The Snakehead
An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
‘Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.’ – Time
In this thrilling story of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown, managed a multimillion-dollar business smuggling people.
In The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe reveals the inner workings of Cheng Chui Ping aka Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of undocumented immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them.
Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a true crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.
‘A powerful piece of reportage about the violent underworld of New York’s Chinatown’ - The Times
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Over the course of Patrick Radden Keefe’s impressive career as an investigative journalist he has forged a reputation for plunging into the dark pockets and seams of the world to report back on the startling truths he uncovers. The Snakehead, Keefe’s account of the sophisticated human trafficking operation masterminded by Sister Ping, a Chinese immigrant living in New York City, is no exception. Sister Ping is a formidable figure—a wily and intuitive criminal that nonetheless invokes respect in her community—and the sheer scope of her enterprise draws equally appalled and impressed reactions. Although the bare facts alone would make for gripping reading, Keefe elevates the narrative beyond a mere detailing of the rap sheet, lacing the pacy narrative with colourful context that places the reader smack in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Chinatown in the ’90s. The cat-and-mouse history of Sister Ping’s lucrative smuggling business and the parallel FBI investigation tasked with bringing it down is knotty and suspenseful, sometimes violent. Keefe succeeds in documenting the intricacies of this true crime story with the same page-turning anticipation of a well-plotted thriller, without straying into sensationalism.
