American Desperado
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  • Published: 3 December 2018
  • ISBN: 9780091949419
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 576
  • RRP: $36.99

American Desperado

My life as a Cocaine Cowboy

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Nov 2011
Audiobook
1 Nov 2011
Paperback
3 Dec 2018
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A brutal and gripping autobiography by the original Cocaine Cowboy and real-life Scarface, the man responsible for flooding 1980s US with cocaine, co-written by Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill

‘The best crime book since Wiseguy’ – Rich Cohen

A real-life Scarface, Jon was born into the Gambino Mafia family and witnessed his first murder aged seven. He joined a US Army assassination squad in Vietnam to escape a teen criminal charge, then fled New York to reinvent himself in Miami as the number one supplier of cocaine in the US. With a crazed bodyguard always at his side, and a fortress protected by mortars, tear-gas cannons, and a gold-fanged attack dog, Roberts was brutally effective at what he did.

With a cast that includes everyone from Jimi Hendrix and OJ Simpson to the CIA and General Noriega, American Desperado is a hedonistic, adrenaline-soaked joyride through the world of Escobar and the cartels, told by one of most successful criminals of all time.
  • Published: 3 December 2018
  • ISBN: 9780091949419
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 576
  • RRP: $36.99
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About the authors

Jon Roberts

JON ROBERTS was, prior to his incarceration, among the most successful drug smugglers in American history, at one point overseeing an operation that accounted for more than half of the cocaine entering the US. He collaborated with some of the most notorious criminals of his era, including Pablo Escobar and General Noriega, was a key player in the Iran-Contra affair, and starred in the hit documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Jon died in 2011.

Evan Wright

EVAN WRIGHT is the author of Generation Kill, one of the most celebrated books on the Iraq War and recently adapted by David Simon into a 7-hour HBO miniseries. He is a recipient of the National Magazine Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Award, a PEN/Faulkner Award and a Lukas Book Prize. He is also a contributing editor to Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

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