The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing

by Matt Taibbi, Reggie Harris

“Wow . . . a great book.” —Joe Rogan

“Of all the books I've written, [The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing is] the one that I'm probably most proud of.” —Matt Taibbi




The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing tells the story of a hyper-observant, politically minded, but humorously pragmatic weed dealer who has spent a working life compiling rules for how to a) make money and b) avoid prison.

Each rule shapes a chapter of this fast-paced outlaw tale, all delivered in his deliciously trenchant argot. Here are a few of them:
• No guns but keep shooters.
• Stay behind the white guy.
• Don’t snitch.
• Always have a job.
• Be multi-sourced.
• Get your money and get out.

Part edge-of-the-seat suspense story, part how-to manual in the tradition of The Anarchist Cookbook, The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing is as scintillating as it is subversive. Just reading it feels illegal.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Biography, Crime, Drugs, Biography Memoir

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2018

Reviews

[Aaron Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great use of the serialized novel concept, even though I didn't read it until the whole thing had already been finished. Written as both a memoir and a Seven Habits of Highly Effective Drug Dealers by "Huey Carmichael" (yes, as in "P. Newton" and "Stokely"), an anonymous friend of Taibbi's, this literary treatment/extension of Biggie's famous "Ten Crack Commandments" offers the aspiring young criminal an interesting real-life account of the heady days of marijuana growing and distribution in the Wild West pre-legalization pre-corporate era, as well as, more relevantly, a bunch of practical advice on how not to get busted should you wish to continue running drugs outside the confines of the law. As he says, most drug dealers learn their jobs from movies, so it's neat to see a more detailed and practical set of guidelines than you can get from, say, watching New Jack City over and over again. While in literary terms it's not written with the gripping intensity of a classic like Clockers, the steady rotation of characters throughout the narrative, most notably his on-again/off-again girlfriend Courtney, gives the slow accumulations and rapid dissipations of his various drug empires a poignancy that a more clinical instruction manual would lack. Taibbi's forays into the criminal justice system in his previous books The Divide and I Can't Breathe were phenomenal, and this detour into the life of someone who neatly avoided that system is worth a pass as well.

Carmichael grew up "between two worlds", as they say, shuffling between upper class and working class communities in New Jersey in his youth. His leap to dealing was prompted by his discovery that he was good at it. Throughout the book he's clear-eyed about his place in America, particularly when he had a (fortunately) brief experience with prison. "I believe in money. So does America. Beyond that we don't have a relationship.... America and I, we were two ships that passed in the night. The mindless experience of prison was the only thing we ever shared." Since marijuana is on a seemingly inevitable march towards full legalization, one wonder how well these insights will translate to other drugs and future times. Would a non-fictional Scarface still offer useful lessons for someone running ecstasy? But on that subject, Carmichael made a great point about what the likely effects of legalization will be on the existing drug industry, particularly black people who don't have the access to capital it takes to get big: "People think racism in America is in a word or an image. It isn't. It's in money. The history of our country is that as soon as Black people find a way to build up anything, rich people find a way to take it. Doesn't matter if it's rock n' roll, rap, or subprime real estate. They buy it up and bust it from the inside. This country was founded on capitalism, and Black people were the first commodity sold on Wall Street. Now we'll be the first to be stripped of a business that we built, and in exchange some of us will get housing in Wall Street-backed private prisons."

Bleak stuff, and he's probably right. His complete list of rules, for the curious:

- Always have a job.
- Never let business partners know where you stay.
- Never trade minutes for years.
- Align incentives with potential antagonists.
- Minimize your risk.
- In every deal, at least double your money.
- Never write down anything you wouldn't want printed on the cover of the New York Times.
- Keep your face off the Internet.
- Deal with as few people as possible.
- No guns, but keep shooters.
- Always stay behind the white guy.
- Don't fuck with nobody else's girl, not even an enemy's.
- Always store in a place with a doorman.
- Always leave a dummy stash.
- Always get a pay lawyer. And get the best one there is.
- Always under-promise and over-deliver.
- Always keep your money neat.
- Patronize casinos.
- Trust the postal services.
- Try to work with people you know.
- If you can't afford a hotel room, I'm not doing business with you.
- No business at night.
- Be the last person in any group that walks into any space.
- When dealing with new people, Keep the purse small.
- A loss isn't a loss. It's a lesson.
- Always carry an Allen wrench.
- Embrace racial stereotypes.
- Every time you enter a state, change out your cars. Drive rentals but make sure you've got in-state plates as often as possible.
- Keep your business and your family separated.
- Dress like an off-duty Applebee's waiter.
- Always have a lawyer on retainer.
- Always pay the plug - unless you can't.
- Don't get attached.
- Treat your cash like kids, don't let it stay inside all day and get soft.
- I watch sixty seconds tick off on my watch before I say anything I might regret.
- Plan for the worst.
- If you talk long enough to hear yourself giving a speech, you're probably fucking something up.
- When you do any work, no matter how menial, always find out exactly how much you're worth. Because someone will always try to pay you less.
- In any big operation, don't weigh your foot soldiers down with too many different orders. Work hard to focus on a few simple goals.
- Always be willing to spend money for goodwill.
- Get your money and get out.
- Never count the next man's money.
- Never touch your savings.
- Never run from the front.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Petty sure the Huey Carmichael co-author is a fiction to let Taibbi use AAVE without justifying himself, just as the idea of of it being a novel is way to get around the rigours of fact checking if it'd been a journalistic work. But you know what, who cares? Not Taibbi.

[Aaron Kheifets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down. It was fascinating, incredibly insightful and very well-written. I loved it.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this subversive how-to guide from the firsthand experience of a never-caught drug dealer, Matt Taibbi weaves an impressively coherent narrative. His anonymous collaborator, whom he names Huey Carmichael, lays out his code of precepts over the course of genuinely fascinating tales from his adventures. While sympathetic and likable, Huey occasionally reminds you that he is in fact a drug dealer, and the rudimentary code of honor he lives by is hardly the equivalent of real morality. Taibbi, a political writer, found Carmichael's political involvements too interesting not to include, but it felt out of place in a book about drug dealing. Nevertheless, a pure page-turner, this one. 4.5/5

[Michael Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look from the inside of a mid-high level marijuana dealer. It doesn't lay out the business plan entirely but rather provides basic rules on how not to get caught by police. The ending was strange and seemed rushed.

[Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Casino is the cinematic version of Las Vegas' transition from mob playground to fun-friendly corporate cash vacuum, this book is similarly timed crossover from illegal to vertically integrated legal corporate cannabis business and described from the inside, by someone displaced by the transition.

A form of personal narrative, taking place, partly in Oakland, this was a fun quick read and provided insight into the carpetbagging corporate swindle of the cannabis industry long-foretold; and the many rules to navigate this line of work.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A provacative title and great story from an author better known for his political screeds. BSDD features the purportedly factual tale of how to succeed in dealing drugs; marijuana only as we’re told is one of the keys to success. Presented as the real escapades of an anonymous dealer given the tongue in cheek name Huey Carmichael for his own protection. I thought who the hell is buying all this weed Huey is pedaling when you can walk out onto the street of many cities/towns and legally buy marijuana capable of sending you to psych ward? Even in states where it’s not legal you only have to go to the border of the neighboring state or at worst a few hundred miles to buy the stuff legally. Huey is living undercover, running from the law but it’s the specter of further legalization that looms. Taibbi puts a fine point on it at the end by clarifying the biggest threat is the arrival of Amazon where you can buy ANYTHING.

In the intro to his book “Hate Inc.- Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another” Taibbi states that all journalists including himself are nothing more than failed fiction writers but with BSDD he’s proven he has other options when he’s done chronicling the battle between the left and right.

[Alex Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was entertaining. It reminded me of older Ben Mezrich novels - a story too good to be true based on real events. While the characters were interesting, I did have trouble following the plot at times since it jumped around in time so much. Regardless, this was a quick and engaging look into the marijuana trade.

[Trenton Holliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know Taibbi is a problematic person, but a friend recommended this book to me, and it’s a fast-paced, fascinating and rewarding read. My only complaint is that it moves backwards and forwards in time at such frequent and unpredictable intervals that it's a bit hard to keep the narrative straight.

[Ben Pothecary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know the author, but I do know OR Books. I follow their regular publishing schedule, picking up books that make me think. Or be a bit of fun and make me think.

This is a book about a drug dealer that only focuses on weed, during the times when it was illegal across the USA. Huey, the anonymous at the center, lays out how he did his business, his successes and his failures. He succeeds when he follows his rules, fails when he doesn’t. It is an interesting inside view into this world.

At the same time it is a tale of race relations within the USA. Huey isn’t taken seriously unless he has a white business partner. Cops will target the Black man and let the white man go. The most critical point is that from his perspective, each time Black people develop a successful business, white interests work to take it away. For Huey, it was the legalization of weed and the white celebrities jumping in to take it all away.

It is never apparent where the truth ends and the fiction begins. There are inconsistencies, such as a rule of never flaunting the cash being made, yet he is flashing his BMW M3 while still young and not a Silicon Valley engineer. The business rules make for how to be aware of the world, to set boundaries that you will never cross. Because at some point, you’ll be asked to cross them.

===

I believe in money. So does America. Beyond that we don’t have a relationship. -Huey

In business, racism is your friend. If you master the nuances of it, you will prevail. Race is everything in America, especially in law enforcement. -Huey

I don’t think knowledge is bad. I just think that the act of acquiring it can have a separating effect. Every level of education you achieve drives you deeper and deeper into an elite group that’s walled itself off like all groups do, with its own language and tribal rituals. The difference with educated people is they think they’re above this, when actually they’re the most tribal of all. It’s fucking sad. -Huey

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to any good and earnest person who is seeking a career in the military or in law enforcement.

Definitely goes into to the list of media I've consumed that people will look at me weird for.

Why read a book on dealing drugs when I have not nor plan on committing such a crime? Well I guess it's the same reason I read Sun Tzu or Carl Von Clausewitz's doctrines on war. Or why, as a Christian, I read Proverbs or the Epistles. They're doctrines or philosophies on how to carry yourself and be successful. They have their specific areas of study (war, business, morals, closeness with God, etc.) but if they work then they usually work when applied to other areas. Nearly every Sun Tzu book has an introduction by some guy saying how the rules in "The Art of War" apply not just to war but to business as well.

How can drug dealing relate to anything I'm interested in? Well take for example: the Dark Web. You may know the Dark Web as a scary place where things are traded on the black market, but did you know that it's also the only internet service available to people in authoritarian countries where free speech and communication is able to take place. This is because the same anonymity people take advantage of to commit crimes and get away with them, is also the same anonymity that grants security to those who need to communicate freely with each other. The Dark Web has many good faith users, they have freed sex-slaves, and even uncovered black market operations.

Bad people develop methods in order to escape punishment for their crimes and ill-gotten gains, however sometimes good people have to use similar methods to save lives. Consider this: Paul was once snuck out of city via basket and rope. Who thought of doing that first? The person with a clean record or the outlaw turned saint?

[Sigal Sasson · Rating 4 out of 5]

-“I have a saying about the Midwest: the good get out.”
-“people think racism in America is in a word or an image. It isn’t. It’s in money. The history of our country is that as soon as black people find a way to build up anything, rich people find a way to take it.”
-Rules: always have a job, never let business partners know where you stay, never trade minutes for years, align incentives with potential antagonists, minimize your risk, in every deal at least double your money, never write anything down you wouldn’t want printed on the cover of the NYT, deal with as few people as possible, know your market, always store in a place with a doorman, always leave a dummy stash, always under promise and over deliver. Try to work with people you know. A loss isn’t a loss, it’s a lesson. Embrace racial stereotypes. No drugs inside the passenger area of a car. Never snitch. Don’t get attached. Treat your cash like kids, don’t let it stay inside all day and get soft. Plan for the worst. When you do any work. No matter how menial, always find out exactly how much you’re worth. Because someone will always try to pay you less. Always be willing to spend money for goodwill. Never count the next man’s money.

[Jackson Lee]

This book covers the inside tricks of the trade as told by a former drug mule who managed to make it out of "the game" having never been caught.

One of my favorite quotes from this book was "Always have a job. Having a job about having an excuse for the money in your pocket. It's a mindset.

A man with a job will behave a certain way. He is a citizen. Dependable. Believable. When a man with a job travels, no one asks him questions."

I like this quote because I think it shows one of the main reasons the person interviewed for this book was able to fly under the radar so easily and also shows the extent of the discipline that he had to maintain a cover for his true profession.

One thing I found surprising is that the person who was interviewed for this book could have been living right next door to you while he was involved in the illegal market and you never would have suspected it.

One of the key takeaways I got from this book was how one can use the systemic biases of America to act in their favor.

[Caitlin Litz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. Rules for a career in drug dealing. I made a huge mistake becoming a teacher. Context of politics was great.

In fact, I have a habit of yelling and giving speeches when I’m making a wrong decision. Rule: if you talk long enough to hear yourself giving a speech, you’re probably fucking something up. I’d realize that much later in life. But at the time of this story, I’m in my early twenties and still don’t know life.

I doubted police actually used that pencil rubbing trick, but who knew? Cops watch movies too. Matter of fact, they watch too many. It’s why I was never sure if body cameras were a good idea. Having cops be cops is bad enough. Having them be cops and wannabe stars of screen, even worse. 😂

[Saatwik Katiha · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Matt says this is semi-fictional, it doesn't just mean that the book is partially based in reality - it also means that the narrative style is different from a work of fiction, which usually has a well-defined storyline. There's a progression of events here (sometimes a little hard to follow with all the characters and incidents, and a frayed timeline) but it reads more like a stretched out journalistic piece than a story. Interesting nonetheless, though it'd have been more rewarding knowing which parts constitute fiction and which are real.

[Fritz Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, entertaining read. I love Matt Taibbi's political writing (Griftopia, etc), so it's fun to see him branch into something a little more fictionalized (though I wish i knew how close which parts hewed to reality). As other reviewers have said, not as good as his political writing, but definitely worth the time. I understand that like much of his other writing this book was initially published serially and then presented in book form.

[Martin Carrasco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fiction crammed with superficial characters who barely engage in dialogue. All throughout, I felt I was being naively grifted by a child's imagination. I cringed a lot while reading. Somehow the writing was so smooth and "benign" (grade 4 literacy required...) that I would occasionally forget the authors promise to reveal some sort of "secret". "keep a job [blah blah] Applebees": scintillating; endearing.

[Dez Van Der Voort · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Enjoyment: 5/5

Great book by Taibbi, always fun and enjoyable read. About a weed dealer who made it nationally, but had to drop out due to legalization of cannabis, and got out just in time before jail. There were some grassroots political campaigns at the end of the book, as well as a bit of rushing of the storyline, I would say the first nine-tenths of the book was excellent, enjoyed almost all of it.

[Lawrence Grandpre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though "fictional" Good to hear social and poltical analysis from thus perspective. Lots of lessons hear for folks trying to understand legalization and the politics of it. Very few works like this touch on the realities of this game without over sensationalization of adopting the wires "tragedy" narrative, so this is good to see.

[J.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about marijuana dealing. Takes place from the late 90's until about 2016. I don't know if some of those rules still apply. I don't think I'd send five pounds of weed back to my drop house via the US Postal Service anymore. I have to assume they've gotten at least a tiny bit smarter about monitoring and stopping drug trafficking through the mail?!?

[Rick Fifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entreating book about Huey and his life as a drug dealer who has rules. His rules set up the chapters and they give some insight to how he runs his business. Hard to believe it is true but as Matt Taibbi says the names have been changed. It is a good book non-fiction or not.

[Peter]

I think good

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read, well-told, and an interesting insight into pot economics in the era just before wide-spread legalization and corporatization. It’s great to see Taibbi branch out in this direction too.

[Lehnar Seyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

how to download somebody help me pls.

[Nate Lorenzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little disjointed at the end but well worth the read. Going to print the rules out for reference!

[Joe Loncarich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This makes drug dealing sound awesome. Not for me, but it definitely had me on the edge of my seat.

[Vignesh Yelluri · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.3*

The 20 minute video of the Author in Joe Rogan's show was really good. This book was good enough but I expected something more.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one does what Matt Taibbi does. Kudos to him for his curiosity, creativity, and courage to do a book like this, in the way he did it.

How, exactly, did he do it? Read the book.

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m Australian and couldn’t be further from the American weed market if I tried. This book was educational to the extreme