Decoder with Nilay Patel

Recode Decode: “The Mastermind” author Evan Ratliff

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."
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Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.