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Chemical Cowboys: The DEA's Secret Mission to Hunt Down a Notorious Ecstasy Kingpin
In 1995, after receiving a tip from an informant that a new drug called Ecstasy was being pushed in Manhattan’s nightclubs, DEA agent Robert Gagne embarked on a mission to unravel one of the world’s most lucrative drug-trafficking networks. Chemical Cowboys tracks Gagne as he infiltrates New York’s club scene, uncovering a multimillion-dollar criminal empire that spans con...more
Hardcover, 284 pages
Published
February 24th 2009
by Ballantine Books
(first published February 24th 2008)
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Worth buying for the byline photograph alone.
In Chemical Cowboys, Lisa Sweetingham does not so much tell a story as weave a tapestry, creating a rich picture of a world most people would never dream of. Through the course of the tale, the reader is transported back and forth through time until they have gained a nearly overwhelming level of detail into each character, details that give great understanding of who they are and what motivates them. The reader is taken from the very beginning, when the drug was first introduced, through its in...more
Journalist and author Lisa Sweetingham takes the readers behind the scenes of the investigations into major Ecstasy rings, while following the career of Special Agent Robert Gagne. For many years, Ecstasy was not taken all that seriously. It was "kiddie dope". Special Agent Gagne with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) would play an integral part in changing that. Gagne was passionate about his work and wanted to make a difference. While most DEA investigations were focused on cocaine a...more
Remember “e”? Remember the 90’s and early 00’s, when Ecstasy was plastered all over the newspaper and television media, billed as the drug menace du jour? Pop culture has always overlapped heavily with drug culture, and in the late 90’s, Ecstasy was at the center of both. Like cocaine in the 80’s, Ecstasy had its’ moment in the limelight, and eventually took its’ place in the cosmopolitan of American pop culture. Chemical Cowboys is the story of how Ecstasy came to prevalence, and, ultimatel...more
Anyone who attended any raves in the 1980's or who went to a bar in Dallas during the same time period for that matter knows something about Ecstasy. For a period of time before it became a Schedule I drug it was easily obtainable & frequently used. Once it became a Schedule I drug, it was still frequently used, but more expensive & somewhat harder to find.
This well-written book is an account of one DEA agent's years-long quest to take down an Israeli crime boss who was responsible f...more
This well-written book is an account of one DEA agent's years-long quest to take down an Israeli crime boss who was responsible f...more
Chemical Cowboys looks into the lives of many drug dealers and cops. For the longest time Cocaine and Heroin were the most talked about drugs. That all changed with the blink of an eye. All of a sudden there was a new club drug called Ecstacy. A few smart but crooked businessmen decided to take on this new drug and smuggle it to the United States. Luckily for the DEA, they had Bob Gagne as a detective. While other cops were chasing the known big wigs, Gagne talked his partner Germanowski into go...more
Chemical Cowboys: The DEA’s Secret Mission to Hunt Down a Notorious Ecstasy Kingpin by Lisa Sweetingham traces of the evolution of the popular rave and nightclub drug, Ecstasy. DEA Agent Gagne first notices the drug in its early years, when it was known as a “kiddie dope” and overlooked by officials focused on harder drugs like cocaine and heroine. Infiltrating the New York night club scene, Gagne and his partner track nightclub owner Peter Gatien and his league of employees including Club Kid K...more
Fairly interesting non-fiction account of how the Drug Enforcement Agency works its way up the drug organizations to try to take down the top guys. I enjoyed it for the insight it gave into this effort. The book seems well-researched and is certainly well-documented, but after a while, it becomes a recitation of arrests, turning the arrestee to an informant, then arresting the next rung. I'm sure the actual work is much more interesting.
I actually didn't finish this book. For such a potentially exciting topic, it read very slowly. Add to that the often bizarre and disturbing nature of many of the passages, and I ended up putting it down about a third of the way through.
It began as a good book, I enjoyed the chapters on the New York club scene in the early 90's and the undercover investigations that took place, but when it became all about extradition and boring legalese it lost me.
This book came highly recommended. It was slow and plodding. I kept trudging through it thinking it would get better. I was wrong.
Great read.
Wow does this books suck so far. I'm on page 56 and still don't give a fuck. Another pile of shit.
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Really fascinating account of how the underworld works and it can lead to all kinds of problems. A bit choppy in terms of presentation but there are so many characters.
Gripping! Sets a new standard for getting the inside poop.
Susan
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should have been more compelling
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Journalist Lisa Sweetingham spent four years following in the footsteps of DEA agents and Ecstasy traffickers to bring CHEMICAL COWBOYS to life. Previously, she covered high-profile celebrity trials and Supreme Court nomination hearings for Court TV online. Sweetingham is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Parade, Spin, Ti...more
More about Lisa Sweetingham...
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