Patrick Radden Keefe

Keefe grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, attended Milton Academy,{{Cite web|url=https://www.milton.edu/centreconnection/milton-in-the-world-patrick-radden-keefe-94-discusses-say-nothing-and-writing/|title = Milton in the World: Patrick Radden Keefe '94 Discusses Say Nothing and Writing | Centre Connection}} and received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1999.{{Cite web|title = patrick radden keefe {{!}} bio|url = http://www.patrickraddenkeefe.com/bio/|website = www.patrickraddenkeefe.com|access-date = December 29, 2015|archive-date = December 30, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151230135442/http://www.patrickraddenkeefe.com/bio/|url-status = dead}}{{Cite web|title=Alumni in the News: October 5|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/alumni-news/alumni-news-october-5|access-date=October 15, 2020|website=Columbia College Today|date=October 5, 2020}} He was a resident of Schapiro Hall.{{Cite web |date=May 30, 2019 |title=Take Five with Patrick Radden Keefe '99 |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/take-five/take-five-patrick-radden-keefe-99 |access-date=April 27, 2022 |website=Columbia College Today |language=en}} He won a Marshall Scholarship in 1999, through which he received an M.Phil. in international relations from Cambridge University at Hughes Hall{{Cite web| title = Congregation of the Regent House on 21 July 2001 |url = https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2000-01/weekly/5854/34.html | access-date=Dec 20, 2024 }} and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.

After his Marshall Scholarship, Keefe returned to the U.S. and earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. 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.

From 2010 to 2011, he was a policy adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcf.org/experts/detail/patrick-radden-keefe|title=Patrick Radden Keefe : Experts & Staff : The Century Foundation|website=www.tcf.org|access-date=December 28, 2015}}

Keefe has written investigative reports on a broad array of topics and issues. Topics include a conflict over ownership of iron reserves in Guinea, policy complications faced by states legalizing recreational marijuana, and the capture of Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera.{{Cite web|title = 'Nosferatu,' longform by Patrick Radden Keefe and Derek Jenkins' Mixcloud mixes|url = http://www.arktimes.com/RockCandy/archives/2014/10/24/nosferatu-longform-by-patrick-radden-keefe-and-derek-jenkins-mixcloud-mixes|website = Arkansas Times|date = October 25, 2014|access-date = December 28, 2015}}{{Cite magazine|title = A Loaded Gun|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/11/a-loaded-gun|magazine = The New Yorker|date = February 4, 2013|access-date = December 29, 2015}}{{Cite magazine|title = Buried Secrets|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/08/buried-secrets|magazine = The New Yorker|date = July 2013|access-date = December 29, 2015}}{{Cite magazine|title = Buzzkill|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/18/buzzkill|magazine = The New Yorker|date = November 11, 2013|access-date = December 29, 2015}}{{Cite magazine|title = The Hunt for El Chapo|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/05/the-hunt-for-el-chapo|magazine = The New Yorker|date = April 28, 2014|access-date = December 29, 2015}}{{Cite magazine|title = Inside the Biggest-Ever Hedge-Fund Scandal|url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/empire-edge|magazine = The New Yorker|date = October 6, 2014|access-date = December 29, 2015}}

Keefe's story "A Loaded Gun", published in The New Yorker in 2013, received the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. In addition to winning the National Magazine Award in 2014, he was also nominated in 2015 for "The Hunt for El Chapo"{{Cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/industry-news/press-releases/asme-press-releases/asme/national-magazine-awards-2015-winners|title=National Magazine Awards 2015 Winners Announced {{!}} ASME|website=www.magazine.org|access-date=December 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917032444/http://www.magazine.org/industry-news/press-releases/asme-press-releases/asme/national-magazine-awards-2015-winners|archive-date=September 17, 2017|url-status=dead}} and in 2016 for "Where the Bodies are Buried", about a woman who disappeared in Northern Ireland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/asme/ellies-2016-finalists-announced|title=Ellies 2016 Finalists Announced {{!}} ASME|website=www.magazine.org|access-date=December 29, 2017|archive-date=May 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509005423/http://www.magazine.org/asme/ellies-2016-finalists-announced|url-status=dead}} He won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award (nonfiction) for Say Nothing.{{cite web |title=Announcing the 2019 Award Winners |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/2020/03/12/2020-awards/ |work=bookcritics.org |author=Beth Parker |date=March 12, 2020 |access-date=March 13, 2020}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Lyster |first=Rosa |date=May 21, 2020 |title=Patrick Radden Keefe Hopes Scorpions Fans Can Still Enjoy Wind of Change |language=en-us |work=Vulture |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/patrick-radden-keefe-wind-of-change-interview.html |access-date=July 3, 2020}} Keefe won the 2021 Ambies award for "Best Podcast Host".{{Cite web|date=2021|title=The Ambies: 2021 Winners|url=https://www.ambies.com/2021winners#BestPodcastHost|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107195300/https://www.ambies.com/2021winners|archive-date=November 7, 2021|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Ambies|language=en-US}}

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."{{Cite news |last=Gallagher |first=Jacob |date=2025-01-09 |title=Celebrated New Yorker Writer Enlisted as Model |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/style/patrick-radden-keefe-new-yorker-writer-j-crew-ad.html |access-date=2025-04-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

In Chatter: Dispatches From the Secret World Of Global Eavesdropping, 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.{{Cite news|title = The New Hows and Whys of Global Eavesdropping|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/02/books/the-new-hows-and-whys-of-global-eavesdropping.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = March 2, 2005|access-date = December 29, 2015|issn = 0362-4331|first = William|last = Grimes}}

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."

Keefe's The Snakehead reported on Cheng Chui Ping and her Snakehead gang in New York City, which operated between 1984 and 2000.{{Cite news|title = Patrick Radden Keefe's 'Snakehead': Wave of Immigrants Smuggled From China|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/books/17maslin.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = August 16, 2009|access-date = December 29, 2015|issn = 0362-4331|first = Janet|last = Maslin}}{{Cite web|title = The Snakehead, by Patrick Radden Keefe|url = http://www.thesnakehead.com/|website = www.thesnakehead.com|access-date = December 29, 2015}} The book focuses on the 1993 Golden Venture indident in which a cargo ship smuggling 286 undocumented Chinese was ran aground, ultimately killing ten passengers.{{Cite news |last=Adams |first=Tim |date=2023-02-05 |title=The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe review – through hell and high water |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/05/the-snakehead-review-by-patrick-radden-keefe-review-through-hell-and-high-water |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} 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 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.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/troubles-northern-ireland-say-nothing-book-797343/ |title=Terrorism, Torture and 3,600 Lives Lost: Revisiting 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland |last=Kroll |first=Andy |date=February 26, 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} The book was subsequently adapted into a miniseries of the same name in 2024 on FX on Hulu.

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."{{Cite web|date=April 18, 2021|title=Empire of Pain review: the Sacklers, opioids and the sickening of America|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/18/empire-of-pain-review-sacklers-opioids-purdue-oxycontin-patrick-radden-keefe|access-date=April 20, 2021|website=the Guardian|language=en}}{{Cite magazine|last=Keefe|first=Patrick Radden|title=The Family That Built an Empire of Pain|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain|access-date=April 20, 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 23, 2017|language=en-us}}

{{Incomplete list|date=June 2016}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

• {{cite book |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |title=Chatter: Dispatches From the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping |location=New York |publisher=Random House |date=2005}}
• {{cite book |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |title=The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |date=2009}}
• {{cite book |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |title=Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |date=2018}}
• {{cite book |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |title=Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty |location=New York |publisher=PanMacmillan |date=2021}}
• {{cite book |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |title=Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |date=2022}}

• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask= |date=May 7, 2007 |title=The idol thief |department=Letter from Jaipur |journal=The New Yorker |volume= |issue= |pages=58–67 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/07/the-idol-thief }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=September 3, 2007 |title=The Jefferson bottles |department= |journal=The New Yorker |volume= |issue= |pages=106–117 |url= http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/09/03/the-jefferson-bottles }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=July 8–15, 2013 |title=Go-between |department=The Talk of the Town. The Pictures |journal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=20 |pages=31 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/08/go-between }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=July 8–15, 2013 |title=Buried secrets : how an Israeli billionaire wrested control of one of Africa's biggest prizes |department=A Reporter at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=20 |pages=50–63 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/08/buried-secrets }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=November 25, 2013 |title=Rocket man : how an unemployed blogger confirmed that Syria had used chemical weapons |department=Profiles |journal=The New Yorker |volume=89 |issue=38 |pages=48, 53–61 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/25/rocket-man-2 }}Eliot Higgins.
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=March 16, 2015 |title=Where the bodies are buried |department=Letter from Belfast |journal=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=42–61 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/where-the-bodies-are-buried }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=February 1, 2016 |title=Snackish |department=The Talk of the Town. Visiting Dignitaries |journal=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=46 |pages=18–19 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/01/snackish }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=May 30, 2016 |title=The bank robber |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/herve-falcianis-great-swiss-bank-heist }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=February 13, 2017 |title=Anthony Bourdain's moveable feast |journal=The New Yorker |pages=52–65. |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/13/anthony-bourdains-moveable-feast }}
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=October 30, 2017 |title=Empire of pain : the Sackler family's ruthless promotion of opiods generated billions of dollars—and millions of addicts |department=A Reporter at Large |journal=The New Yorker |volume=93 |issue=34 |pages=34–49 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain}}Online version is titled "The family that built an empire of pain".
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=January 7, 2019 |title=Winning : how Mark Burnett, the king of reality television, helped turn a floundering D-lister into President Trump |department=Profiles |journal=The New Yorker |volume=94 |issue=43 |pages=30–45 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/how-mark-burnett-resurrected-donald-trump-as-an-icon-of-american-success }}Online version is titled "How Mark Burnett resurrected Donald Trump as an icon of American success".
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=May 23, 2022 |title=Relief army |department=The Talk of the Town. Feed the World |journal=The New Yorker |volume=98 |issue=13 |pages=12–13 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/23/jose-andres-we-feed-people-documentary-ron-howard-ukraine }}Online version is titled "José Andrés feeds Ron Howard, then feeds him some more".
• {{cite journal |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask=1 |date=February 12, 2024 |title=The Oligarch’s Son |department=Letter from London |journal=The New Yorker |pages=34-49 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld }}Online version is titled "A Teen's Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld".

• {{cite web |author=Keefe, Patrick Radden |author-mask= |title=The last time El Chapo was captured |department= |work=The New Yorker |date=January 8, 2016 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/the-last-time-el-chapo-was-captured }}

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Category:1976 births

Category:Living people

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni

Category:American investigative journalists

Category:Yale Law School alumni

Category:Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:The New Yorker staff writers

Category:Milton Academy alumni

Category:American conspiracy theorists

Category:National Book Critics Circle Award winners