidelined everything else, including his family...A ruddy, white-haired bruiser who holds court from a bar stool, Riley seemed dispatched from the days of fedoras and cops lighting Luckies at crime scenes. -- Rolling Stone

Author Information

Mitch Weiss is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist. Over the last 25 years, he has investigated government corruption, white-collar crime, police misconduct, and clerical sexual abuse. His books include Tiger Force (Little, Brown, 2006), No Way Out: The Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan (Penguin, 2012), Hunting Che: How a Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World's Most Famous Revolutionary (Penguin, 2013), The Yankee Comandante: The Untold Story of Courage, Passion, and One American's Fight to Liberate Cuba (2015), and The Heart of Hell: The Untold Story of Courage and Sacrifice in the Shadow of Iwo Jima (Penguin, 2016). Weiss currently works for the Associated Press on national investigative projects. Most recent national awards: IRE finalist for coverage of the national coal ash crisis, 2014; George Polk Award for coverage of the massive Gulf Oil Spill, 2010, and Gerald Loeb finalist for a project on how corrupt real estate appraisers contributed to the financial meltdown, 2009. Brett Barry graduated from Syracuse University's television, radio, and film program and worked as an associate documentary producer for several years before moving into a career in voiceovers. In 2002, he signed with a voice-over agent in New York and began working in this field full-time. Brett's training includes improvisational acting at Manhattan's HB Studio, study of the Linklater voice techniques, and private coaching with some of the industry's top voice performers. His voice can be heard on over 100 audiobooks. He and his wife Rebecca live in New York and run Silver Hollow Audio, an independent audio production studio.

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