Recode Decode: “The Mastermind” author Evan Ratliff

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2019

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Journalist and Pop-Up Magazine co-founder Evan Ratliff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, The Mastermind: Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal. In this episode: How Pop-Up got started; what happened when Ratliff tried to become anonymous for a month; starting the digital-first magazine The Atavist; how Paul Calder Le Roux went from programmer to prescription drug kingpin; the intersection of the international drug trade and tech; how Le Roux got into harder drugs, Somalian militias and selling missile technology to Iran; how he got caught; how Le Roux "embodied the entrepreneurial spirit" of a startup founder; "there's no viable drug operation that's not gonna be utilizing technology"; where is the (legal and illegal) drug trade going?; drug submarines; can modern drug cartels be stopped?; and why "there is clearly a market for an internet-driven cartel." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you drive a Chevy electric vehicle, you're getting more than a way to get from point A to point B.
0:06.0	You're saying goodbye to gas stations and how low to open roads.
0:09.0	With the growing network of public charging stations, you'll be able to charge your EV while you shop, work, or do whatever you want to be doing with your time.
0:17.0	Chevy is making EVs for everyone, everywhere. Go to chevrelay.com slash electric to learn more.
0:24.0	Sabotage hired goons and a landfill in Utah.
0:32.0	How Steve Jobs' revolutionary catastrophe of a computer, the Apple Lisa, earned a brief second life, and then was buried for good.
0:42.0	Watch the Verges documentary, Lisa's final act, now on YouTube.
0:48.0	Hi, I'm Cara Swisher, Editor-at-large of Recode.
0:53.0	You may know me as DB Cooper, O'Dam. I shouldn't have said that, but in my spare time I talk tech and you're listening to Recode Deco from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
1:01.0	Today in the red chair is Evan Ratliffe, someone I am huge admirer of. He's a award-winning journalist and he's a founder of Out of His Magazine.
1:09.0	He's also the author of a new book called The Mastermind about the leader of a ruthless drug cartel who couldn't have gotten as far as he did without the internet.
1:17.0	Of course, once again, the internet is screwing with us. The subtitle of the book is Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal.
1:24.0	Oh my goodness, Evan. Welcome to Recode Deco.
1:27.0	Thank you.
1:28.0	Wow, it sounds like yesterday on Twitter for me.
1:31.0	I want to talk about this book, but first I want to talk a little bit about you, because you have a fascinating history and do a lot of things.
1:40.0	Give us the quick, how did Evan get here to this drug's empire murder and betrayal situation?
1:47.0	Well, I worked as a freelance magazine journalist for many years. I had worked on staff at Wired in the late 90s or the 2000s.
1:54.0	So the payday, right?
1:56.0	The payday, the dot com payday. In fact, I credit my career to the fact that the magazine was so fat at that time that they needed.
2:04.0	They just needed to fill it.
2:05.0	Right. I got opportunities.
	...

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