The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers - Softcover

Christy, Bryan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446699756 ISBN 13: 9780446699754

Publisher: Twelve, 2009

Synopsis

When Bryan Christy began to investigate the world of reptile smuggling, he had no idea what he would be in for. In the course of his research, he was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, and sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula. But perhaps more dangerous was coming face to face with Michael J. Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a thriving family business in Hollywood, Florida. Van Nostrand imports as many as 300,000 iguanas each year (over half the total of America's most popular imported reptile), as well as hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders and scorpions.

Van Nostrand was suspected of being a reptile smuggler by Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who devoted years of his life in an obsessive quest to expose The Lizard King's cold-blooded crimes. How this cat-and-mouse game ended is engrossing and surprising.

About this title

Product Description:

Imagine The Sopranos, with snakes! A fascinating account of a family business with a history of smuggling reptiles, and the federal agent who was driven to taking them down

Review:

Who knew the world of reptile smuggling was as high stakes and character rich as an Elmore Leonard novel? Christy dives headlong into this subterranean world where a white python can fetch $100,000 ... The tactics of reptile smugglers recall those of drug criminals-falsifying documents, laundering funds. [THE LIZARD KING] emphasizes our enduring fascination with the cold-blooded. FOUR BUNNIES! (- Playboy 'Bryan Christy has fulfilled his contract as a writer on all counts in this impassioned, noirish, funny, ruthlessly researched masterpiece')

#NAME?

About this edition

• Publisher: Twelve
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0446699756
• ISBN 13: 9780446699754
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240