Patrick Radden Keefe

Patrick Radden Keefe (born 1976) is an American writer and investigative journalist. He is the author of six books—Chatter (2005), The Snakehead (2009), Say Nothing (2018), Empire of Pain (2021), Rogues (2022), and London Falling (2026)—and has written extensively for many publications, including The New Yorker, Slate, and The New York Times Magazine. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker.

Early life and education

Keefe was born in 1976. He is the son of Frank Keefe, an urban planner and former Secretary of Administration and Finance of Massachusetts for governor Michael S. Dukakis, and Jennifer Radden, a professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Boston. His great-grandparents were Irish immigrants from Donegal. Keefe grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and attended Milton Academy.

He received his B.A. in history from Columbia University in 1999 where he was a resident of Schapiro Hall. He won a Marshall Scholarship in 1999.[citation needed] He then obtained a M.Phil. in international relations from Cambridge University at Hughes Hall and a M.Sc. in new media and informations systems from the London School of Economics. He then returned to the U.S. and earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. He passed the bar in 2005.

He has since received many fellowships, including those from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.[citation needed]

Career

Keefe began writing and submitting articles to newspapers and magazines in 1998. In 2004, he received a New York Public Library fellowship and took a year off of law school to write his first book Chatter. After Keefe finished law school, he briefly worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. He then became a fellow for the Century Foundation. From 2010 to 2011, he was a policy adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In 2012, Keefe was hired full time by The New Yorker. His investigative reporting has covered a broad range of topics including drug trafficking and legalization, organized crime mass surveillance, modern American politics, The Troubles, the opioid epidemic, and financial crime. Notably, he has turned several of his New Yorker articles into non-fiction books.

Keefe is the host of the 2020 podcast Wind of Change, which explores a rumor that the song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions was secretly written by the CIA, rather than by the band's lead singer, Klaus Meine. Keefe won the 2021 Ambies award for "Best Podcast Host".

In 2025, Keefe was hired by J.Crew for a modeling campaign. The New York Times wrote that "Keefe has achieved a level of celebrity that most of his literary peers have probably never even considered: He has been a fashion model."

Books

Chatter: Dispatches From the Secret World Of Global Eavesdropping (2005)

Keefe describes how American security agencies, including the National Security Agency, eavesdrop on communications between people suspected of involvement in terrorism to determine the likelihood of terrorist attacks in the near future. Keefe describes the electronic intelligence-gathering apparatus for detecting this communication, often called "chatter", and examines it in the context of the September 11 attacks. In a review of the book for The New York Times, William Grimes wrote, "Mr. Keefe writes, crisply and entertainingly, as an interested private citizen rather than an expert."

The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream (2009)

Keefe's The Snakehead reported on Cheng Chui Ping and her Snakehead gang in New York City, which operated between 1984 and 2000. The book focuses on the 1993 Golden Venture incident in which a cargo ship smuggling 286 undocumented Chinese ran aground, ultimately killing ten passengers. Keefe describes how Ping illegally smuggled immigrants from China into the U.S. on a massive scale through cargo ships. The book includes interviews with several of those immigrants, who describe their lives in the U.S. In 2000, Ping was arrested by the U.S. government and sentenced to 35 years in prison for her part in leading these operations. Janet Maslin of the New York Times called The Snakehead a "formidably well-researched book that is as much a paean to its author's industriousness as it is a chronicle of crime."

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (2018)

Say Nothing focuses on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, beginning with the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville. Keefe began researching and writing the book after reading Dolours Price's obituary in 2013. He travelled to Ireland seven times over the course of four weeks while writing the book, interviewing over 100 people. The book was subsequently adapted into a miniseries of the same name in 2024 on FX on Hulu.

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (2021)

In April 2021, his book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty was published by Doubleday. The book examines the Sackler family and their responsibility in the manufacturing of the painkiller OxyContin by Purdue Pharma. It is an extension of his 2017 New Yorker article "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain."

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth (2026)

In April 2026, Keefe's latest book London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth was published, again by Doubleday. In the book, he examines the mysterious death of teenager Zac Brettler in London, and explores connections to the city's underworld. A24 UK secured the rights to the book before it was published, and plans to create a television adaptation.

Personal life

Keefe is married to international financial-crime policy lawyer Justyna Gudzowska. They met while they were both studying at Cambridge and later studied at Yale together.

Awards and accolades

Bibliography

Books

• — (2005). Chatter: Dispatches From the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping. New York: Random House. ISBN 9781400060344.
• — (2009). The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780307279279.
• — (2018). Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780307279286.
• — (2021). Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9781984899019.
• — (2022). Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780593467732.
• — (2026). London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385548533.

Essays and reporting

• — (February 5, 2005). . New York Times. Vol. 154, no. 53116. p. A17.
• — (February 16, 2005). . Village Voice. Vol. 50, no. 7. p. 14.
• — (May 15, 2005). . The Boston Globe. Vol. 267, no. 135. p. D1.
• — (August 10, 2005). . New York Times. Vol. 154, no. 53302. p. A21.
• — (August 11, 2005). . Peninsula Daily News. p. A7.
• — (August 12, 2005). . The Sacramento Bee. Vol. 293, no. 224. p. B7.
• — (February 1, 2006). . Wired Magazine. Vol. 14, no. 2. p. 128–133.
• — (February 23, 2006). . The Boston Globe. Vol. 269, no. 54. p. A11.
• — (March 12, 2006). . New York Times Magazine. Vol. 155, no. 53516. pp. 16–18.
• — (April 24, 2006). . The New Yorker. Vol. 82, no. 10. pp. 68–85.
• — (December 13, 2006). . National Post. Vol. 9, no. 41. p. A20.
• — (May 7, 2007). . The New Yorker. Vol. 83, no. 11. pp. 58–67.
• — (June 25, 2007). . New York Times. Vol. 156, no. 53986. p. A19.
• — (September 3, 2007). . The New Yorker. Vol. 83, no. 26. pp. 106–117.
• — (April 28, 2008). . The New Yorker. Vol. 84, no. 11. pp. 28–34.
• — (November 1, 2008). . Index on Censorship Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 4. p. 14–27.
• — (December 14, 2008). . New York Times. Vol. 158, no. 54524. p. 11.
• — (February 8, 2010). . The New Yorker. Vol. 85, no. 48. pp. 36–47.
• — (October 3, 2011). . New York Magazine. Vol. 44, no. 31. pp. 38–100.
• — (January 9, 2012). . The New Yorker. Vol. 87, no. 43. pp. 38–49.
• — (June 17, 2012). . New York Times Magazine. p. 36.
• — (September 15, 2012). . The Daily Telegraph. No. 48926. pp. 39–45.
• — (February 11, 2013). . The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 1. p. 1.
• — (July 8, 2013). . The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 20. p. 31.
• — (July 8, 2013). . The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 20. pp. 50–63.
• — (November 18, 2013). . The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 37. p. 40–51.
• — (November 25, 2013). . The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 38. p. 48–67.
• — (March 29, 2014). . The Daily Telegraph. pp. 20–29.
• — (May 5, 2014). . The New Yorker. Vol. 90, no. 11. p. 38–67.
• — (January 19, 2015). . The New Yorker. Vol. 90, no. 44. pp. 30–37.
• — (March 16, 2015). . The New Yorker. Vol. 9`, no. 4. pp. 42–61.
• — (September 21, 2015). . The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 28. pp. 94–99.
• — (September 28, 2015). . The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 29. pp. 40–53.
• — (February 1, 2016). . The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 46. pp. 18–19.
• — (May 30, 2016). . The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 16. pp. 36–47.
• — (August 22, 2016). . The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 25. pp. 48–57.
• — (February 13, 2017). . The New Yorker. Vol. 93, no. 1. pp. 52–65.
• — (July 31, 2017). . The New Yorker. Vol. 93, no. 22. pp. 28–33.
• — (August 28, 2017). . The New Yorker. Vol. 93, no. 25. pp. 46–59.
• — (October 30, 2017). . The New Yorker. Vol. 93, no. 34. pp. 34–49.
• — (April 30, 2018). . The New Yorker. Vol. 94, no. 11. pp. 36–49.
• — (August 6, 2018). . The New Yorker. Vol. 94, no. 23. pp. 32–45.
• — (January 7, 2019). . The New Yorker. Vol. 94, no. 43. pp. 30–45.
• — (February 10, 2019). . The Boston Globe. Vol. 295, no. 41. p. Z40–Z43.
• — (March 31, 2019). . New York Times. Vol. 168, no. 58283. p. 8.
• — (July 18, 2021). . New York Times. Vol. 170, no. 59123. p. 2.
• — (January 24, 2022). . The New Yorker. Vol. 97, no. 46. pp. 32–35.
• — (May 23, 2022). . The New Yorker. Vol. 98, no. 13. pp. 12–13.
• — (June 13, 2022). . The New Yorker. Vol. 98, no. 16. pp. 34–47.
• — (July 31, 2023). . The New Yorker. Vol. 99, no. 22. pp. 30–49.
• — (January 1, 2024). . The New Yorker. Vol. 99, no. 44. pp. 24–33.
• — (February 5, 2024). . The New Yorker. Vol. 99, no. 48. pp. 34–49.

Journal articles

• — (2009). . World Policy Journal. 26 (1): 33–44.

Podcasts

• — (2020). (Podcast). Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media, Spotify.

Notes