War Dogs: How Three Stoners From Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History

what was a front page NYTimes article about fraudulent arms sales of ancient Chinese ammunition purchased thru another shady deal in Eastern Europe by 2 20 yr olds from ultra orthodox jewish families in Miami (Diveroli's mother is Smiley Botox sister and Packouz father head of an extremist illegal settlement organization ) NEARLY ended up making more than a quarter billion in US tax payer dollars. The issue was that outdated ancient Chinese made ammo was sent to the Afghan front with labels removed and loose in the container, obviously unusable and a danger to the soldiers. Diveroli had been "schooled" in weapons sold in his uncles extortive Watts gun store at 16 then returned back to Miami where Daddy dearest set him up as CEO /President at age 19 of AEY corp. and Packouz, a PT masseuse as VP. They should have been sent to prison but guess the wheels were greased somehow and Diveroli's story vanished after trial from US msm. So, naturally, their story was tagged as 'marketable' turned into a script /this book and now being filmed by the usual hollywood insiders like Jonah Hill and others who will play these seedy, slimy, thuggish boys in the Miami "hood" who got over, sort of...wonder if they're getting kickback/royalties off this book and the film? Hill put on lots of weight to play Diveroli..but so far Rabbi to the stars, Smuley Boteach hasn't made a peep to promote it. Why glorify these druggie dicks.? I got a cheap used copy to skim...but having read the original NYTimes articles there are few details of any interest other than Diveroli's domestic violence issues and drug taking habits.. Meh.....not recommended...

Author Guy Lawson's "Arms and the Dudes" reads much like what it was: a magazine article expanded and turned into a book. While Lawson's 2011 feature in Rolling Stone was widely lauded, his add-on in the form of 2015's "Arms and the Dudes" felt more mundane than it needed to be, the true absurdity of the crux bogged down with monotonous ammunition descriptions and tedious procurement procedures.It’s certainly no surprise, however, that with a bit of creative license, the story Lawson sketches would be widely appealing to Hollywood (hence "War Dogs") as it's one that fits quite comfortably in the stranger-than-fiction grouping.Bullheaded ringleader Efraim Diveroli and his masseur-turned-confidant David Packouz, a couple of twentysomething stoners from Miami with big aspirations, attempt to go head-to-head with the Viktor Bout's of the world in the notoriously disreputable and high-stakes game of international arms trading. And, perhaps most astoundingly of all, appear to be winning for a brief time when they score a $300 million Pentagon contract to supply arms for the fledgling Afghan army.While I found "Arms and the Dudes" to be duller than anticipated, it's undoubtedly an important read and proves to be nothing if not insightful. Lawson paints a damning portrait of the shoddy ineptitude that was too often present in the hazy early days of America's dual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Throughout reading "Arms and the Dudes," I found myself continually reminded of Peter Van Buren’s " We Meant Well ." The muddling bureaucracy associated with foreign nation-building, a general lack of forward thinking and the consequences of hurried outsourcing all play prominent roles in both.

While I would rate four or four and a half stars usually people won't even consider a book unless its five stars so I give five.I am a huge fan of history as told through the eyes of participants, the Travels of Marco Polo are my favorite collections of historical writings of all time, however just as Marco Polo is historically dubious so too is the story of Diveroli and Packouz as they themselves told it. Efraim Diveroli released a book that although I didn't read it was panned for the ego that was inserted into it. To get an impartial while sympathetic view of two 20 year old gun-runners who may have been a shaping force in the Afghan War as we know it, as well as learn about how Bush Administration handled the war effort, and the politics and intrigue that surrounded them read this book by journalist Guy Lawson, who also wrote Octopus a book about wall Street and The Brotherhood a story about cops that worked for the Mafia. This book is a fascinating look at modern history.Also for those who want to retain the information they read and believe in the "testing effect" check out the War Dogs study guidehttps://www.amazon.com/War-Dogs-Stoners-Unlikely-Gunrunners-ebook/dp/B0738VCNV7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498520639&sr=8-1&keywords=war+dogs+study+guide

Excellent read!I heard about "the Dudes from Florida" way back in 2007 and possibly before. I was on the tail end of the long supply chain in Western Afghanistan. I received the "Chinese ammunition" and issued it to the Afghans. Even back then we were hearing strange tales of twenty something dope heads who were selling the junk ammo to the US Army for the Afghan war effort. It was insane then and reading about it now, it is surreal.I can tell you that much of what I've read in this book is authentic from my experience.I wrote about this issue a bit in my own book. (http://www.amazon.com/NO-REGRETS-American-Adventure-Afghanistan-ebook/dp/B00GR7C4OA)Fraud, Waste and Abuse is epidemic in Afghanistan even now. They may have tackled these kids but they were and are merely symptoms of the disease of incompetence that has plagued Military Logistics and Acquisitions since the Revolutionary War. No less a personage than George Washington himself decried the waste in Army procurement.The wretched truth is that the Army would probably have done an even worse job than these kids.Great Book, Great Read!

This is a great yarn, all the better because its true. It reveals the under belly of the US defence force in terms of how they source their weapons, and provides a glimpse into why they are so incompetent. Even two twenty something ‘stoners’ high on pot and cocaine can play gun runners in this tragic world of war.

Libro spettacolare......storia coinvolgente.....molto meglio del film....lo consiglio veramente a tutti... Ti fa aprire gli occhi sul giro di denaro che c'è dietro ogni guerra

An interesting story for sure but in my view the book doesn't add a lot of substance to the original Rolling Stone story. There are also a fair number of tidbits of information that are introduced and then not developed further - e.g. the notion that much of the "Chinese" ammunition was actually manufactured in Albania with Chinese materiel. One gets the feeling the original article was fluffed up in a hurry to achieve a suitable volume of material that could be published as a book in time to cash in on release of the movie.

The story in itself is a bit more boring than I thought by reading the description. Would not advise you to buy this book.

This is an interesting and well researched story on how the arms trade worked in the cynical, but real world. Worth the read.