
Inverview with Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind - Aissen
https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/the-founder#episode-player
======
jamisteven
Everyone keeps recycling this story, it was originally done by the Atavist
magazine, it is an incredibly rivetting read.
[https://magazine.atavist.com/the-
mastermind](https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind)

~~~
aosaigh
My understanding is that it's the same journalist who wrote that story/book
being interviewed in the podcast (Evan Ratliff). Either way, the Atavist piece
is a great read and very nicely presented

~~~
wp381640
It is - he's on a press tour for his book Mastermind which I just started and
is good so far

[https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-
Betray...](https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-
Betrayal/dp/0399590412)

There is also a competing book that just came out called Hunting LeRoux:

[https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-LeRoux-Inside-Takedown-
Crimin...](https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-LeRoux-Inside-Takedown-
Criminal/dp/0062930516)

It is being developed into a film by Michael Mann

Based on reviews and my reading so far Mastermind from OP author seems like
the real deal

------
pragmatick
Interesting episode of a podcast I love (although it's more targeted to
technologically interested but not too knowledgeable people).

I don't think they ever mentioned TrueCrypt in the episode.

~~~
nicolaslem
I came here to say this, I listened to this episode but didn't realized it was
related to TrueCrypt until now.

~~~
I_am_tiberius
same here

------
_wp_
The Atavist magazine version of this is available at:
[https://magazine.atavist.com/the-
mastermind](https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind) It's a fantastic (but
long) read, I highly recommend it.

------
bryanrasmussen
MasterMing the merciless? a funny typo.

~~~
Aissen
The title used to say "The Founder: how the creator of TrueCrypt became a
criminal masterming". I just fixed the typo to "mastermind". Thanks
@bryanrasmussen !

Edit: It has now been updated by the mods to its current title. It went
through "The Founder", "The Founder: Interview with Evan Ratliff, author of
The Mastermind", and "Inverview with Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind",
and probably manually demoted from the #1 spot.

I understand the rules of non-editorialization of titles (unless you're the
article author, the you can click-bait as you wish), but it seems even the
mods understand the need to provide context.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
hope my pointing out the typo wasn't the cause of the cascade of renaming.

~~~
Aissen
Not at all, don't sweat it. The HN rules explicitely say "don't editorialize":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
andai
Despite the rules, the current title is completely meaningless to me. How many
people here have heard of TrueCrypt, vs The Mastermind?

I only clicked because of your editoralization, and I'm very glad I did!

------
bisRepetita
Slightly off-topic: any ideas of other good tech podcasts you'd recommend?

I just did a HN search, but did not find any such thread.

~~~
rjtavares
I like "Talking Machines", about Machine Learning/AI.

Link:
[https://www.thetalkingmachines.com/](https://www.thetalkingmachines.com/)

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m00dy
I read the book from Amazon and done with it in just one day. If you are smart
and have bad intentions, the book shows how far a mastermind can go in his
vicious world.

------
rgoulter
It's interesting that someone who wrote a tool called "Encryption for the
masses" also happened to be involved in illegal crimes.

I don't mean "people who care about privacy etc. are criminals". But I can
imagine a moral-panic of "but criminals write such software", and it doesn't
undermine the value of using such software.

~~~
lawnchair_larry
For what it’s worth, the story seems to be that he was out of writing said
software before having the ideas for criminal enterprises. He was supposedly
rather spiteful of freeloaders after releasing E4M, and went after the
TrueCrypt authors in particular.

It’s very Breaking Bad.

------
dajonker
That is a completely bonkers story, would make a great movie or series.

~~~
k_sze
Kinda reminds me of Breaking Bad, but different.

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forgotmypw2
transcript not accessible for nojs. any alternatives?

~~~
wtmt
Does this paste [1] help? If not, I'll delete it.

It's set to expire in 12 months.

[1]:
[https://framabin.org/p/?fc98aeebe5cb2585#Pa6OgUybxSWBWFGHlek...](https://framabin.org/p/?fc98aeebe5cb2585#Pa6OgUybxSWBWFGHlekZWdHWVZX75sPR4YXDzzoc5e8=)

~~~
forgotmypw2
Javascript is required for PrivateBin to work. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Loading… In case this message never disappears please have a look at this FAQ
for information to troubleshoot.

------
lawnchair_larry
I highly recommend this book. Probably the biggest criminal enterprise that
nobody has really heard of.

------
DyslexicAtheist
if you haven't yet read _The Mastermind_ , it's a real treat of excellent
writing and journalistic skill: [https://longform.org/posts/the-
mastermind](https://longform.org/posts/the-mastermind)

------
brospars
This could make a good Narcos season.

------
edoo
When genius meets dysfunction.

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pts_
Breaking...Blockcipher?

------
exit
can someone tl;dr this? what kind of crimes did he commit?

edit: the atavist article linked to elsewhere in these comments covers it:

"Paul Le Roux, the former head of a prescription drug, weapons, narcotics, and
money laundering cartel, has been cooperating with the D.E.A. since 2012."

~~~
andai
Also smuggling gold, literally having competing businesses burned to the
ground, buying a ton (1000kg) of meth from North Korea, tried to smuggle it
out in a submarine, having people killed for smaller and smaller things as he
grew increasingly paranoid, then hiring another hitman to kill his main
hitman, because he was stealing from him.

Under the podcast is a transcript you can skim.

------
wetpaws
Another proof that a talented person is talanted in everything.

