The Fort Bragg Cartel

Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces

By: Seth Harp

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A New Yorker Best Book of 2025
A Forbes Best True Crime Book of 2025

“Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book I’ve read in months.” —David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times

“Propulsive.” —The Washington Post

“Engrossing. . . . Truly shocking.” —The New Republic

“The most mind-blowing piece of investigative journalism I’ve read since Chaos.” —Spike Carter, Air Mail

A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today’s military

In December 2020, a deer hunter discovered two dead bodies that had been riddled with bullets and dumped in a forested corner of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the dead men, Master Sergeant William “Billy” Lavigne, was a member of Delta Force, the most secretive “black ops” unit in the military. A deeply traumatized veteran of America’s classified assassination program, Lavigne had done more than a dozen deployments in his lengthy career, was addicted to crack cocaine, dealt drugs on base, and had committed a series of violent crimes before he was mysteriously killed. The other victim, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, was a quartermaster attached to the Special Forces who used his proximity to clandestine missions to steal guns and traffic drugs into the United States from abroad, and had written a blackmail letter threatening to expose criminality in the special operations task force in Afghanistan.

As soon as Seth Harp, an Iraq war veteran and investigative reporter, begins looking into the double murder, he learns that there have been many more unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg recently, other murders connected to drug trafficking in elite units, and dozens of fatal overdoses. Drawing on declassified documents, trial transcripts, police records, and hundreds of interviews, Harp tells a scathing story of narco-trafficking in the Special Forces, drug conspiracies abetted by corrupt police, blatant military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the pernicious consequences of continuous war.

Great investigative reporting!

Detailed reporting, this book was written well and the narrator did a great job. The story itself is extremely saddening for me as a former Spec Ops soldier. I was at Bragg for a few years prior to all this happening, but serving within the community I can unfortunately see how these horrible and tragic events happened . Great work I was happy with it and recommend anyone who wants to listen to a story you can’t stop listening to, this is it.

You should write a disclaimer.

No other department of the military has ever needed the amount of press, glam and fawning attention as special operations! This book will open many eyes to a shadow realm; at no small danger to the author

*** It may be necessary for you to write a disclaimer stating that you are not suicidal. Write one, record one, etc, and leave copies with several people.

A Masterpiece

The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp is a riveting expose detailing the degradation of our special forces personnel by decades of forever wars. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I hope it reaches many of my fellow Americans, and helps turn the tide against the military industrial complex, which threatens to destroy our nation.

Scatter brained and immensely biased.

The Fort Bragg Cartel is a compelling and often disturbing look into criminal activity connected to elite military circles. At its best, the book is genuinely gripping—especially when it focuses on a single storyline or individual case. In those moments, the narrative is clear, intense, and engaging, making it easy to see why this topic is both important and fascinating.

However, the book struggles with structure. The author frequently jumps between different storylines, timelines, and people, often without smooth transitions. This constant hopping makes the book difficult to follow and disrupts the flow. Just as one storyline becomes interesting, the reader is pulled into another, which weakens the overall impact and coherence of the narrative.

The biggest flaw, though, is the author’s overt political bias. The main events span roughly from the early 2000s to around 2020—covering four different presidential administrations. Yet the author barely references Bush or Obama, mentions Biden only briefly, and repeatedly targets Trump, sometimes more than a dozen times. These references often feel forced and irrelevant, as if the author is trying to pin systemic issues within SOCOM on a single president.

Worse, the author frequently inserts political jabs that have little to no bearing on the actual crimes being discussed—such as labeling individuals as “known Trump supporters” in contexts where that information adds nothing meaningful to the story. These comments come across as biased opinion rather than serious analysis and ultimately undermine the credibility of the book. There is no realistic way to rationally connect the behavior of individuals involved in criminal acts to the personal politics of a U.S. president, and attempting to do so feels lazy and intellectually weak.

In the end, The Fort Bragg Cartel has strong material and tells some powerful stories, but its execution is flawed. The disorganized structure and heavy-handed political bias detract significantly from what could have been a much more effective and professional piece of investigative nonfiction. The book is interesting, but it often feels more like a politically motivated narrative than an objective examination of real events.

Fascinating and revolting

Very good read about the shenanigans of JSOC and prima Donna’s of Ft Bragg. Harp did his homework and wrote a convincing story, however, his Trump bashing was nauseating.