Arms and the Dudes
How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History

The page-turning, inside account of how two kids from Florida became big-time weapons tradersand how the US government turned on them. In January of 2007, two young stoners from Miami Beachone a ninth grade dropout, the other a licensed masseurwon a $300 million Department of Defense contract to supply ammunition to the Afghanistan military. Incredibly, instead of fulfilling the order with high-quality arms, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouzthe dudesbought cheap Communist-style surplus ammunition from Balkan gunrunners. The pair then secretly repackaged millions of rounds of shoddy Chinese ammunition and shipped it to Kabuluntil they were caught by Pentagon investigators and the scandal turned up on the front page of The New York Times. Thats the official story. The truth is far more explosive. For the first time, journalist Guy Lawson tells the thrilling true tale. Its a trip that goes from a dive apartment in Miami Beach to mountain caves in Albania, the corridors of power in Washington, and the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. Lawsons account includes a shady Swiss gunrunner, Russian arms dealers, corrupt Albanian gangsters, and a Pentagon investigation that impeded Americas war efforts in Afghanistan. Lawson exposes the mysterious and murky world of global arms dealing, showing how the American military came to use private contractors like Diveroli and Packouz as middlemen to secure weapons from illegal arms dealersthe same men who sell guns to dictators, warlords, and drug traffickers.