Near the start of “The Mastermind,” Evan Ratliff’s possessed true-crime investigation, there is a stop-and-gawk image of the obsessive outlaw with whom he becomes obsessed: Paul Le Roux, the South African kingpin who gives the work its title. The scene takes place in a thriller-worthy setting — a penthouse condo in Manila, where Le Roux has based his illegal organization. The narrator fixed on an elusive prey has been a well-worn device at least since “Moby-Dick,” but if there were ever a subject worthy of investigative mania, it is Paul Le Roux. The man was into anything and everything: high-speed yachts, precious metals, plastic explosives, tuna fishing, piracy, Predator drones, Peruvian cocaine and hallucinogens. “He wanted to be the king of his country,” according to the informant who ultimately brought him down.

Source: New York Times March 05, 2019 22:07 UTC