Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-385) and index.

Cast of Characters -- Part One: This Is War. -- Prologue -- Joe Rann -- Dr. Evil -- Lightning Strike -- The Alliance -- "We Will Not Get Fined Again!" -- The Blue HIghway -- "Just Like Doritos" -- Follow the Pills -- "Pillbillies" -- Broward County North -- "Game, Set, Match" -- A Betrayal -- Cardinal Knowledge -- "Because I'm the Deputy Attorney General" -- Imminent Danger -- "At the Corner of Happy & Healthy" -- "Crisis Playbook" -- Marsha and Tom -- Playing Games -- "Tom Marino Is Trying to Do That?" -- "Be Zen" -- "You're Being Paranoid" -- "The Best Cse We've Ever Had" -- The Mushroom Treatment -- An Expensive Speeding Ticket -- Banjo -- Part Two: The Reckoning. A Public Nuisance -- "Our Allies" -- "They're Gonna Get Hammered" -- On the Road -- "The Hunt Is On" -- "Make Them Pay" -- Legal Titans -- The Drug Czar -- Jumped the Gun -- "This Is Horrific" -- "Tear Each Other Up" -- A Perry Mason Moment -- The Death Star -- The Digital Detectives -- The Magician -- The 60 Minutes Man -- A Lone Lawyer -- My Cousin Vinny -- RICO -- "We Have a Deal" -- "This Can't Be Real" -- "Every Nineteen Minutes" -- "We're Going to Trial" -- Death Threats -- "A Stunning Claim" -- "Are You Ready?" -- "Magic or Tragic" -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgements -- A Note on Sources -- Index

"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 of a small band of DEA agents led by Joe Rannazzisi, a tough-talking New Yorker who had spent a storied 30 years bringing down bad guys, along with a band of lawyers led by 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 with the most complex civil litigation in American history. The lawyers and investigators 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. Its narrative approach echoes work such 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 finally prevail over some of the most powerful corporate and political influences in the nation"--