Hunting Marco Polo: The Pursuit of the Drug Smuggler Who Couldn't Be Caught, by the Agent Who Wouldn't Quit

Eddy and Walden, coauthors of The Cocaine War , tell the gripping tale of a five-year battle begun in 1985 to bring a drug kingpin to justice. Howard Marks, a Briton of intelligence and charm who specialized in transporting marijuana and hashish all over the world and in laundering drug money, traveled so extensively that he was dubbed Marco Polo. His more-than-worthy opponent was American Craig Lovato of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Lovato tracked Marks and overcame bureaucratic lassitude, ineptitude in inexperienced drug agents, wrangling between U.S. and U.K. government agencies, moles within the DEA, and ultimately played a major role in Marks's receiving a 30-year sentence. The authors present the contest between the two men as a highly dramatic chess game. Fast-paced, riveting reading. Movie rights to Zenith; author tour. (June)