Hank Cooper

Hank Cooper is a Jewish Canadian author whose memoir Smuggling With Jesus (2017) tells the true story of how a kid from a traditional Toronto home walked away from safety and into the world of international drug smuggling. Raised in an unconventional family — his father once won a home on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in a poker game — Cooper studied chemistry and, at sixteen, began running with his best friend Bernie. Over the next fifteen years they moved through Bolivia during a political coup (including a 650-mile taxi ride from La Paz to Lima), partied with Pablo Escobar's cousin in Cali, Colombia, delivered to David Bowie before a Boston show, and tried their luck in Thailand, where foreigners caught smuggling faced 35 years in prison. Told with dry, gallows humor, Smuggling With Jesus is a story of temptation, fear, survival, and improbable grace — and of finding a way back. Hank now writes and speaks about his experiences.