Dope Thief

A gritty, hardboiled crime novel written by Dennis Tafoya that follows Ray and Manny, two lifelong friends who met in juvenile detention. Operating on the margins of the Philadelphia criminal underworld, the duo runs a highly successful but incredibly risky scam: they dress up in secondhand DEA windbreakers, flash fake badges, and rob local, small-time drug dealers. They count on the fact that their targets are too guilty to go to the police and too small to retaliate. The fragile stability of their operation shatters when they inadvertently target the wrong mark and walk away with a massive, six-figure stash of cash belonging to a major organized crime syndicate. Suddenly, they find themselves hunted by a ruthless heavy hitter who will stop at nothing to recover the stolen money. As the violent fallout spirals out of control, Ray is forced to confront his own cycle of addiction, his troubled family history, and a desperate desire to escape a criminal life he feels he never truly chose.