guilty to conspiring to murder a federal agent, received the same sentence Hunter had originally: twenty years apiece. (Vamvakias pre- sumably will receive a reduction in his sentence for cooperating- or even witness protection-but his information has now been purged from the Bureau of Prison's public database.) Michael Fil- ter got eight years for surveillance on the cocaine deal, while Sla- womir Soborski received nine on the same charge. Lengths of sentences in federal drug cases are tied to the amount of drugs in question-even if, as in this case, those drugs were fictitious.

In the North Korean meth case, Adrian Valkovic, the "ground commander," was sentenced to more than nine years for offering to provide security for the transaction. Kelly Peralta, the middle- man on the deal, received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence. Ye Tiong Tan Lim went down for eleven and a half years. Large portions of Philip Shackels's sentencing hearing were redacted by the government-including almost all of the testimony of his fa- ther, a former Irish intelligence officer-for unexplained reasons. Shackels received seven years, with the possibility of a transfer to an Irish prison. Scott Stammers, who the government claimed had been a leader in the plan, was sentenced to fifteen years.

In Hong Kong, Doron Shulman, who managed Le Roux's gold stores and imported the ammonium nitrate, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering and was sentenced to five years in prison. The other Israelis claimed, without success, to have been ignorant of the source of the gold. Yoav Hen and Daniel Fadlon ultimately pleaded guilty to money laundering and were sentenced to four years in prison. Omer Gavish fought the charges but was convicted and received five and a half years. All of them were re- leased early and returned to Israel. Through an intermediary, they declined to speak with me.

In July 2014, the U.S. government finally declared tramadol- the generic version of Ultram-a Schedule IV controlled substance. All three of the painkillers favored by Le Roux's networks are now controlled drugs under U.S. law.