Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

Rogues is a collection of twelve deep-reportage pieces originally published in The New Yorker. Patrick Radden Keefe tracks individuals who operate on the fringes of legal and ethical boundaries, ranging from billionaire money-launderers and black-market arms dealers to a vintage wine forger and a whistleblowing bank employee. The narratives examine the specific mechanics of large-scale deception, including how the creators of The Apprentice crafted a public persona for Donald Trump and how a death penalty defense lawyer negotiates for the lives of mass killers. Keefe focuses on the technical details of how these subjects evade authority and the psychological justifications they use to rationalize their behavior.

This book fits the interests of readers who value long-form investigative journalism and the intersection of white-collar crime and high-stakes law enforcement. It serves those who want to understand the systemic loopholes that allow professional grifters to thrive within global financial and legal structures. Readers walk away with a detailed view of how investigators build cases against elusive targets and an understanding of the blurred lines between ambitious entrepreneurship and criminal enterprise. It provides a look at the persistence required to uncover hidden truths in complex, international schemes.