Strange Trade: The Story of Two Women Who Risked Everything in the International Drug Trade

A riveting true story of the lives of two very different women who risked-and lost-everything in the international drug trade

Strange Trade tells the compelling stories of Mary, a Liberian drug courier with a college education, and Pauline, a Ugandan wife, mother, and drug cartel boss. 

A leading expert on women and organized crime, Asale Angel-Ajani spent years interviewing these women in Italy's notorious Rebibbia Prison—and gained unprecedented access into the narcotics trade. Herself the daughter of a drug trafficker, Angel-Ajani brings a wrenching, deeply personal perspective to the account of these women's lives, and offers a nuanced understanding of the global context within which African women are entering the drug trade in ever-increasing numbers. 

Strange Trade follows Pauline and Mary as they traverse three continents, survive wars, poverty, and shattered families, secure drug shipments, and commit murder. Angel-Ajani paints rich, intimate, and profoundly surprising portraits without glamorizing, sanitizing, or offering judgment. The result is an unvarnished journey into a world that, until now, has remained hidden; and a glimpse into the motives that led these women to risk—and ultimately lose—everything.

• | Author: Asale Angel-Ajani
• | Publisher: Seal Press
• | Publication Date: Sep 28, 2010
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781580053136
• | ISBN-10: 1580053130