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

Harold Derber was the larger-than- life protagonist of The Wireless Operator, boldly subtitled, ‘the British sailor who invented the modern drug trade.’ Derber, his anglicized name, began life in Manchester, England, shortly before the onset of World War 2. When he left school at 14, too young to pursue his ambition to enlist, he became a 3rd Wireless Operator in Britain’s Merchant Marine. The training enabled him to pursue a series of daring, risky challenges, often on the wrong side of the law. He became a gunrunner in the Middle East, ferried many thousands of refugees from Castro’s Cuba to the States, operated a cruise ship with a casino that soon attracted the mob, and won the reputation of initiating the largest marijuana trade in the world.

Derber pulled every trick in the book, made billions and lost them, sometimes landing short terms in gaol where he took time to plot further defiant schemes.

When American entrepreneur David Tuch learned Gerber had been a distant cousin, he dove in and explored multiple sources to produce this page-turner, reading like fiction, but with assurance of its veracity. Allowing a touch of admiration for his undisputed criminality, Derber was a classic rogue.