Sabbag is a journalist and author of two seminal books on the smuggling of drugs into the United States: Snowblind [Snow Blind], an adventure on cocaine trafficking and Smokescreen: A True Adventure [Too tough to die], the key book on US marshals. Another of his works, Down Around Midnight (Viking, 2009) is based on a plane crash in 1979 which survived.

His journalistic work appears in numerous magazines such as Rolling Stone, which is a regular contributor. He was also one of the writers of Witness Protection [protected witness], a TV movie based on his article "History of a Family" published in New York Times Magazine, which was nominated for two Golden Globes, including best film.