The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade

Tuch, a tech entrepreneur, debuts with a propulsive and illuminating biography of his cousin Harold Derber (1926–1976), a covert operative turned criminal mastermind who innovated the modern trafficking trade. After an indifferent upbringing (he was independent and enrolled in college by age 16), Derber joined the British navy as a wireless operator. Postwar, he became a member of Gideonim, a secret group for illegally smuggling Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. Partly due to Derber’s leadership, the group began running illegal arms through the British/Arab/American blockade of Zionist militants. After a few stints living in the U.S. (illegally, and hounded by immigration services) and Brazil (where he prospected for diamonds), he played a pivotal role in the 1959 Cuban refugee crisis: he was contracted by the U.S. to transport refugees, but when the government reneged on the contract, he struck a deal with Castro himself to do it. This led to Derber’s arrest and deportation from the U.S. Settling in Colombia, Derber pioneered the drug-trafficking innovation that would make him his millions: the deployment of a “mothership”—a cargo ship docked in international waters, where it could store marijuana with impunity, while small speedboats made risky runs to shore. According to the author, Derber became the chief supplier of marijuana to America until he was assassinated in Miami. Tuch’s deep dive is suspenseful and well researched, shedding fascinating light on a shadowy 20th-century figure. (Oct.)