Chasing Shadows: A true story of the Mafia, Drugs and Terrorism

A compulsive true crime thriller about modern-day international drugs trafficking, terrorism and the mafia following an investigation driven by one DEA agent, Jack Kelly.

Mafia capo Salvatore Pititto is in trouble. His wife is angry. His mistress is angry. And he is sweating in Calabria on the biggest cocaine deal of his career. Meanwhile in the US, veteran DEA agent Jack Kelly is on the trail of the dirty money funding dangerously powerful figures. One of them, Mustafa Badreddine, is a shadowy master bomb maker dispatched to Syria's civil war for his final mission. Each man has devoted his whole life to an institution that will eventually turn on him.

Based on hundreds of interviews and wiretap evidence from five different countries, Chasing Shadows is a compulsive true-crime thriller that draws us into a secret world of greed, ambition and betrayal – exposing the dark side of globalisation.

About the Author

Miles Johnson is an award-winning foreign correspondent for the Financial Times who specialises in covering organised crime and financial corruption across the world. In over a decade at the FT, he has held senior roles in London, and worked as a correspondent in New York, Madrid and Rome. In 2021 he was nominated for British Foreign Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards for his work covering the Italian Mafia.

Reviews

"Reads like a first-rate thriller. [A] vivid exposé of the murky world of transnational crime... the overall narrative is so compelling and well-presented." —Andrew Lycett, Spectator

"A page-turner that criss-crosses borders and time zones, told in brisk, episodic, non-linear chapters" -- Sunday Irish Independent

"Read this powerful book by Miles Johnson right now. It will make you realise that what we call terrorism is actually drug trafficking, what we call politics is organised crime and what we call peace is just a truce between mafias." —Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah

"As breathless, complex and on-the-edge suspenseful as the finest thriller fiction – but it's all real, which makes it truly extraordinary" —Lee Child

"A truly impressive book that takes the reader deep into the dark underbelly of global money laundering where Hezbollah, Russian arms traders, the Italian mafia and Colombian drug lords meet. This McMafia for a new age is vital for understanding the black cash networks that have funded wars and terrorism across the Middle East." —Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then took on the West

Dimensions: 13.34 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm