The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers [Hardcover]

Bryan Christy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

Imagine The Sopranos, with snakes! The Lizard King is a fascinating account of a father and son family business suspected of smuggling reptiles, and the federal agent who tried to take them down.


When Bryan Christy began to investigate the world of reptile smuggling, he had no idea what he would be in for. In the course of his research, he was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, and sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula. But perhaps more dangerous was coming face to face with Michael J. Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a thriving family business in Hollywood, Florida. Van Nostrand imports as many as 300,000 iguanas each year (over half the total of America's most popular imported reptile), as well as hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders, and scorpions.

Van Nostrand was suspected of being a reptile smuggler by Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who devoted years of his life in an obsessive quest to expose The Lizard King's cold-blooded crimes. How this cat-and-mouse game ended is engrossing and surprising. (2008)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Reptile smuggling is big business, and in his book debut, Brian Christy mounts an intense and highly readable investigation into this unique black market's surprising depths. Besides the reptiles themselves, this exciting narrative investigation focuses on two main protagonists: Michael Van Nostrand, a notorious dealer; and Chip Bepler, the Fish and Wildlife Service agent whose single-minded aim was to bring the former to justice. --Jason Kirk

From Publishers Weekly

Albino pythons, endangered lizards and other reptiles are the currency of an underworld as dangerous and lucrative as the drug trade. Freelance writer Christy's debut is an enthusiastic but scattered chronicle of the rise and fall of a lizard kingpin and the federal agent who pursued him. Mike Van Nostrand inherited Strictly Reptiles, an import-export business in Florida, from his father, Ray, turning it into a multimillion-dollar smuggling operation. Van Nostrand imported reptiles of all shapes and sizes, usually concealed in the suitcases or clothing of his mules, and sold them to collectors and pet stores. He exploited loopholes in the international treaty on endangered-species trade and paid off corrupt officials. In the early 1990s, Fish and Wildlife Services agent Chip Bepler set his sights on Van Nostrand. After Bepler's years of surveillance and hard work, Van Nostrand was sentenced to eight months in prison, his export license revoked, and Strictly Reptiles was forced to pay $250,000 in fines to a wildlife fund. Christy's frenetic approach—bouncing from Mike's smuggling to young Ray catching snakes to the neglect of wildlife crime prosecution—is disorienting in what could have been a fascinating tale. (Aug. 1) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 241 pages
• Publisher: Twelve; 1St Edition edition (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446580953
• ISBN-13: 978-0446580953
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Reptiles
  • #41 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Reptiles & Amphibians

More About the Author

Bryan Christy was born in a U.S. military hospital in Germany. He wrote his first snake story in second grade, and later won a college prize for a story about his pet Burmese python, Socrates. Socrates got him into law school. He attended Penn State, Cornell, University of Michigan Law School, and was a Fulbright Scholar, University of Tokyo Law School. Before becoming a professional writer, he practiced international law in Washington, DC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great insider-style peek at the U.S. commercial herp trade., August 2, 2008

By 

William B. Love (Southern Florida, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers (Hardcover)

The author did his homework on this one! As someone who's been around the business and many of its key players from the 1970s through the present, I marveled at the accuracy of most statements in this account. The numbers regarding quantities of animals and amounts of money seemed well-researched, realistic and largely believable, unlike the trumped-up crap that groups like the HSUS and PETA push to increase sympathy donations. The author's whole approach seemed out to record the real personalities, not mass media baloney exaggerated to make news and sell books. I particularly liked his 'as it was' style and non-demonization of the principles.

This book will be enjoyed by those involved in the herp trade in any way. Devout conservationists will probably applaud it as an exposé, but its strength lies in its honesty and facts. I hope everyone notes the sentence credited to U.S. Fish & Wildlife agent Chip Bepler on page 79:

"He (Bepler) could not do much against habitat destruction, pollution, or any of the other amorphous problems facing wildlife, but he could do something about commercial profiteers." ----- That statement summarizes the major mentality in the U.S. on dealing with the issue of helping / protecting wildlife. The prevailing attitude is to do what makes headlines, ensures budgets and justifies your job, even if it's a drop in the bucket toward solving the real problem. With government money wasted by the millions on such a sham, it's no wonder that a few people will be disgusted and continue smuggling while feeling that they too deserve to profit from wildlife.

The funny thing is, most of the species discussed in this book were smuggled in low numbers -- sometimes just a few pairs -- that did nothing to hurt wild populations. In fact, those `losses' may have actually helped those species in the long run. Some of those same originally smuggled animals became founder breeding stock in zoos and private breeders' hands. That led to those types' wider availability today via captive bred offspring, resulting in them becoming relatively safe from smugglers' future predations (but NOT the perils of habitat destruction, pollution, etc.).

The market in most captive-bred herps (that have been around in herpetoculture long enough to be bred in numbers) has dropped the price below what's worth the smuggling risk. I'd like to think that a few higher-ups in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service -- who truly want to save wildlife and aren't just in it for the paycheck -- secretly smile when they realize that the pressure has been taken off many species. In the meantime, they still get to chase the 'bad guys' and pay their mortgages, just like the wildlife smugglers they battle.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Tale, November 29, 2008

By 

W. Fenton (Millville, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers (Hardcover)

"The Lizard King" is a gripping tale that takes readers into the subterranean world of reptile smuggling. The book features a fascinating cast of characters, ranging from bold, brash smuggling kingpins to the honorable men and women of the law who pursue them against great odds. Lay readers will learn a wealth of information about the world of legitimate reptile collecting and the seamy underworld of reptile smuggling. The scale of both is eye-opening. Thanks to gaping holes in the laws governing reptile importation and the high level of demand among legitimate and illegitimate collectors for exotic species, smuggling of protected and endangered animals has been relatively easy and tremendously lucrative. The odds are stacked against government agents who have made it their life's work to protect these beautiful and rare species.

Author Bryan Christy is to be commended for his voluminous research. It is always a pleasure to discover a book that opens up a world previously unknown to a reader. He also deserves credit for the courage it took to gain access to some of the smuggling world's most powerful players so that he could authenticate facts for his story. I found the subject matter deeply engaging throughout.

Christy also shows skill in assuming a neutral tone in describing the exploits of both the smugglers and the lawmen who are trying to bring them to justice. He tells the story from both points of view so the reader understands the thinking of both sides. Although some readers may feel that his narrative stance should be one of moral outrage toward the smugglers, I found his objectivity to be a more effective tone. It drew from me a feeling of revulsion toward the smugglers and elicited my admiration for the government agents pursuing them. Had the author taken a strongly moralistic tone toward his subject, I likely would have felt less outrage myself, for the writer would have done most of the work for me.

The Lizard King is a book that deserves wide circulation. Its readers will not be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lizard King, August 29, 2008

By 

Chad C. Ramsey "The Chad" (Atlanta Ga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers (Hardcover)

What a well written book. One of those books i just could not put down. One of the best book that i have read in a LONG time.