The Mercenary Techie Who Troubleshoots for Drug Dealers and Jealous Lovers

A while ago, a twenty-something geek we’ll call Martin arranged a meeting with some potential clients in an an unusual place: the sidewalk across the street from a police precinct on Manhattan’s West Side.

“I do a lot of shit in front of precincts cause I feel a lot safer,” Martin told me in an interview recently.

There were four of them, members of a Bronx drug trafficking crew. “It was like one of those TV special multinational shows,” Martin said. “You got a white guy, a black guy, a Latino guy.”

The leader of the crew believed he was under surveillance, and Martin made them leave their phones in the car for safety. He recalled the phones with disgust. “They had all smart phones, and I told them: Bad fucking idea. You have to scale down two generations, at least. There’s too much information on a smart phone.” That’s where Martin could help.

Read More

4 months ago  /  10 notes