This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross. The new book, American Cartel, is about the opioid

industry, the manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies behind the opioid epidemic.

It's also about their lobbyists and lawyers, many of whom had close ties to members of

Congress and high ranking officials inside the Justice Department. Some DEA agents left

the agency to take high-salaried positions with law firms representing drug companies. The

book is also about an unprecedented lawsuit launched in 2018 by a coalition of lawyers and

investigators on behalf of thousands of counties, cities, and Native American tribes across

America. The suit led to the release of a pill-tracking database and millions of internal corporate

emails and memos which the new book draws on. The book's epilogue refers to a settlement

by a company that was the largest opioid distributor, Malon Crop. The company did not admit to any

wrongdoing, but it did agree to make its internal emails public. Those documents, a huge

trove, were made public just a couple of months ago in May. But the Washington Post was

given access to them before that, so they were able to publish a lengthy article analyzing

those documents. My guest, Scott Hyam, co-authored that article, and he co-wrote the new book,

American Cartel, along with Washington Post reporter, Sarri Horowitz. They've been investigating

the opioid industry for five years and co-authored the Washington Post series, The Opioid Files.

Hyam also partnered with 60 Minutes on an opioid industry investigation that received a

Peabody, Emmy, and DuPont Award. Scott Hyam, welcome to Fresh Air. Congratulations

on the new book. In what sense was the opioid industry a cartel?

Terri, thanks for having me first off. Sarri and I, like you said, have been investigating

this industry for five years, and we've interviewed dozens and dozens of DEA agents, investigators,

and attorneys who have worked in this field for many, many years. A lot of them used to

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