The Snakehead

The sweeping history of the American dream, Manhattan’s Chinatown underbelly, and the grandma mastermind behind one of the largest human smuggling rings.

**Patrick Radden Keefe's new book, London Falling, is on sale now**

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.

‘A powerful piece of reportage about the violent underworld of New York’s Chinatown’ – The Times

Merging gripping storytelling with fearless investigative journalism, Patrick Radden Keefe is undeniably one of the great nonfiction writers of our time.

'The finest non-fiction writer we have' – Elizabeth Day

'A gifted storyteller who excels at capturing personalities – The Washington Post

'We are fortunate to have him pounding the pavement to expose real-life darkness' – The Irish Times