The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade

Shortlisted by BEST NEW AUTHOR at TRUE CRIME AWARDS 2026

Nominated for BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by MARITIME FOUNDATION UK 2026

"A propulsive and illuminating biography. Tuch's deep dive is suspenseful and well researched, shedding fascinating light on a shadowy 20th-century figure." — Publishers Weekly

"An intriguing portrait of a real-life trafficker teeming with enterprise and international crime." — Kirkus Reviews

Government agencies and rival factions were closing in. His look-alike had already fallen victim to professional hitmen and his once-powerful allies in Cuban intelligence and the DEA could no longer guarantee his safety. How did a boy from Manchester revolutionise the criminal world and become the largest marijuana trafficker in American history?

This is the never-before-told story of Harold Derber, the debonair British Merchant Navy veteran who invented the modern drug trade with his groundbreaking invention: the drug mothership. Through his ghost fleet of drug ships, Derber eventually become the chief supplier of marijuana to post-war America. This gripping true tale follows Derber from humble beginnings in Manchester, England to his assassination in the sun-kissed streets of Miami. Along the way, Derber's story takes in some of the most significant events of the twentieth century - the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic, the Cuban Revolution and the murky shadows of the Cold War.

Shedding light on a litany of plots including arms and refugee smuggling, large-scale stock fraud and Derber's rise to the pinnacle of the drug world, this remarkable transatlantic story paints a complex picture of a singular figure and brings his extraordinary life into focus for the first time.