The Fort Bragg Cartel Audiobook By Seth Harp cover art

The Fort Bragg Cartel

Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces

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The Fort Bragg Cartel

By: Seth Harp
Narrated by: Dan John Miller
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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.

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Meticulous Research • Compelling Investigation • Excellent Performance • Fascinating Exposé • Eye-opening Revelations

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I was always skeptical those images of US soldiers guarding poppy fields in Afghanistan meant anything, now I'm convinced they are just one of the many indicators of the US military's massive narco trafficking ring. The beating heart of that ring lies within USASOC, headquartered at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC, a long-suffering military town that gained the reputation of "Fayettenam" during the Vietnam War for its level of crime. Now, nearly fifty years from the end of that disastrous war, the operators of USASOC, having learned a thing or two from Charlie, as Steve Earle would say, are once again wrecking havoc on Fayetteville.

"Fayettenam" Lives On

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Does a great job tying together the GWOT, War on Drugs, and the corrupt judicial system and how many lives were destroyed as a result

Incredible

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As an army brat and someone who worked for Department of Defense for over 30 years, I thoroughly enjoyed the insights you brought to the table. My heart breaks for everyone involved in these campaigns and destroyed by them. However, the lingering feeling at the end of this book is anger, and resentment over the mishandling and lack of oversight over our soldiers.

Outstanding writing and investigative reporting

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Been following Seth Harps journalism for years and was excited to see this come out. Not often we have old school reporters on the ground doing a years long investigation. This book is well researched and loaded with information that is not talked about in mainstream media. Highly recommend if you’re curious about what black ops actually looks like in reality.

Old school reporting, wild story

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The tell of the horrors of fort Bragg, this book’s atrocities had me saying “oh man, no” several times. Highly recommended

Informative and eye opening

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