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The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel

Robert Mazur

3.86 · Rating details · 1,037 ratings · 77 reviews

The electrifying true story of Robert Mazur's life as an undercover agent who infiltrated one of the world's largest drug cartels by posing as a high-level money launderer -- the inspiration for the major motion picture The Infiltrator.

Robert Mazur spent years undercover infiltrating the Medellín Cartel's criminal hierarchy. The dirty bankers and businessmen he befriended ...more

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Hardcover, 384 pages

Published July 27th 2009 by Little, Brown and Company (first published July 1st 2009)

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Start your review of The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel

Jan 20, 2012 M.L. Rudolph rated it really liked it

2009. Without complicit bankers there is nowhere for the drug trade to wash its billions.

Robert Mazur, Italian American, joined the IRS out of college and became a special agent for their Intelligence Division. In Tampa he learned how to work an undercover identity. After a successful case under his belt, he was offered a job with U.S. Customs meaning a pay cut, a million miles less of red tape, and his dream job.

At his new job, Robert Mazur became Robert Musella, a cover identity close enough ...more

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May 21, 2013 Doug Cornelius rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2013, compliance

Robert Mazur provides an encyclopedic account of his undercover work. His work to the arrest of dozens of drug traffickers and money launders. It also led to the dismantling of BCCI, a large banking operation that seemed focused on dirty money.

Unfortunately, the book also reads like an encyclopedia. Most disappointing was the the book provided little insight on how money laundering works. I was hoping for a bit more insight.

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Mar 03, 2011 Jordan McPeek rated it it was amazing

Shelves: true-crime

Even though you know this is the story of the biggest undercover operation in US history, you don't know the details. So this book reads like a thriller. You don't know who's going to get caught, and who's going to get away. You don't know if the agents escaped unharmed. You don't know how much they seized. And it just rips along. They keep getting in deeper and deeper, and higher and higher. Setbacks, risks, mistakes all threaten to send it off the rails, much of it due to other agents and agen ...more

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Aug 27, 2017 Laurel Starkey rated it really liked it

Shelves: mexico-latin-america, narcos

To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill: we will battle them in the mountains; we will battle them at sea; we will battle them at their banking houses .... This is a war report from the bureaucratic front, of the role that the "other agency " plays in taking down narcos. Namely, the U.S. Customs Service.

Agent Bob Mazur details his undercover work as a money launderer. He was remarkably successful and the end result was a series of high level arrests. What makes the book so interesting though is not ...more

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Sep 16, 2016 Jessie Seymour rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

It's funny that I read this book when I did because my boyfriend and I have been watching Narcos on Netflix, which is a docudrama about Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel. Watching the show and reading this book at the same time, it's given me two different perspectives about the same thing. Narcos follows two DEA agents actually going after Pablo. The Infiltrator is told by an undercover Customs agent set on bringing down the dirty banks and money laundering groups who are financing the cart ...more

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Jul 11, 2013 Danii rated it really liked it

Not A thrilling book if that is what you are searching for. But a great beginners book on how-to money launder. Nicely descriptive and good application of examples for those starting out.

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Oct 22, 2019 Tomo rated it it was amazing

The book I read called the infiltrator, is the harrowing tale of author Robert Mazur’s undercover journey to the heart of the Medellin Cartel. Mazur goes undercover as Bob Musella, and has to slowly work his way up through the ranks of the Medellin Cartel befriending bankers, drug distributors, and money launderers. Overall, the story is about trust, betrayal, and the difficulties of doing what's right in a bureaucracy. The author through writing this book, is trying to convey the message be war The book I read called the infiltrator, is the harrowing tale of author Robert Mazur’s undercover journey to the heart of the Medellin Cartel. Mazur goes undercover as Bob Musella, and has to slowly work his way up through the ranks of the Medellin Cartel befriending bankers, drug distributors, and money launderers. Overall, the story is about trust, betrayal, and the difficulties of doing what's right in a bureaucracy. The author through writing this book, is trying to convey the message be wary of your closest allies because they might be your greatest enemies.

This book is about Robert Mazur who is an undercover agent at U.S. Customs in the 1980s, during the golden age of the Medellin Cartel in Columbia. When Mazur started working at Customs, he started creating his undercover identity of Bob Musella, an Italien American businessman with mob connections. Mazur started out working small cases in customs but after a few successful cases he had built up a reputation and had made a lot of connections. When the leader of the Miami customs branch came to Robert with a new assignment involving money launderers for the Medellin Cartel, robert was all in. Using his background in the IRS, and his connections to bankers and mobsters, Robert creates a front for his money laundering business, and dives into the Medellin cartel as Bob Musella. To make sure he has enough incriminating evidence, Musella buys a suitcase and installs a secret recording device that would record all conversations that he would have. Musella and his partner Emire first turned to Gonzalo Mora, a Columbian coke dealer. Mora was interested in meeting Musella, and so Emir made contact with Mora and eventually after weeks of communication, convinced Mora to meet Musella. Mora was making plenty of money but needed a way to get it laundered so Musella offered his money laundering services. Musella had successfully made his first steps into the Medellin Cartel. After a few months of doing business with Mora, Musella was introduced to Alcaino who was working directly with Pablo Escobar, the leader of the Medellin Cartel. Musella as part of his cover had a fiancee named Kathy, who was key in winning over Alcaino. Once Alcaino accepted Musella's business offer, Mussella was able to easily access the leaders of the Medellin Cartel. Now that Musella was making money he needed a way to launder the money quickly, he turned to BCCI bank which was already thought to be conducting illegal activities. Musella meet with bankers Hussain, Awan, and Bilgrami who were more than willing to take illegal money and launder it. The first major obstacle that Musella faced was the funding needed for the operation. Since the case needed more than $60,000 it would be managed by the higher ups in Customs. Often cases that were managed by the higher ups in Customs ended up failing, so Musella’s job would be much harder to accomplish. As Musella infiltrated the Cartel more and more, a senate subcommittee was formed to oversee the important operation. Musella, after his success in laundering money in the states needed to go to europe to set up bank accounts in Switzerland, France, and England so that he could transfer money through different countries. While in Europe, Musella met banker, Chinoy, and Howard who managed BCCI Paris. These dirty bankers helped launder hundreds of thousands of dollars for Musella. Eventually the senate sub committee decided that the case should be ended by October which gave Musella a few months to infiltrate further. In Paris Musella also met Ambrecht who was the main money launderer for the Medellin Cartel. Musella after meeting Ambrecht decided that he was probably not going to be able to infiltrate further before the deadline so he now needed a plan to arrest all of the coke dealers, dirty bankers, and money launderers. As Musella infiltrated he became not only associates with his business partners, but close family friends trusted eachother. Musella decided to throw a wedding for himself and Kathy (His fake fiancee). The bait worked, all of the dirty bankers, money launderers, and coke dealers showed up to the wedding which allowed customs agents to easily go in and arrest everyone ending the case. In the end, the arrested were able to use their influence and money to get reduced sentences or sentences that were not very harsh.

I really like this book because it conveys a really blunt and honest message that you need to be careful of your most trusted allies. Often in this story, Emir and Musella are betrayed by their allies in customs time and time again, while their “enemies” become more trustworthy and reliable. The leaders of Customs often leaked sensitive information to the media to look successful in office. The police were also often overtaken by greed and arrested key Medellin members to make their departments performance and numbers better. The bureaucracy of Customs also did not give Musella all of the resources he needed to be successful forcing him to compromise. This book conveys a harsh message, but it is an important message nonetheless. Often you can never truly know who your allies are until it's too late. ...more

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Jan 21, 2017 Jacob B. Litchfield rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book had a good story line although some chapters, through both length and lack of events, could sometimes drag on. After getting past the halfway point the book begins to pick up pace and becomes much more enjoyable and entertaining to read. Following the completion of the book I intend to watch the new movie. I believe this book'a storyline would make an excellent movie so I hope it holds up. All in all the first half let the rating down and if it was a entertaining as the second half it ...more

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Jun 01, 2018 Syed Gilani rated it it was amazing

Well, here is Elite, their schemes, their corruption and more importantly, Tax evasions. If you want to know, how world works today, here is your guide book.

I am not sure if it was first time, someone decided to go after the money, instead of Drug shipments, but it worked amazingly, and that lead investigators to bring down BCCI, although many of the culprits are still untouchable, even some had succeeded to become Ministers in Pakistan.

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Dec 29, 2016 Pam Gallegos rated it it was amazing

This was a great book, once you got past the sordid details which had to be told and explained with all the names and positions. The intensity had me on the end of my seat. The friendships Robert forged with these criminals that he had to betray in the end felt terribly sad but had to be done. It was violent, yes, but it's a crime novel, this stuff really happened. I enjoyed it! ...more

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Jan 14, 2020 Keith rated it really liked it

Good read. Brave man.

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Jul 13, 2016 Cindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who likes thrillers & anyone interested in learning more about the drug underworld

Shelves: non-fiction, true-crime, 5-stars-from-me, own-on-nook, publ-2009, nook-daily-find, thriller

This is a true story that reads like a nonfiction thriller. Mazur gives us some of his background - how he first got into the business, how he first went undercover for the IRS Intelligence Division, how he ended up in U.S. Customs in Tampa. He explains how he went about creating a cover for himself that would allow him to get intel on drug traffickers.

Then he takes us along with him as he discovers who are the key players - the drug lords, the suppliers & distributors, the cash collectors & the This is a true story that reads like a nonfiction thriller. Mazur gives us some of his background - how he first got into the business, how he first went undercover for the IRS Intelligence Division, how he ended up in U.S. Customs in Tampa. He explains how he went about creating a cover for himself that would allow him to get intel on drug traffickers.

Then he takes us along with him as he discovers who are the key players - the drug lords, the suppliers & distributors, the cash collectors & the money launderers. Mazur, alias Musella, and his fellow undercover agents do a brilliant job of ingratiating themselves with the 'targets' and learning their secrets. They are so convincing that even when the traffickers suspect a leak, they do not suspect Musella's team.

Mazur reveals different ways that the drug money is being laundered. Some of it is pretty simple; some of it makes my head spin. Mazur realized that just making drug busts & going after the traffickers wouldn't be enough to curtail the flow 0f drugs. He knew he had to take down the money launderers as well. So, as part of his cover role, he got down & dirty with the international banks who were hiding & washing drug money.

Mazur describes administrative obstacles & Customs/DEA/FBI turf wars he had to try to contain in order to keep his identity secret. He shares various situations where he had to really think fast to keep the targets unaware & unsuspecting.

Was he successful? Yes & no. He & all of his team members are alive. He succeeded in putting a LOT of key players in jail. He succeeded in bringing down the big international bank (BCCI) he had targeted. None the less, like water filling a void, trafficking continues.

After the arrests, the drug lords put a $500k hit out on Mazur. Mazur created a new cover for himself and his family. The thing that puzzles me right now is, how is he able to come out of cover now to write this book?

I definitely recommend this book, but suggest that you keep a pencil & paper handy because there are a lot of people and organizations to keep track of. There is a glossary of names at the end of the book, too.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Nick Moser rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

I read this book after seeing the movie, the story is fascinating. Never really knew much about money laundering or how cartels moved their money around the world. This gives an inside look as to how it's done. These cartels seem far away, but really their money impacts much more than you expect and you will probably see something in your life that has been impacted by dirty money.

There are many more fascinating and maddening pieces of the story that the movie didn't go into. Like everything th ...more

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Aug 17, 2019 Rita rated it it was ok

A couple of things about this book. Facts and information are good but too much detail can make a person lose interest. There were so many names and places in detail that towards the end I just wanted it to get over. The second thing is that the title is true but there is extremely, almost non-existence, of information about Pablo Escobar. Yes, it was about the people in the cartel but not Escobar. The information and basis for the book are very interesting and just goes to reinforce the corrupt ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 Henry Holt rated it really liked it

The Infiltrator is a very unique book. The true story of Robert Mazur going undercover (as Bob Musella) as a money launderer is nowhere near any other undercover story. He expanded his business as he became associates with some of the biggest names in the drug cartel. He, along with his partner, spent years of hard work, recorded conversations, and feuds with their own government to arrest 40 men and an entire bank. Not many people can boast about the time that they took down the largest drug ca ...more

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Apr 14, 2018 Lee rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography-autobiography, non-fiction-spy-crime-terrorism, 2018

A very good book about a customs agent who infiltrates the money laundering operations of the Medellin cartel. Detailed operations on how dirty money is moved in and out of the United States how the cartels and corrupt banks like BCCI operated. The sheer idiocy of superiors, politicians and other agents out to grab glory who put the undercover agent’s life in peril is particularly telling. For instance, he details how the operation had to be wrapped up in October so the head of the office could ...more

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Feb 25, 2017 Ben rated it it was ok

This was published in 2009, but it describes undercover activity from the late 1980's.

This really isn't thrilling. It is an account of how an IRS agent left due to paperwork and red tape, in favor of joining US Customs. He and his colleagues skirted a variety of internal rules to launder money for cartels, then turned the matter over to the US Attorney's office for prosecution.

The writing isn't *bad* but it is clear that a CPA wrote this. ...more

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Jul 31, 2017 Daniel Esquivel rated it really liked it

This was a good book…and the eternal rule that the movie is not even close to be as good as a book fully applies here, so if you have seen the movie and you liked it then you have to read the book.

Is very engaging, you get connected pretty fast and it’s the kind of book you “manage” so that it doesn’t end soon. It is not the best book I have read but is quite ok and reveals details on the money laundering biz structure and shows how the money is moved around the world to get cleaned.

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Dec 29, 2017 Jimipopoola rated it it was amazing

Riveting from start to finish. this book documents the undercover investigations into drug sourced money laundering that eventually brought down BCCI , the bank that also laundered billions of dollars of stolen wealth for African dictators and their cronies. indeed the weak but vital link in the drug trade are the banks/bankers......the more a hauled to jail the greater the chances of winning this global war

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Mar 24, 2020 Allan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

This book is an indictment of the international banking system that allows criminals and the ultra-wealthy to wash their dirty money. Nothing has changed since its publication in 2009; witness the activities of Donald Trump's favourite bank. Robert Mazur is a true hero for fighting corruption as well as standing up to back-stabbing government agencies with their murky political influences . Eat the Rich. ...more

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Nov 27, 2017 CW rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Read like a thriller novel but it really happened. What a brave individual whilst working undercover with his colleagues had less than acceptable help from his Customs organisation.

Once you get used to the diary format it reads reasonably well and you find yourself caught up in the events and timing leading to the end.

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May 19, 2020 Brent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I first saw the movie, and had wanted to read the book ever since. The book did not disappoint. I didn't follow all the financial transactions detailed, but that did not hinder my enjoyment of the story. For some reason, I love reading about clandestine services, spycraft, and danger. I appreciate Mr. Mazur's work, and I share his frustration with political work associates. ...more

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Jul 19, 2017 Brad Hayes rated it really liked it

I had a difficult time keeping straight all the names that appear in this book, and after one reading, I'm still pretty foggy on the details of how money laundering works . . . but, it's a riveting read, nonetheless. ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Joseph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Just another example of how the book is so much more than the movie. Robert Mazur shows how thinking outside the box and being meticulous is the only way to take down criminal organizations and the banks that help them.

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Jul 29, 2019 Peter Glover rated it did not like it

Worst book I’ve ever read. I am a sucker for undercover books, but this one is like reading a manual on how to put home entertainment system together. The author is too precise and confusing. I wasted a month of my summer reading this garbage.

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Nov 16, 2019 Angel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-and-memoir, true-crime

Quick impressions: Overall a very interesting read. Mazur gives a lot of insight into how undercover work actually works, with a lot of attention to small details. If you like stories like Donnie Brasco's, you will probably like this one as well.

Full review to post on my blog later. ...more

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Nov 24, 2019 Joe Espo rated it it was ok

I rarely give two stars but... there are paragraphs that say (paraphrasing as I read hard copy) "I woke up and had coffee, ate granola infused with yogurt. Then I ran 5 miles. I came home and showered." He lists out nearly every time he goes for a run and it makes for a maddening read tempo. ...more

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May 10, 2020 Avinash K rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure, thrills, bios, detective

Stunning, absolutely stunning... the story that is... It is hard to believe that there are people taking such risks. Quite well written, bogs you down here and there but that's ok, I guess.
Definitely recommend it. ...more

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