The Snakehead An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream [Paperback]

In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, Patrick Radden Keefe investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people.
 
Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force,The Snakeheadis both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.AChicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle,andWashington PostBook of the Year

“Reads like a mashup ofThe GodfatherandChinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.”
—Time

“Essential reading. . . . A rich, beautifully told story, so suspenseful and with so many unexpected twists that in places it reads like a John le Carré novel.”
—The Washington Post
 
“A masterwork. . . . In this single tale about a global criminal, Keefe finds a story of quintessentially American hope.”
—Christian Science Monitor
 
“Painstakingly reported and vividly told. . . . As immigration reform languishes in Washington . . . everyone involved—from policymakers to activists to the undocumented—would be wise to readThe Snakehead.”
—Newsweek

“A formidably well-researched book that is as much l3S