The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade by Tuch, David
The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade by Tuch, David

The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade

Government agencies and rival factions were closing in. His look-alike had already fallen victim to professional hitmen...
$52.08 USD
$98.99 USD
$52.08 USD
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Author: David Tuch
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: $52.08
The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade by Tuch, David

The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade

$98.99 $52.08
The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade by Tuch, David

The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade

$98.99 $52.08
Author: David Tuch
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Description

Government agencies and rival factions were closing in. His look-alike had already fallen victim to professional hitmen and his once-powerful allies in Cuban intelligence and the DEA could no longer guarantee his safety. How did a boy from Manchester revolutionize the criminal world and become the largest marijuana trafficker in history?

This is the never-before-told story of Harold Derber, the debonair British Merchant Navy veteran who invented the modern drug trade with his groundbreaking invention: the drug mothership. Through his ghost fleet of drug ships, Derber eventually become the chief supplier of marijuana to post-war America. This gripping true tale follows Derber from humble beginnings in Manchester, England to his assassination in the sun-kissed streets of Miami. Along the way, Derber's story takes in some of the most significant events of the twentieth century - the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic, the Cuban Revolution and the murky shadows of the Cold War.


Shedding light on a litany of plots including arms and refugee smuggling, large-scale stock fraud and Derber's rise to the pinnacle of the drug world, this remarkable transatlantic story paints a complex picture of a singular figure and brings his extraordinary life into focus for the first time.

Author: David Tuch
Publisher: Icon Books
Published: 12/16/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.38h x 6.38w x 0.96d
ISBN: 9781837732456


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/25/2025
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001

About the Author
David Tuch is the cousin of Harold Derber. A technology entrepreneur, he was born in New York and received his doctorate from MIT and Harvard Medical School. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife and four children.
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