06 January, 2024

The Man Who Captures Criminals for the D.E.A. by Playing Them

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/30/the-man-who-captures-criminals-for-the-dea-by-playing-them

When posing as a drug trafficker or a money launderer, Enotiades thinks of himself as a businessman. He told me that he draws upon his memories of accompanying his father, Harris, a pharmaceuticals distributor in Cyprus, to lunch meetings with company executives. “If you ask me to play the role of a street guy, I will fail,” he said. The key is to present his assumed identity as a self-evident truth. “If you were a drug dealer, you’d be sitting here because you believe that I can satisfy your needs,” he said. “If you don’t believe it, my attitude is, You can go the hell out of here and find someone else. I don’t need you. Who are you to doubt me? Why do I have to prove myself to you? Show me ten thousand kilos of coke right now if you are such a big shit. Where is it? Let’s go and see.” When he was younger, Enotiades sometimes had to raise his voice or slam his fist on the table to gain control of a meeting. “Now I say, ‘Please don’t make me angry,’ ” he said. “Instead of shouting, I lower my voice so that people have to bend over to hear what I’m saying. It has a stronger effect.”