Audio only
Jackpot
High Times, High Seas, and the Sting That Launched the War on DrugsBy Jason RyanNarrated by Keith Sellon-WrightLength10h 56m
About this audiobook
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, a cadre of freewheeling, Southern pot smugglers lived at the crossroads of Miami Vice and a Jimmy Buffett song. These irrepressible adventurers unloaded nearly a billion dollars worth of marijuana and hashish through the eastern seaboard’s marshes. Then came their undoing: Operation Jackpot, one of the largest drug investigations ever and an opening volley in Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs.
In Jackpot, author Jason Ryan takes us back to the heady days before drug smuggling was synonymous with deadly gunplay. During this golden age of marijuana trafficking, the country’s most prominent kingpins were a group of wayward and fun-loving Southern gentlemen who forsook college educations to sail drug-laden luxury sailboats across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Les Riley, Barry Foy, and their comrades eschewed violence as much as they loved pleasure, and it was greed, lust, and disaster at sea that ultimately caught up with them, along with the law.
In a cat-and-mouse game played out in exotic locations across the globe, the smugglers sailed through hurricanes, broke out of jail, and survived encounters with armed militants in Colombia, Grenada, and Lebanon. Based on years of research and interviews with imprisoned and recently released smugglers and the law enforcement agents who tracked them down, Jackpot is sure to become a classic story from America’s controversial Drug Wars.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.0 (796)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreTrue Crime, History
Length10 hrs 56 mins
Narrated byKeith Sellon-Wright
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 26, 2019
LanguageEnglish
More from Jason Ryan
A Thousand Miles From Care: A hunt for a brother's killer - a new compelling Australian true crime story about murder & corruption, WINNER of the Ned Kelly Awards Best True Crime 2025Steve Johnson10h 14m4.6 (242)$29 · $0.00
Killer TriggersJoe Kenda8h 31m4.4 (6K)$20 · $0.00
BoundlessNick Kostov, Sean McLain9h 17m4.5 (1.1K)$29 · $0.00
Nine LivesAimen Dean15h 23m4.4 (3.2K)$23
Deadly ForceLawrence O'Donnell17h 18m4.5 (342)$40 · $0.00
Walking the BowlChris Lockhart, Daniel Mulilo Chama9h 7m4.4 (1.5K)$29 · $0.00
Trial by FireScott James13h 31m4.4 (1.4K)$23
PapillonHenri Charriere18h 19m4.3 (90.2K)$40 · $0.00
The SuspectKent Alexander, Kevin Salwen14h 12m4.4 (3K)$23 · $0.00
The Cause of DeathCynric Temple-Camp8h 59m4.4 (1.4K)$29 · $0.00
GanglandJared Savage9h 21m4.4 (1.4K)$29 · $0.00
Riding with EvilKen Croke, Dave Wedge9h 42m4.3 (3.4K)$29 · $0.00
Raven 23Gina Keating8h 16m4.7 (55)$26 · $0.00
The Two FBIsNicole Parker10h 8m4.4 (499)$29 · $0.00
I Catch KillersGary Jubelin15h 32m4.3 (6.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Redemption Of Bobby LoveBobby Love, Cheryl Love9h 13m4.4 (956)$29 · $0.00
The Life We ChoseMatt Birkbeck8h 57m4.4 (1K)$29 · $0.00
The Truth About AaronJonathan Hernandez5h 15m4.3 (2.5K)$24 · $0.00
No Ordinary BirdArtis Henderson6h 23m4.4 (597)$24 · $0.00
I'll Be Gone in the DarkMichelle McNamara10h 7m4.3 (302.5K)$29 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$0.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$0.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
You may also like
The Audacity of Inez BurnsStephen G. Bloom13h 8m4.0 (624)$23
God’s Away on BusinessAdrian McKinty1h 39m4.3 (760)$15
Death in VallettaLynn Marie Taylor9h 47m4.3 (335)$15 · $0.00
ProntoElmore Leonard5h 54m3.8 (18.9K)$24 · $0.00
The King’s GambitJohn Maddox Roberts7h 7m4.0 (3.6K)$17
BlowBruce Porter13h 43m4.2 (2.8K)$23
The Savage CityT. J. English10h 18m4.1 (1.6K)$29 · $0.00
Perish from the EarthJonathan F. Putnam9h 43m4.1 (522)$20
The Two FBIsNicole Parker10h 8m4.4 (499)$29 · $0.00
Happy Birthday, Turk!Jakob Arjouni4h 40m3.7 (1.5K)$15 · $0.00
RiccardinoAndrea Camilleri6h 53m3.9 (5K)$17
The Cold MillionsJess Walter11h 30m4.1 (29.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Invention of FireBruce Holsinger13h 47m4.0 (2K)$33 · $0.00
Blood on Their HandsMandy Matney10h 37m4.1 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Odd NumbersAnne Holt13h 53m3.6 (1.5K)$23
Midnight in MexicoAlfredo Corchado9h 12m3.9 (2.1K)$20
Time's WitnessMichael Malone22h 14m4.1 (1.1K)$30
The Man Who Knew Too MuchG. K. Chesterton6h 27m3.8 (9K)$20 · $0.00
The Kidnapped PresidentGuy Boothby7h 10m$2.30
The Ear in the WallArthur B. Reeve9h 18m3.5 (33)$20