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American Pain
- How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
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Publisher's summary
The king of the Florida pill mills was American Pain, a megaclinic expressly created to serve addicts posing as patients. From a fortresslike former bank building, American Pain's doctors distributed massive quantities of oxycodone to hundreds of customers a day, mostly traffickers and addicts who came by the vanload. Inked muscleheads ran the clinic's security. Former strippers operated the pharmacy, counting out pills and stashing cash in garbage bags. Under their lab coats, the doctors carried guns, and it was all legal...sort of.
American Pain chronicles the rise and fall of this game-changing pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis. The narrative, which swings back and forth between Florida and Kentucky, is populated by a diverse cast of characters. This includes the incongruous band of wealthy bad boys, thugs, and esteemed physicians who built American Pain as well as the penniless Kentucky clans who transformed themselves into painkiller trafficking rings. It includes addicts whose lives were devastated by American Pain's drugs and the federal agents and grieving mothers who labored for years to bring the clinic's crew to justice.
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Convicted
- A Crooked Cop, an Innocent Man, and an Unlikely Journey of Forgiveness and Friendship
- By: Jameel McGee, Andrew Collins, Mark Tabb
- Narrated by: Calvin Robinson, Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Racial tensions had long simmered in Benton Harbor, a small city on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, before the day a White narcotics officer - more focused on arrests than justice - set his sights on an innocent Black man. But when officer Andrew Collins framed Jameel McGee for possession of crack cocaine, the surprising result was not a race riot but a transformative journey for both men.
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Wonderful book
- By Michelle B Ouellette on 06-10-21
By: Jameel McGee, and others
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Gotti's Rules
- The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia
- By: George Anastasia
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The notorious Gotti family is the stuff of mob legend. The "Dapper Don", John Gotti Sr., and his son John A. "Junior" Gotti ran New York's powerful Gambino crime family and were well known for their flamboyant style and brutal ways, an image perpetuated in popular Mafia mythology. John Alite, a mob hit man, associate, and close friend of the Gottis, has a very different story to tell.
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Garbage read
- By Ray on 09-02-15
By: George Anastasia
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Perfect Poison
- A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine
- By: M. William Phelps
- Narrated by: J. Charles
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In Northampton, Massachusetts, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Kristen Gilbert was known as a hardworking, dedicated nurse - so why were her patients dying? So many emergencies and sudden deaths occurred while Kristen made her rounds on Ward C that her colleagues jokingly called her the "Angel of Death".
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Men are naive
- By Veruka on 09-15-12
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Lethal Guardian
- By: M. William Phelps
- Narrated by: J. Charles
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A real-estate lawyer in Connecticut's moneyed seaside communities, Beth Ann Carpenter, 30, had beauty, brains, and success. But she wanted more - namely guardianship of her two-year-old niece, Rebecca, daughter of Beth's estranged sister, Kim.
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Lethal Guardian
- By Tamara on 10-19-10
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Cullotta
- By: Dennis N. Griffin, Frank Cullotta
- Narrated by: Michael Taylor
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From burglary to armed robbery and murder, infamous bad guy Frank Cullotta not only did it all, in Cullotta he admits to it - and in graphic detail. This no-holds-barred biography chronicles the life of a career criminal who started out as a thug on the streets of Chicago and became a trusted lieutenant in Tony Spilotro's gang of organized lawbreakers in Las Vegas. Cullotta's was a world of high-profile heists, street muscle, and information - lots of it - about many of the FBI's most wanted.
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Great story, silly narrator
- By Tom Mainella II on 04-20-15
By: Dennis N. Griffin, and others
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Last Dance, Last Chance
- And Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files, Book 8)
- By: Ann Rule
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Ann Rule presents her 8th collection of crime stories drawn from her private files - and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences. Dr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But no one was safe if they got in his way. With scalpel, drugs, and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes - until his own schemes backfired.
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Enjoyed the stories
- By Grace on 05-13-14
By: Ann Rule
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Bloodlines
- The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty
- By: Melissa del Bosque
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
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In Bloodlines, Emmy and National Magazine award-winning journalist Melissa del Bosque follows Lawson and Perez's harrowing attempt to dismantle a cartel leader's American racing dynasty built on extortion and blood money. With extensive access to investigative evidence and in-depth interviews with key players, del Bosque turns more than three years of research and her decades of reporting on Mexico and the border into a gripping narrative about greed and corruption.
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Why the fake accents?
- By DM on 11-18-17
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Hell's Angel
- The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
- By: Sonny Barger
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
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Narrated by the visionary founding member, Hell's Angel provides a fascinating all-access pass to the secret world of the notorious Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Sonny Barger recounts the birth of the original Oakland Hell's Angels and the four turbulent decades that followed. Hell's Angel also chronicles the way the HAMC revolutionized the look of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle and built what has become a worldwide bike-riding fraternity, a beacon for freedom-seekers the world over.
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A must for any true biker
- By Chris B on 06-20-15
By: Sonny Barger
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U.S. Marshals
- Inside America's Most Storied Law Enforcement Agency
- By: Mike Earp, David Fisher
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending history and memoir, retired U.S. Marshal Mike Earp - a descendant of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp - offers an exclusive and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the most storied law enforcement agency in America, illuminating its vital role in the nation's development for more than two hundred years. Setting his own experiences within the long history of the U.S. Marshals service, Earp offers a moving and illuminating tribute to the brave marshals who have dedicated their lives to keeping the nation safe.
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Boring, history of the bureaucracy
- By Lake Like A Local on 03-15-21
By: Mike Earp, and others
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Almost Paradise
- The East Hampton Murder of Ted Ammon
- By: Kieran Crowley
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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On October 22, 2001, handsome multimillionaire financier Ted Ammon was found bludgeoned to death in the magnificent East Hampton mansion he'd built with his beautiful - and volatile - wife, Generosa. She stood to make millions, but it wasn't the money that made Ted's friends suspicious: Generosa Ammon had a history of violent outbursts and bizarre obsessions.
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Wow! This was a fascinating story!
- By Lolly on 01-04-18
By: Kieran Crowley
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The Black Hand
- The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer
- By: Chris Blatchford
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Rene "Boxer" Enriquez grew up on the violent streets of East L.A., where gang fights, robberies, and drive-by shootings were fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. When he finally landed in prison - at the age of 19 - Enriquez found an organization that brought him the respect he always wanted: the near-mythic and widely feared Mexican Mafia, La Eme. What the organization saw in Enriquez was a young man who knew no fear and would kill anyone - justifiably or not - in the blink of an eye.
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Intense, brutal, and informative
- By E on 07-08-15
By: Chris Blatchford
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My name is Brett. I'm a college-educated man who was once a husband of 26 years with two children, three businesses, and a large home with an actual white picket fence. I'm also a drug addict. And I have a tale to tell. It's about the despair of addiction and the absolute certainty that it can be overcome. Recovery is not simply abstinence, but a process of growing up. I spent my entire life searching for the key to long-term sobriety. I would like to share with you what I have learned.
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The Amazing Race on narcotics
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Disappointed
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American Cartel
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The definitive investigation and exposé of how some of the nation's largest corporations created and fueled the opioid crisis—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters who first uncovered the dimensions of the deluge of pain pills that ravaged the country and the complicity of a near-omnipotent drug cartel.
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A must listen.
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Dreamland
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In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.
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Excellent
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What listeners say about American Pain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer in Sanford NC
- 07-07-16
Now I understand the problem
A great book. As a physician I wondered why doctors were being blamed for the opiate epidemic. I understand better now but I still am upset with some of the information that I learned. In the past the DEA which dictatesThe amount of controlled drugs that can be produced by the companies has cut off or markedly decreased the amount of certain medicines in the past such as Quaalude. It instantly stopped the epidemic and yet the book tells me that in the last 10 years the DEA has allowed manufacturers to increase opiate production. In fact the amount produced in the year the book was published was I think 43 times what it was in the early 2000's! Shocking. It's very disappointing and discouraging to know that this epidemic could be stopped but it's almost like somebody doesn't want it to be stopped A great book. A must read
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64 people found this helpful
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- Tiphanie
- 03-09-16
Tragically fascinating
As somebody who has friends and family who have struggled with painkiller addiction this book was as frustrating as it was engrossing. I finished it in a couple days and found myself listening to it while I was falling asleep. If you have or know somebody who has struggled with opiate addiction you will find this book very interesting. It doesn't have an agenda it's not pro doctors or pro patients. It just presents the facts. I had heard Florida was the painkiller Capitol of the US but had no idea. The narrator did a good job making the scene easy to visualize in your head by changes in tone and so on.
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35 people found this helpful
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- Fred
- 05-28-16
A true story that reads like good fiction - and in-depth look at "pill mills"
This is a no nonsense blow by blow story of the creation of the country's largest illegal drug source. Pill mills were growing rapidly all over the country but primarily in Florida. Everything seemed to be legal but commonsense should have told them that things weren't right. When somebody arrives from Kentucky and leaves with a prescription for 340 pills – something isn't right!
The narrative is constructed in a very understandable way and follows the course of growing and later dismantling these large Florida businesses. American Pain itself accounted for a large percentage of the illicit drug use in the United States during that period of time.
It was amazing to read how the staff and the doctors even full of themselves into thinking they were doing legitimate medical prescribing.
Very highly recommended!
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29 people found this helpful
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- Joseph R. Schwartz
- 12-14-15
Cautionary Tales
Any additional comments?
The author's purpose appears to be to describe the recent production and distribution of opioids in the US, specifically in it's most recent pill-like forms. He does this by telling of the rise and fall of a single opportunist in a vast industry, as a "cautionary tale." The subject's, American Pain's," entry in to the industry appears clearly inadvertent, and the time between start and end is appears less than 3 years. Although, this retailer's coming and going may have impacted the lives those individuals it came in direct contact with, it may have had little impact, on the industry. The subject was no enough to carry the entire book, and forced the author to repetition.
Based on what is contained in this book and other sources, it is an important time to write about the pharmaceutical industry's practices. As a "cautionary note," the author had the opportunity to tell the tale of "American Pain" and write a more far reaching, more important book, by using it as an example, rather than the subject of the full book. Instead, he reduced what could have been a book to something that could be covered in a journalistic article.
Question for the author : Is the company that introduced opioids in pill form 20 years ago the same company that is selling medication for the relief of digestive problems, caused by those same opioids?
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26 people found this helpful
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- Misty
- 06-07-16
Bad Southern accents, but great book.
Temple did a great job weaving a million elements into a very fast paced storyline. I experienced sadness and anger as the story developed. Many lives spun even more out of control thanks to these greedy, self-centered characters. And the doctors...wow. Listen and be amazed. The only negative comment is the over dramatization of the character's voices. For me it was very distracting.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Wildirishman64
- 07-24-16
American Pain is only the beginning
Where does American Pain rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top five as it was very informative and makes the reader understand in laymans terms what is going on in our state of Kentucky
Who was your favorite character and why?
I didn't really have a favorite in this book
What does Charlie Thurston bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
His realism in terms of the humanity that lost their way.
If you could give American Pain a new subtitle, what would it be?
The Cost of Human Suffering by Big Pharma
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20 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-17-15
ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT BLAMING SOMEONE
I have found this story great. my problem is with the DEA An FBI an Media blaming everyone but the idiots that went an bought drugs and OD'd. I mean why not. we blame fast food for declining health Tobacco company's for getting lung cancer. Well anyway it is a good Story.
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18 people found this helpful
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- Dani
- 01-20-16
Informative and interesting story
American pain should be renamed American horror story. It is an unbelievable story of loss, suffering, greed and redemption. Worth reading and keeps you listening but not stellar, by any means.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Arris
- 09-18-16
Wow!
One of the most interesting reads I've had in quite a while. I normally stick to fiction but this was definitely worth the foray out.
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6 people found this helpful
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- crazybatcow
- 09-19-16
Worst part is that it was almost legal
The first thing I will note is that I found the characters a little difficult to keep straight - they all seemed very similar to each other in attitude and behaviour so when they referred to each other, it would take me a second to figure out which was the head guy and which the 'muscle', etc.
The second thing of note is that the 'vignette' stories chosen to demonstrate just how bad this Oxy issue is were a bit scattered, or perhaps the better word is thin... the author spent 80% of the book looking at the main characters and their drug marketing process but the 20% which looked at (real) people's issues with the drug, or the company, seemed randomly inserted. Sure, they were interesting, but the flow was not really logical - we read 4 chapters about the business, then a vignette chapter about an addict dying from a drug overdose, then 2 chapters of business, then a chapter with another set of characters drug addiction, etc. There didn't seem to be a pattern, unless it was meant to be a time-scale thing, but that was not clear.
I did, however, Google this organization when I finished the book and it seems the story was based on real characters, and real addicts, so perhaps the weird addition of certain addicts' details was because those were the ones whose information was public due to lawsuits, or whatever... and the rest of the addicts' story were just a conglomeration of stories blended together.
Anyway, all that being said, I couldn't put the book down. I don't understand how they were allowed to run this business this way, and/or why they had to go so far with it that they got arrested... because until some (unclear) tipping point, what they were doing was legal (which is sad in and of itself). Though I suppose once you start making so much money each day that you have to put it into garbage cans, you might realize you probably crossed a line somewhere.
The narration is fine. There is no graphic content but, of course, the material discusses drugs and drug addiction.
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4 people found this helpful