Generation Oxy
From High School Wrestlers to Pain Pill Kingpins
Douglas Dodd, Matthew Cox, Mark Mallouk
- 224 Pages
- October 10, 2017
- ISBN: 9781510723573
- Imprint: Skyhorse Publishing
- Trim Size: 6in x 9in x 0in
Description
This true crime memoir details the three-year-long rise and collapse of the Barabas Criminal Enterprise, an opiod-pill trafficking ring founded by Douglas Dodd and his best friend on the wrestling team, Lance Barabas. Raised by an alcoholic mother and surrounded by drug-abusing relatives, Dodd got involved in narcotics at an early age. Their scheme to sell the drugs he was already consuming coincided with the explosion of prescription addicts who were traveling the “Oxy Express” to Florida for easy access to the pills they dubbed “hillbilly heroin.” Soon they were shipping forty thousand pills a month, with tens of thousands of dollars returning in hollowed-out teddy bears.
In Generation Oxy, Dodd recounts his time as a wannabe Scarface: bottle service at clubs, an arsenal of weapons that would make Dillinger blush, narrow escapes from the law, hordes of young women, and as many pills as he could swallow. And this was all before he was legally able to drink a beer, while still living with his grandmother. The good times came to an end when the DEA closed in and the twenty-year-old Dodd faced life in federal prison.
Authors
Matthew B. Cox met Douglas Dodd as a prison inmate. A graduate of the University of South Florida, he is the coauthor of Once a Gun Runner. Cox lives in Coleman, Florida.
Mark Mallouk is the screenwriter of Black Mass and executive producer of Everest and Golden Globe Best Picture nominee Rush.
Reviews
—Bruce Porter, author of Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All
“It reads like a movie script: a well-liked teenager and high school wrestler makes millions of dollars selling opioids with his friends, all while remembering to mow his grandmother’s lawn. His life of pills and sex turns harrowing as he faces life in federal prison.”
—Rebecca Morris, New York Times bestselling author of If I Can’t Have You and A Killing in Amish Country (both with Gregg Olsen), and Ted and Ann—The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy
“[Dodd’s] writing is very sharp and he knows how to tell a story…clearly talented.”
—Richard Schapiro, reporter for GQ
“Wow. What a tale.”
—Michael Finkel, bestselling author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa
“[Generation Oxy] is a compelling piece.”
—Jeff Tietz, reporter for Rolling Stone
“Another compelling story of America's failed war on drugs, Generation Oxy makes it clear that the real kingpins are the executives of Big Pharma and the legislators who perpetuate this horrific fiasco.”
—Richard Stratton, author of Smuggler’s Blues and Kingpin
“Generation Oxy offers a fascinating first-person glimpse into the human tragedy of the prescription drug epidemic sweeping across the country, an unfolding saga of corporate greed, medical malpractice, and the awful logic of addiction. Doug Dodd was just a kid when he realized he could get rich dealing oxy, a decision to roll the dice on drug dealing that forever changed his life.”
—Guy Lawson, bestselling author of Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History
“An original but classic tale of rags to riches. This story has it all—hardships, corruption, love, money, greed, and turmoil. An underprivileged kid with an entrepreneurial spirit was given an opportunity for success and he took it. A must-read.”
—Anthony Curcio, author of Heist and High and Amazon top-sellers, Stephen Curry: The Boy Who Never Gave Up and Lebron James: The Boy Who Became King
“With drugs, cash, and teens, Generation Oxy is Scarface on spring break. Douglas Dodd’s fast-paced tale of his meteoric rise from poverty to teenage drug lord pulls back the curtain on how America’s opioid addiction was ignited and fueled.”
—Jen Antonelli, two-time Emmy-winning producer of Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen
“Heart-pounding, adrenaline-rushing insight into the world of teenage gangsters dealing in prescription drugs. A roller-coaster ride of highs and lows as the kids make millions, Dodd and Cox’s book is a thoroughly enjoyable if chilling read.”
—Tim Newark, author of Boardwalk Gangster: The Real Lucky Luciano