William Prochnau

Adventures in the Ransom Trade

The huge number of multinational businessmen being abducted abroad (hundreds a year at ransoms reaching $30 million) has made organized kidnapping a big business. It has also spawned a counterindustry—getting them back—and a secret drama involving former spies and revolutionaries, AK-47s and armored cars, helicopter drops and hideaways in the Andes. (This story first appeared in the May 1998 issue of Vanity Fair.)