SWORDFISH: A True Story of Ambition, Savagery, and Betrayal

by David McClintick

David McClintick roiled Hollywood and Wall Street with his stunning account of high-placed chicanery and cover-up that made Indecent Exposure a smashing international bestseller. Now, after a decade of investigative reporting, he brings us another explosive inside story - a story of clashing wills and multiple betrayals that threatened to destroy one of the United States government's most ambitious undercover operations. Operation Swordfish was launched secretly in 1981 after the federal government, desperate to stop the narcotics epidemic, devised a fundamental change in strategy. Leaving street-level drug policing to local authorities, the Department of Justice and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration decided to attack the drug barons themselves along their most vital arteries: a serpentine network of banks and corporations through which they manipulated their vast profits. To lure the money, the DEA created a bogus international investment firm in Miami. But to cultivate the trust of the Colombian drug mafia, the agency needed an unusual spy. How Robert Darias, a Cuban emigre and CIA-trained Bay of Pigs officer, led the DEA to the heart of the mafia's tangled and violent network, and how the DEA ultimately "rewarded" him, is a story of deception and betrayal on many levels. Critical to the operation was Darias's triangular relationship with two singular women: Carol Cooper, a DEA special agent from a small town in Illinois, whose skill at running spies was matched by her talent for bureaucratic infighting; and Marlene Navarro, Paris-educated and multilingual, the alluring North American chief executive of the Colombian drug mafia's enormous financial and distribution syndicate. As Darias nurtures Navarro's trust and grasps the intricacies of her huge criminal enterprise, Operation Swordfish seems headed for spectacular success that will make the careers of the DEA agents in charge. But when a vicious battle for control erupts among the agents, Darias

Genres: History

606 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 1993

Reviews

[Alyssa Bauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read... but a little long and too in depth. I could have benefited from less dialogue and introspection but overall a good nonfiction book.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this when I read it years ago. What a well-told story. Still sits on my favorites shelf.

[Dennis Kocik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing story of the drug war in the world at large, and particularly in the U.S. and our Governments entirely ineffectual fight against the drug lords. Our efforts came across not only as lame, but amateurish - in fact, by the end, this history read more like an episode of the bumbling Keystone Cops than a serious Government effort at stemming the drugs coming into this Country and arresting those responsible. I cannot even fathom the millions that must have been poured into this attempt and with almost complete failure to show for it. Sure, there were some seized drugs and arrests, but even these came across as successes more because the criminals were more stupid than the DEA and the FBI, etc. and more or less bumbled into jail on their own. Highly recommended book for those who really want to know how our vaunted War on Drugs has really been prosecuted...but be prepared to be disappointed and disillusioned by what passes for our Government and their efforts in this regard.

[Mark Bunch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.