Crime Pays

Thrilling tales of fraud, kickbacks, money laundering, hacking, forgery, insider trading and more. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, May 4, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Crime Pays]( By THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE [Thrilling tales of fraud, kickbacks, money laundering, hacking, forgery, insider trading and more.]( Thrilling tales of fraud, kickbacks, money laundering, hacking, forgery, insider trading and more. Illustration by Francesco Francavilla Dear Reader, Periodically, we publish special issues dedicated to a particular theme. In those issues, we will typically redesign parts of the magazine in order to create a cohesive package of stories. Readers occasionally complain about this deviation from the usual format, noting that it disrupts their weekend reading routine with the magazine and that they can’t wait for it to “get back to normal.” As a creature of habit myself, I completely understand that, so when a special issue rolls around, I always want to make sure that whatever design changes we make are worth the disruption. I’d say this week’s Money Issue clears that bar. It’s about crime (embezzlement, fraud, bank robbery, retail theft and more), and the entire issue is illustrated by the amazing Italian artist Francesco Francavilla. His artwork has a pulpy film-noir feel, which creates the perfect mood for the whole issue. I loved his drawings for this, and I hope you do, too. I talk about the art with our design director, Gail Bichler, [in this week’s Behind the Cover video](. In case you missed the debut of this series last week, it’s going to be a weekly video explaining the creative process behind the magazine’s cover. Of course, all these decisions about art and design begin in the same place: the story. Below are highlights from this week’s tales of the financial underworld. Onward, Jake Silverstein [PAIN GAINS]( Insys Therapeutics made a fortune on one dangerously powerful painkiller. Its secret: Paying millions of dollars to America’s top fentanyl prescribers. Sales skyrocketed, until a reckoning. Evan Hughes writes about what Insys called a “speaker program,” which prosecutors now call a kickback scheme. [HOT LOTTO]( How is one special investigator’s “Bigfoot case” in Texas related to an unclaimed Iowa lottery ticket worth millions? You’ll have to read this article by Reid Forgrave, which follows, around the country, a trail of clues starting with two grainy surveillance clips of a gas station, eventually leading to the man who cracked the lottery. [BILLION-DOLLAR BANK JOB]( Not only is the scale of the crime in this story about cyberheist by Joshua Hammer particularly striking, but the sophistication of the operation will leave your mind reeling. Hackers managed to turn one of a banking network’s defining features — its global reach — into a major vulnerability, exploiting weaknesses in the central banks and casinos of developing countries to land their big score. [THE (BABY) FORMULA FOR (CRIMINAL) SUCCESS]( Baby formula isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for lucrative, illegal moneymaking schemes. But in the United States, the products sell for over $4 billion a year in a market with little competition and generous margins. That’s what a young mother named Alexis Dattadeen realized when she first sold her leftover cans of expensive formula on Craigslist. Chris Pomorski dives into her world to tell the fascinating story of what eventually became a multilevel marketing operation. But it’s not all about crime . . . [NO NEED TO FEAR MALE TEARS]( In this week’s Letter of Recommendation, Kevin Lincoln recounts crying at the climax of “Pokémon: The First Movie.” As a 10-year-old, Lincoln recognized he was crossing a line between the behavior of a little boy and something more embarrassing. (I can relate; my children still won’t let me live down my emotional response to “Inside Out.”) Over the years, Kevin learned to stop crying. But as he got older, he began to find that, like those of a lot of American men, his actual emotions were growing increasingly foreign and puzzling to him. So instead of blindly following this expectation of macho stoicism, Lincoln advocates for some “emotional bodybuilding.” [AN UPSCALE CHICKEN DINNER IN YOUR KITCHEN]( For this week’s Eat column, Sam Sifton asked the chef Angie Mar if he could watch her cook the pan-roasted chicken dish on her spring menu at the Beatrice Inn, instead of getting a recipe. Mar was game. (“I never really write recipes anyway,” she said.) The result: a delicious, savory, smothered-chicken dinner with morels and a Madeira-laced cream sauce that tastes of France, the Pacific Northwest and a little of Canada — in other words, of New York in springtime. [SISTERHOOD OF THE SKY]( Capt. Tammie Jo Shults of Southwest Airlines is one of a small sisterhood: the women who have served as military aviators. Even though restrictions on women flying aircraft in combat were lifted 25 years ago, the percentage of military pilots who are women remains around 6.5 percent — and is comparable in the commercial industry, where many pilots land after training and careers in the armed services. Servicewomen and veterans spoke to The Times about what it like to be among the few women in a field still dominated by men. [FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE CASE AGAINST ‘MINIMALISM’]( Along with warm weather and bright florals, the annual cleaning is one of the few satisfying rites of spring. Maybe the urge for a minimalistic approach might come — picture white walls interrupted by only succulents, clouds, grassy fields and crumbling brick walls (“#minimalism”). People who have it all prefer having nothing at all, so long as it’s stylishly austere. But in this evergreen First Words column, Kyle Chayka writes how minimalism has become visually oppressive, conflated with a self-optimization that’s expensive and exclusively branded by the elite. [Corrupt Leaders Are Falling Around the World. Will It Boost Economies?]( By BROOK LARMER Societies have become more willing and able than ever to uncover the shady dealings that go all the way to the top. [What if Our Son’s Birth Mother Wants a Relationship With Him — but Not Us?]( By KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on what a birth mother owes her son’s adoptive mother. ADVERTISEMENT [What Happens When People and Companies Are Both Just ‘Brands’?]( By AMANDA HESS The logic of branding has slipped into every corner of modern life — but it doesn’t seem to profit individuals as much as some once hoped. [Why Was Her Vision Jerky and Blurry if There Was Nothing Wrong With Her Eyes?]( By LISA SANDERS, M.D. A doctor told the young woman she was suffering from ‘emotional blindness,’ but she knew that the problem with her vision wasn’t just in her head. If you enjoy our newsletter forward this email to a friend and help the magazine grow. Getting this from a friend? [Sign up to get the magazine newsletter](. 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