The Fort Bragg Cartel

Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces

De: Seth Harp

Narrado por: Dan John Miller

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A New Yorker Best Book of 2025
A Forbes Best True Crime Book of 2025

“Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book I’ve read in months.” —David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times

“Propulsive.” —The Washington Post

“Engrossing. . . . Truly shocking.” —The New Republic

“The most mind-blowing piece of investigative journalism I’ve read since Chaos.” —Spike Carter, Air Mail

A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today’s military

In December 2020, a deer hunter discovered two dead bodies that had been riddled with bullets and dumped in a forested corner of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the dead men, Master Sergeant William “Billy” Lavigne, was a member of Delta Force, the most secretive “black ops” unit in the military. A deeply traumatized veteran of America’s classified assassination program, Lavigne had done more than a dozen deployments in his lengthy career, was addicted to crack cocaine, dealt drugs on base, and had committed a series of violent crimes before he was mysteriously killed. The other victim, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, was a quartermaster attached to the Special Forces who used his proximity to clandestine missions to steal guns and traffic drugs into the United States from abroad, and had written a blackmail letter threatening to expose criminality in the special operations task force in Afghanistan.

As soon as Seth Harp, an Iraq war veteran and investigative reporter, begins looking into the double murder, he learns that there have been many more unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg recently, other murders connected to drug trafficking in elite units, and dozens of fatal overdoses. Drawing on declassified documents, trial transcripts, police records, and hundreds of interviews, Harp tells a scathing story of narco-trafficking in the Special Forces, drug conspiracies abetted by corrupt police, blatant military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the pernicious consequences of continuous war.

Anti-War & Anti-War Fighter, but a good story

Author paints JSOC as war hungry, drug addicted, pirates. Tens of thousands great people have gone through JSOC since GWOT kicked off. This book is about less than 100 of those.

Please keep that in mind when you are reading.

A++ loved it, former Army Veteran, beware of reviews on social media of people who haven't actually read the book.

I'm an Army Veteran and and so is the Author Seth Harp, he was a (12B) Combat Engineer and did 15 months 500+ days in the absolute pinnacle of the Iraq war insurgency 2004-2005 and was in a bunch of combat, I watched every interview and podcast I could find him in before I pulled the trigger and bought and read/listened to this book. And in one or possibly more interviews he reluctantly talked about his deployment and how multiple people from his unit killed in fire fights, ieds and even had a couple abandoned by his Lt. and subsequently captured. I believe he wrote about it for Rolling Stone as well. He's quick to point out how he's not a hero and the book has nothing to do with his service and came across very humble about all of it but the fact he experienced that adds credibility to him/his reporting. I really respect Veterans who are truly quiet professionals and don't go around tooting their own horn, whenever I see/hear someone like that I immediately think their full of shit because anyone who really lived knows it's nothing to glamourise....

Anyways I was familiar with the main story from Jack Murphy's reporting on it on the stars and stripes YouTube channel and always new their was more to it so this book was right up my alley and Sethwent so much deeper than I ever could have imagined on this. It's truly a crazy story. And I think Seth does a good job just reporting the facts and what people have told him without putting any spin on it and letting you connect the dots yourself despite how obvious or complex they maybe.

Some of it is a little hard to believe but the army is full of dudes who are natural risk takers especially in combat arms not to mention elite combat units. Be weary of any vet bro influencer trashing it who hasn't read the book. I've watched a bunch of these and it's obvious they haven't read the book and have only a vague general idea of the story combined with a lot of reservations about journalists, It's not thier fault and most of the time I respect and enjoy their content but unfortunately not when it comes to anyone being critical of special operations especially an outsider no matter how obvious it is.

All in all it's an awesome read especially if you're a veteran and are interested in this type of journalism.

Terry

Unrelenting captivation!

This book is an absolute gem, offering a captivating narrative that is ripe for adaptation into many good movies. It stands out as the best book I’ve listened to all summer, with its compelling storytelling and rich details. The reporting is so vivid and engaging that it paints a clear picture, making it easy to imagine the scenes unfolding on the big screen. A masterpiece.
🔥🔥🔥

A long time coming

For decades I've heard various horror stories outta Fort Bragg and some others. I grew up near two southern bases so variations on these themes came up over the years. The post War on Terror world and its blowback on the local population has needed to be put out there. Great job Seth for kicking open that door. Hopefully this will lead to more coming out; though I don't expect investigations to go too far in the current climate of laws for some, just not actual criminals so long as they Kiss the ring.

Shocking how under reported this problem is at Ft. Bragg!

Thank you for having the courage to write this book. I learned a lot from your hard work.