American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry
The definitive investigation and exposé of how some of the nation's largest corporations created and fueled the opioid crisis—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters who first uncovered the dimensions of the deluge of pain pills that ravaged the country and the complicity of a near-omnipotent drug cartel. 

AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied thirty years bringing down bad guys; along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure, and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.

The investigators and lawyers discovered hundreds of thousands of confidential corporate emails and memos during courtroom combat with legions of white-shoe law firms defending the opioid industry. One breathtaking disclosure after another—from emails that mocked addicts to invoices chronicling the rise of pill mills—showed the indifference of big business to the epidemic’s toll. The narrative approach echoes such work as A Civil Action and The Insider, moving dramatically between corporate boardrooms, courthouses, lobbying firms, DEA field offices, and Capitol Hill while capturing the human toll of the epidemic on America’s streets.

AMERICAN CARTEL is the story of those who were on the front lines of the fight to stop the human carnage. Along the way, they suffer a string of defeats, some of their careers destroyed by the very same government officials who swore to uphold the law before they begin to prevail over some of the most powerful corporate and political influences in the nation.
 
1140480489
American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry
The definitive investigation and exposé of how some of the nation's largest corporations created and fueled the opioid crisis—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters who first uncovered the dimensions of the deluge of pain pills that ravaged the country and the complicity of a near-omnipotent drug cartel. 

AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied thirty years bringing down bad guys; along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure, and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.

The investigators and lawyers discovered hundreds of thousands of confidential corporate emails and memos during courtroom combat with legions of white-shoe law firms defending the opioid industry. One breathtaking disclosure after another—from emails that mocked addicts to invoices chronicling the rise of pill mills—showed the indifference of big business to the epidemic’s toll. The narrative approach echoes such work as A Civil Action and The Insider, moving dramatically between corporate boardrooms, courthouses, lobbying firms, DEA field offices, and Capitol Hill while capturing the human toll of the epidemic on America’s streets.

AMERICAN CARTEL is the story of those who were on the front lines of the fight to stop the human carnage. Along the way, they suffer a string of defeats, some of their careers destroyed by the very same government officials who swore to uphold the law before they begin to prevail over some of the most powerful corporate and political influences in the nation.
 
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American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry

American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry

American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry

American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry

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Overview

The definitive investigation and exposé of how some of the nation's largest corporations created and fueled the opioid crisis—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters who first uncovered the dimensions of the deluge of pain pills that ravaged the country and the complicity of a near-omnipotent drug cartel. 

AMERICAN CARTEL is an unflinching and deeply documented dive into the culpability of the drug companies behind the staggering death toll of the opioid epidemic. It follows a small band of DEA agents led by Joseph Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied thirty years bringing down bad guys; along with a band of lawyers, including West Virginia native Paul Farrell Jr., who fought to hold the drug industry to account in the face of the worst man-made drug epidemic in American history. It is the story of underdogs prevailing over corporate greed and political cowardice, persevering in the face of predicted failure, and how they found some semblance of justice for the families of the dead during the most complex civil litigation ever seen.

The investigators and lawyers discovered hundreds of thousands of confidential corporate emails and memos during courtroom combat with legions of white-shoe law firms defending the opioid industry. One breathtaking disclosure after another—from emails that mocked addicts to invoices chronicling the rise of pill mills—showed the indifference of big business to the epidemic’s toll. The narrative approach echoes such work as A Civil Action and The Insider, moving dramatically between corporate boardrooms, courthouses, lobbying firms, DEA field offices, and Capitol Hill while capturing the human toll of the epidemic on America’s streets.

AMERICAN CARTEL is the story of those who were on the front lines of the fight to stop the human carnage. Along the way, they suffer a string of defeats, some of their careers destroyed by the very same government officials who swore to uphold the law before they begin to prevail over some of the most powerful corporate and political influences in the nation.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781538737194
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: 07/12/2022
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Sales rank: 430,290
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Scott Higham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for TheWashington Post. He served as a lead reporter on the Post’s “The Opioid Files” series, which was a Pulitzer Finalist for Public Service. His investigation into the opioid industry with 60 Minutes received the Peabody Award, an Emmy, and the duPont-Columbia and Edward R. Murrow awards. Higham is the co-author of Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery.

Sari Horwitz is a four-time Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter who has been at The Washington Post for four decades, where she has covered the Justice Department and criminal justice issues. She was a lead reporter on the Post’s “The Opioid Files” series, which was a Pulitzer Finalist for Public Service in 2020. Horwitz has authored or co-authored three books: Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder MysterySniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation and Justice in Indian Country.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters xi

Part 1 This Is War

Prologue 3

1 Joe Rann 7

2 Dr. Evil 15

3 Lightning Strike 21

4 The Alliance 25

5 "We Will Not Get Fined Again!" 29

6 The Blue Highway 34

7 "Just Like Doritos" 37

8 Follow the Pills 41

9 "Pillbillies" 46

10 Broward County North 50

11 "Game, Set, Match" 54

12 A Betrayal 58

13 Cardinal Knowledge 63

14 "Because I'm the Deputy Attorney General" 68

15 Imminent Danger 74

16 "At the Corner of Happy & Healthy" 81

17 "Crisis Playbook" 86

18 Marsha and Tom 90

19 Playing Games 95

20 "Tom Marino Is Trying to Do That?" 99

21 "Be Zen" 103

22 "You're Being Paranoid" 106

23 "The Best Case We've Ever Had" 109

24 The Mushroom Treatment 120

25 An Expensive Speeding Ticket 124

26 Banjo 129

Part 2 The Reckoning

27 A Public Nuisance 135

28 "Our Allies" 142

29 "They're Gonna Get Hammered" 148

30 On the Road 152

31 Field of Dreams 157

32 "The Hunt Is On" 161

33 "Make Them Pay" 163

34 Legal Titans 166

35 The Drug Czar 173

36 Jumped the Gun 178

37 "This Is Horrific" 185

38 "Tear Each Other Up" 191

39 A Perry Mason Moment 197

40 The Death Star 203

41 The Digital Detectives 209

42 The Magician 214

43 The 60 Minutes Man 220

44 A Lone Lawyer 226

45 My Cousin Vinny 234

46 RICO 237

47 "We Have a Deal" 244

48 "This Can't Be Real" 254

49 "Every Nineteen Minutes" 258

50 "We're Going to Trial" 267

51 Death Threats 277

52 "A Stunning Claim" 285

53 "Are You Ready?" 294

54 "Magic or Tragic" 305

Epilogue 315

Acknowledgments 331

A Note on Sources 337

Index 387

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