WEBVTT - Episode 1: The Masked Man 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.396 Pushkin. About a year ago, I got my hands on 0:00:22.436 --> 0:00:26.396 this novel, unpublished but apparently based on a true story. 0:00:27.476 --> 0:00:35.436 It was written by this guy, Ned Timmins. The overarching 0:00:35.516 --> 0:00:38.676 plot was pure pulp. I mean, you could imagine the 0:00:38.716 --> 0:00:43.116 movie starring Steven Seagal and definitely straight to video. It 0:00:43.196 --> 0:00:46.396 tells the story of a newbie FBI agent named Ned 0:00:46.596 --> 0:00:50.516 from Detroit who grows a Fu Manchu mustache, goes undercover 0:00:50.596 --> 0:00:54.396 in a violent outlaw biker gang, and infiltrates a secret 0:00:54.436 --> 0:00:58.236 syndicate that's smuggling hundreds of thousands of pounds of pot 0:00:58.556 --> 0:01:02.556 into the country, and all that leads eventually to the 0:01:02.636 --> 0:01:06.076 invasion of a foreign country and the arrest of a 0:01:06.156 --> 0:01:13.756 brutal dictator. Skeptical, Yeah, so, as I see, I'm a journalist, 0:01:13.756 --> 0:01:16.436 and my specialty, if you can even call it that, 0:01:16.916 --> 0:01:19.956 his stories that seem too crazy to be true, stories 0:01:19.996 --> 0:01:22.916 that are on the verge of urban legend. Most of 0:01:22.916 --> 0:01:25.636 them turn out to be bullshit, which doesn't bother me. 0:01:25.916 --> 0:01:28.596 That's kind of the crux of my job, actually sorting 0:01:28.636 --> 0:01:32.716 through the bullshit. So naturally I had to go meet 0:01:32.756 --> 0:01:36.156 this guy one two one two, tell me, tell me 0:01:36.156 --> 0:01:40.076 where we are. Your office, Like, describe where we are. 0:01:40.156 --> 0:01:45.036 We're in a commerce township machine. Yeah, give me a 0:01:45.076 --> 0:01:47.036 little bit more than that. How long have you had 0:01:47.076 --> 0:01:51.396 your office here? Eighteen years? Ned is now in his 0:01:51.396 --> 0:01:54.516 early seventies, walks with a limp. He's bald, but you 0:01:54.516 --> 0:01:56.516 wouldn't know it because he likes to wear a weather 0:01:56.596 --> 0:02:00.876 beaten camo hat. Nowadays he's a private eye. His office 0:02:00.916 --> 0:02:05.716 is beige in a beige corporate park. Totally forgettable except 0:02:06.236 --> 0:02:09.036 for the bear. It's the first thing you see when 0:02:09.036 --> 0:02:12.636 you walk up a ten foot ground bear taxiger meat 0:02:12.676 --> 0:02:15.996 in the classic rearing up to Eat You pose. Ned 0:02:16.036 --> 0:02:18.196 tells me you got the bear on a hunting trip 0:02:18.236 --> 0:02:22.396 in Alaska. But the real trophy that Ned keeps in 0:02:22.436 --> 0:02:28.276 a plastic bag in his desk. Yeah, this is a 0:02:28.356 --> 0:02:35.116 bag air penises and wolf teeth, and the Inuits believe 0:02:35.196 --> 0:02:38.796 that that will protect you. The bear has a bone 0:02:39.036 --> 0:02:44.356 in his penis, and I recovered these, like after you 0:02:44.516 --> 0:02:46.636 shot the bear, you would not before I shut it. 0:02:49.156 --> 0:02:51.636 Nobody's going to take a bear dick when he's alive. 0:02:52.316 --> 0:02:54.196 The Inuits would make a necklace out of this to 0:02:54.236 --> 0:02:56.796 protect him. I just keep it in a bag because 0:02:57.476 --> 0:03:00.316 I'm gonna wear a bear penis necklace around the office. 0:03:01.076 --> 0:03:02.916 Do do you believe in it? It means you believe 0:03:02.996 --> 0:03:06.756 in the like it's power of keeping you safe. Yeah, 0:03:06.796 --> 0:03:10.556 I do. I believe in it. I've been all over 0:03:10.556 --> 0:03:13.596 the Arctic and lived two weeks at forty below zero 0:03:13.676 --> 0:03:18.756 and all over Russia and you know where there's nothing 0:03:18.916 --> 0:03:23.796 and keep a bare penis with me. I think there's 0:03:23.796 --> 0:03:27.196 something out there that maybe it's only in your mind. 0:03:27.236 --> 0:03:30.116 If it's in your mind and it works, I don't know. 0:03:30.196 --> 0:03:34.076 I'm still here and have had many many close calls, 0:03:34.076 --> 0:03:41.916 so here I am right. So at first read Ned's 0:03:41.996 --> 0:03:46.156 unpublished novel seemed like a classic airport pot boiler, typical 0:03:46.276 --> 0:03:49.676 cloak and dagger X cop kind of stuff, like when 0:03:49.676 --> 0:03:52.516 the hero heads it on a case. It reads. A 0:03:52.596 --> 0:03:55.236 quick shower and a breakfast of Alka seltzer and aspirin 0:03:55.756 --> 0:03:59.676 had Ned feeling three quarters human again. That voice is 0:03:59.716 --> 0:04:02.716 the actor Walton Goggins. We asked him to read from 0:04:02.716 --> 0:04:06.876 Ned's novel. And in this novel there's some great characters 0:04:07.276 --> 0:04:11.636 like the drug addicted pig and this pig he guards 0:04:11.636 --> 0:04:14.916 a drug lab while munching on onions soaked in meth. 0:04:15.436 --> 0:04:18.676 The novel tells us the dark and well bristled pig 0:04:19.076 --> 0:04:22.956 was eyeing them with the disturbing, calculating look that pigs give. 0:04:24.116 --> 0:04:26.476 Many of the details in the novel, like the pig, 0:04:26.876 --> 0:04:30.316 were so quirky and distinctive they felt like they had 0:04:30.356 --> 0:04:35.076 to be true. Other scenes seemed contrived, pure Hollywood. I 0:04:35.196 --> 0:04:37.636 kind of felt like I'd gotten myself a guide book 0:04:37.676 --> 0:04:41.516 that was about half accurate. There was a true story 0:04:41.556 --> 0:04:44.076 in here, a real piece of history. If I could 0:04:44.076 --> 0:04:48.876 just you know, extract it, Yeah, easier said than done. 0:04:49.396 --> 0:04:51.756 I started making a to do list, like I was 0:04:51.796 --> 0:04:54.596 going to the grocery store or something. Only mine went 0:04:54.716 --> 0:04:58.436 something like this. One. Reach out to your contact at 0:04:58.436 --> 0:05:02.916 the FBI, make sure ned's not a kuk. Two call 0:05:03.036 --> 0:05:07.956 the CIA here like they'll tell you anything. Three visit 0:05:07.996 --> 0:05:10.836 the guy who smuggled three hundred thousand pounds of pot 0:05:10.996 --> 0:05:14.516 into the US in a single shipment, supposedly now lives 0:05:14.556 --> 0:05:19.156 in Hawaii. Four track down that long lost mistress who's 0:05:19.156 --> 0:05:24.396 living somewhere in South America. Shit. All of a sudden, 0:05:24.396 --> 0:05:27.036 the story felt like one of those five thousand piece 0:05:27.116 --> 0:05:29.876 puzzles that my kids like to open up on vacation 0:05:29.916 --> 0:05:34.316 and just spill across the floor, and then you see 0:05:34.316 --> 0:05:38.196 a corner piece and a matching edge piece, and damn 0:05:38.236 --> 0:05:42.396 if they don't fit, and then well there goes your vacation. 0:05:48.156 --> 0:05:53.196 I'm Jake Halbern and this is Deep Cover, Episode one, 0:05:53.876 --> 0:06:21.396 The Masked Man. All that I really remembered about the 0:06:21.436 --> 0:06:24.396 drug wars of the nineteen eighties was there was this 0:06:24.556 --> 0:06:28.116 huge problem that the government was trying to fix with slogans. 0:06:28.476 --> 0:06:32.596 You might remember, just say no. That was the battle 0:06:32.636 --> 0:06:36.436 cry of President Reagan and his wife Nancy, distributed all 0:06:36.476 --> 0:06:39.116 the way down to our teachers in high school. I 0:06:39.156 --> 0:06:42.156 remember these lectures and thinking even then that they were 0:06:42.196 --> 0:06:45.156 an idiotic remedy to the drug war. I even wrote 0:06:45.196 --> 0:06:48.356 an op ed in my student newspaper just saying no. 0:06:48.796 --> 0:06:53.876 Know to just say no, corny, I know, I was fourteen. 0:06:55.076 --> 0:06:57.636 A little slogan was not going to kill the demand 0:06:57.676 --> 0:07:00.356 for an entire drug market, and it sure as hell 0:07:00.356 --> 0:07:02.396 wasn't going to stem the flow of marijuana that was 0:07:02.396 --> 0:07:05.676 pouring into the country. And he kind of had to 0:07:05.716 --> 0:07:10.236 wonder where was all that marijuana coming from anyway, and 0:07:10.316 --> 0:07:15.796 how is it getting in? Historians are still debating this question. 0:07:16.276 --> 0:07:19.796 You can find reams of conspiracy theories, like it was 0:07:19.836 --> 0:07:22.796 the CIA behind all the drug smuggling. That's still a 0:07:22.796 --> 0:07:26.756 hot one. In fact, the CIA will eventually figure into 0:07:26.796 --> 0:07:32.396 this story, along with celebrities, politicians, heads of state. But 0:07:32.676 --> 0:07:36.076 we're getting ahead of ourselves now, because this story really 0:07:36.076 --> 0:07:41.556 starts in Detroit with Ned Timmins at a rowdy roadside 0:07:41.596 --> 0:07:48.356 biker bar. The bar was a roadhouse out in the sticks. 0:07:49.316 --> 0:07:53.596 The dirt parking lot was full, mostly with motorcycles, nearly 0:07:53.636 --> 0:07:58.196 all of them Harley Davidson's Those are the opening words 0:07:58.196 --> 0:08:02.796 of Ned's novel, and where we'll begin our story. It's 0:08:02.836 --> 0:08:05.716 the early nineteen eighties. Ned Timmins is in his mid 0:08:05.836 --> 0:08:09.676 thirties and early in his career at the FBI. He's 0:08:09.676 --> 0:08:13.916 working fugitives, just basically going down at checklist and rounding 0:08:14.036 --> 0:08:17.916 up wanted men. This was not a desk job. It 0:08:18.036 --> 0:08:21.716 was an assignment for guys who wanted some action. As 0:08:21.796 --> 0:08:24.876 Ned tells it, he got a tip about a fugitive 0:08:25.116 --> 0:08:27.236 who was supposed to be at this biker bar in 0:08:27.316 --> 0:08:31.756 the outskirts of Detroit. So Ned grabs his jean jacket 0:08:31.956 --> 0:08:35.516 and his three fifty seven Smith and Wesson and heads out. 0:08:38.236 --> 0:08:40.676 There was some mean motherfucker was in there. You know. 0:08:40.916 --> 0:08:44.476 There was a hard ass, hirdcore biker bar. They're doing 0:08:44.556 --> 0:08:47.516 shots and drugs. And it was a scene out of 0:08:47.516 --> 0:08:52.316 a movie or a novel. In fact, here it is 0:08:52.356 --> 0:08:56.236 in Ned's novel. A single sodium street light out on 0:08:56.276 --> 0:08:58.196 the for edge of a parking lot, shone down on 0:08:58.236 --> 0:09:01.716 a pay phone from that lonely pool of light. The 0:09:01.836 --> 0:09:04.276 darkness of the parking lot reached out a good twenty 0:09:04.276 --> 0:09:07.556 five yards before the glow of neon beer sign signaled 0:09:07.596 --> 0:09:11.796 the borders of another America. This was the lawless America. 0:09:12.636 --> 0:09:16.276 This was the rebel yell. This was easy money, fast 0:09:16.356 --> 0:09:24.556 bikes and girls that were easier and faster than both. Nowadays, 0:09:24.636 --> 0:09:28.036 it's hard to appreciate just how right our novelist is 0:09:28.236 --> 0:09:31.956 about the lawlessness of biker botters in the eighties. Today 0:09:31.996 --> 0:09:34.516 we might think of these guys as old graybeards who 0:09:34.596 --> 0:09:38.116 putter around and three wheeled Harley's, but not back then. 0:09:38.596 --> 0:09:44.196 These were dangerous men, drugging, partying and fighting. Here's ned 0:09:44.316 --> 0:09:47.876 novelist again. The smell was the first thing that hit 0:09:48.596 --> 0:09:53.636 old beer piss, bo reefer smoke and puke. The second 0:09:53.636 --> 0:09:56.996 thing to hit was a cover charge two bucks and 0:09:57.116 --> 0:09:59.396 a guy demanding it was the size of a freezer. 0:10:00.116 --> 0:10:02.596 Bikers seemed to come in one of only two sizes, 0:10:03.076 --> 0:10:16.196 big and really fucking big. Probably smells like sweat and 0:10:16.396 --> 0:10:21.156 beer and Jack Daniels all mixed up together all the time. 0:10:21.996 --> 0:10:25.596 That's Kathy Timmins, also an FBI agent in the Detroit 0:10:25.676 --> 0:10:29.516 office and Ned's wife at the time. She remembers going 0:10:29.556 --> 0:10:32.116 to one of these biker bars with Ned on another 0:10:32.236 --> 0:10:35.436 night just to serve as cover, you know, his actual 0:10:35.516 --> 0:10:38.476 wife pretending to be his girlfriend. And then if people 0:10:38.476 --> 0:10:42.796 actually need to breathe, they go outside because the smoke 0:10:42.836 --> 0:10:44.876 in the bar would be just that thick that even 0:10:44.916 --> 0:10:48.156 a smoker couldn't tolerate it. You know, I mean people, 0:10:48.356 --> 0:10:50.356 you know, the big fight going on over here, and 0:10:50.356 --> 0:10:52.436 everybody else over here just sitting and talking. Other people 0:10:52.436 --> 0:10:57.436 are shooting pool, just chaos. On this particular night, Ned 0:10:57.476 --> 0:11:00.796 says he was looking for a fugitive named Toby Anderson. 0:11:01.316 --> 0:11:05.236 Toby had quite a rap sheet. Apparently Toby's file was 0:11:05.276 --> 0:11:08.996 about six inches deep and a lot of real violent stuff. 0:11:09.116 --> 0:11:13.036 You know, someone guns down on Kentucky and you know 0:11:13.236 --> 0:11:15.956 this guy was a crew of criminal. He also happened 0:11:15.956 --> 0:11:19.076 to be a country western singer, and his band supposedly 0:11:19.076 --> 0:11:23.356 had a gig that night. This was one of their hits, 0:11:23.396 --> 0:11:32.196 snitches that Rivol must die, Vol Must Die. I've been 0:11:32.316 --> 0:11:35.916 called the sucker, but I killed the pick. Motherfucker that 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:41.396 tries still something of mine. As Ned tells it, the 0:11:41.436 --> 0:11:45.356 bar was crowded with outlaw bikers. Ned knew that walking 0:11:45.396 --> 0:11:49.676 in here as a plainclothes agent was extremely dangerous. Everything 0:11:49.796 --> 0:11:53.916 was about the brotherhood, the code, your fellow bikers, even 0:11:53.916 --> 0:11:56.876 the music. So Ned had his eyes on the band, 0:11:57.316 --> 0:12:01.116 looking at the singer. He knew that Toby was supposed 0:12:01.116 --> 0:12:03.836 to make an appearance on stage tonight. But could it 0:12:03.876 --> 0:12:06.636 be that the lead singer of this band, the guy 0:12:06.716 --> 0:12:10.316 up on stage right now, was his guy. There are 0:12:10.316 --> 0:12:14.956 a lot of good people sitting in jail, Mom, punk 0:12:15.076 --> 0:12:19.036 to the pigs, what they've done, well, we get in 0:12:19.396 --> 0:12:23.236 all of that. If it took our ball math start 0:12:23.356 --> 0:12:29.876 killing the snitches for fawns, So Ned says, He saunters 0:12:29.956 --> 0:12:32.036 up to the bar, takes a seat on a stool, 0:12:32.196 --> 0:12:34.916 and just waits for his partner to show up. It 0:12:34.956 --> 0:12:38.076 wasn't his regular partner, just a guy providing backup that 0:12:38.196 --> 0:12:41.956 particular night. In the novel, Ned describes him as a 0:12:41.996 --> 0:12:45.476 blue blooded preppie who arrives at this biker bar dressed 0:12:45.516 --> 0:12:53.676 in penny loafers and to tie. The two of them 0:12:53.796 --> 0:12:57.756 watched the stage together trying to find their fugitive, figure 0:12:57.796 --> 0:13:01.116 out just who Toby was. All they had was one 0:13:01.196 --> 0:13:04.436 flimsy clue, a picture that was six or seven years 0:13:04.436 --> 0:13:08.076 out of date. There wasn't really any mark, scars or tattoos, 0:13:08.116 --> 0:13:10.556 which is nice if the you know, the guy's got 0:13:10.676 --> 0:13:13.956 a swashtick on his cheek or something that. There was 0:13:13.996 --> 0:13:17.956 nothing we could look at other identifiers. We just we 0:13:17.996 --> 0:13:21.676 weren't sure. Ned waited for the band to take a break, 0:13:22.036 --> 0:13:26.796 and then he went to suss things out. I followed 0:13:26.836 --> 0:13:30.836 him in the bathroom and um, you know, I was 0:13:30.876 --> 0:13:33.236 taking a piss beside him, and I said, hey, aren't 0:13:33.236 --> 0:13:38.036 you Toby Anderson. He goes, nah, yeah, okay. I was 0:13:38.116 --> 0:13:41.316 down in the keys with Toby and I swear you're Toby. 0:13:42.316 --> 0:13:45.396 You just canna know, man, you get the wrong guy. 0:13:45.636 --> 0:13:49.516 And UH said, don't you remember Sow and Sow his 0:13:49.556 --> 0:13:52.836 boat on Big Pine Key. H We partied down there 0:13:53.876 --> 0:13:57.316 and he was yeah, Oh yeah, I'm Toby. You know 0:13:57.796 --> 0:14:00.356 what the fucks that to? You said? We just you know, 0:14:00.396 --> 0:14:03.796 had a good time the night. Will I reach out 0:14:03.796 --> 0:14:06.116 to shake hands with him, and I and I get 0:14:06.116 --> 0:14:08.836 his hand and I'm shaking hands with him, and I 0:14:09.196 --> 0:14:11.476 just lean up to his ear and said, Toby, FBI 0:14:12.596 --> 0:14:18.836 and nine. He goes, fuck you and he starts to swank. Okay, 0:14:19.116 --> 0:14:22.836 let's freeze frame right there in midpunch, because this is 0:14:22.876 --> 0:14:26.316 not exactly textbook or rest protocol. I mean, there were 0:14:26.316 --> 0:14:29.516 other ways to handle this, like waiting until Toby headed 0:14:29.516 --> 0:14:32.476 out to the parking lot, or even just following him home. 0:14:32.996 --> 0:14:35.396 But this is the first thing you need to understand 0:14:35.436 --> 0:14:38.596 about Ned, and it's also the first thing that Kathy 0:14:38.716 --> 0:14:40.996 ever knew about him, going back to when they first 0:14:41.036 --> 0:14:45.156 met as smalltown cops. If somebody was in a foot chase, 0:14:45.396 --> 0:14:48.396 you know, you might you know, we got his ID, 0:14:48.396 --> 0:14:49.996 we got his car, you know, we can pick him 0:14:50.036 --> 0:14:52.276 up tomorrow or whatever. Ned would chase that guy down 0:14:52.396 --> 0:14:56.156 until you got him. She tells the story about Ned. 0:14:56.196 --> 0:14:59.396 Before they even started dating. Ned knew where her family 0:14:59.396 --> 0:15:02.476 would be celebrating Saint Patrick's Day, so he just showed 0:15:02.556 --> 0:15:04.916 up and blended right in as if he were some 0:15:05.036 --> 0:15:09.036 long lost cousin, chatted up her dad got along famously 0:15:09.236 --> 0:15:12.316 with everyone. Most people don't have that level of confidence 0:15:12.356 --> 0:15:16.236 to be able to just walk in and just immediately 0:15:16.276 --> 0:15:20.116 become a part of the crowd. So cornering Toby in 0:15:20.196 --> 0:15:26.276 a bathroom aggressive a bit reckless, classic Ned okay, back 0:15:26.316 --> 0:15:32.476 to the biker bar, and I just lean up to 0:15:32.516 --> 0:15:36.356 his ear and said Toby, FBI and he goes, fock 0:15:36.476 --> 0:15:40.596 you and he starts to swing, and right then Ned's 0:15:40.596 --> 0:15:44.516 partner comes into the bathroom. We kind of overwhelmed them, 0:15:44.636 --> 0:15:48.916 so we get him in cuffs. We're going through the 0:15:48.916 --> 0:15:51.436 bar and everybody's starting to realize he's in handcuffs and 0:15:51.516 --> 0:15:55.116 he's like they're superstar and people are pushing a Shelvin 0:15:55.116 --> 0:15:58.196 and Ned says, he and his partner Frog March Toby 0:15:58.276 --> 0:16:01.356 threw a bar of drunk bikers and out the front door. 0:16:01.636 --> 0:16:03.356 I had Toby on the hood of the Bronco and 0:16:03.396 --> 0:16:07.396 he's still wrestling around, but he's handcuffed behind himself, behind 0:16:07.436 --> 0:16:17.356 his back. So we had told I actually can't be 0:16:17.436 --> 0:16:20.036 sure if this story at the bar is one hundred 0:16:20.036 --> 0:16:23.436 percent true. I talked to Ned's partner from that day, 0:16:23.516 --> 0:16:26.516 and he didn't remember it. I talked to another biker 0:16:26.556 --> 0:16:29.276 who knew Toby very well, and he remembered hearing some 0:16:29.516 --> 0:16:33.036 version of this story at the time. Unfortunately, I can't 0:16:33.036 --> 0:16:35.876 ask Toby himself since he died back in two thousand 0:16:35.876 --> 0:16:40.036 and four. But I did track down Toby's son, who 0:16:40.076 --> 0:16:43.116 gave me at least a better sense of who this 0:16:43.236 --> 0:16:50.036 guy was. I remember right on the motorcycles with him, 0:16:50.036 --> 0:16:51.756 with me on the back. He was just kind of 0:16:51.756 --> 0:16:54.916 reckless and dangerous. I was screaming, holding on for dear life, right, 0:16:54.956 --> 0:16:58.116 and he just thought it was funny. Today, Jesse Anderson 0:16:58.196 --> 0:17:01.236 is an executive in the auto industry. Back when he 0:17:01.316 --> 0:17:03.476 was a kid, he got out real close view of 0:17:03.516 --> 0:17:06.996 all the madness and chaos that his father was in. Yeah. 0:17:07.036 --> 0:17:10.276 I was afraid of my dad. Everybody's fraid. Yeah, so 0:17:10.436 --> 0:17:14.236 yeah he was. He was reckless, which is what everyone said. 0:17:14.716 --> 0:17:17.396 The friend of Toby's told me that Toby would cut 0:17:17.396 --> 0:17:20.756 you or even shoot you without hesitation, and this gave 0:17:20.796 --> 0:17:23.876 Toby's street cred in the criminal world. He was the 0:17:23.996 --> 0:17:29.116 real deal, which appealed to Ned. When we come back, 0:17:29.516 --> 0:17:35.276 Ned interrogates Toby the prisoner. Look at Toby here fucked. Okay, 0:17:35.436 --> 0:17:38.836 you've been, You've done time in seven fucking federal pens. 0:17:39.836 --> 0:17:42.436 This time you're going back for life for a long time. 0:17:43.876 --> 0:18:02.196 So what do you want to do? Snitcher the rebolse 0:18:02.436 --> 0:18:13.156 must die. Snitchbols must die. It's squeal all friends, so 0:18:13.556 --> 0:18:19.316 they golf just should die. This is Toby Anderson singing 0:18:19.356 --> 0:18:22.836 one of his hit songs with the legendary chorus Snitches 0:18:22.876 --> 0:18:27.476 and rip Offs must die ned. Timman still remembers going 0:18:27.476 --> 0:18:31.596 to question Toby. He brought him breakfast pancakes and he 0:18:31.716 --> 0:18:34.356 ate him with his hands. He had syrup all over 0:18:34.396 --> 0:18:37.076 his face and all over his fingers and probably hadn't 0:18:37.076 --> 0:18:39.716 eaten in a day or so. You can see he 0:18:40.036 --> 0:18:42.756 was just I mean, he's just like totally burned out 0:18:42.796 --> 0:18:44.676 and weak. Now I didn't have all those buddies that 0:18:44.676 --> 0:18:48.596 we're going to help him. Let's look at Toby. You're fucked. Okay, 0:18:48.756 --> 0:18:52.156 you've been, You've done time in seven fucking federal pens. 0:18:53.196 --> 0:18:55.756 This time you're going back for life for a long time, 0:18:57.196 --> 0:18:59.716 So what do you want to do. We spent several 0:18:59.756 --> 0:19:02.316 hours with him, you know, and finally says, well, there's 0:19:02.316 --> 0:19:05.156 probably a couple of things I can do. So they 0:19:05.156 --> 0:19:08.636 started working together. Toby knew better than anyone the dangers 0:19:08.636 --> 0:19:11.796 of working for Ned, of becoming an informant for the FBI. 0:19:12.516 --> 0:19:14.996 They had to be careful. Ned says. They spread a 0:19:15.076 --> 0:19:18.796 rumor that the charges against Toby were dropped because no 0:19:18.836 --> 0:19:22.116 one wanted to testify against him. This story would keep 0:19:22.156 --> 0:19:24.916 any of his biker buddies from thinking that he'd flipped. 0:19:26.196 --> 0:19:29.636 Even while cooperating, Toby tried to maintain his own kind 0:19:29.636 --> 0:19:32.476 of biker ethics. He would not write out friends or 0:19:32.476 --> 0:19:36.276 members of his own gang, but he willingly betrayed his enemies. 0:19:36.716 --> 0:19:39.556 So he and Ned would find a target, for example, 0:19:39.796 --> 0:19:43.236 a drug house we'd set up undercover surveillance, sent him 0:19:43.236 --> 0:19:47.476 in there, and you know, we had vans and different 0:19:47.516 --> 0:19:51.516 stuff with high tech cameras and stuff that we're on. Periscopes, 0:19:52.356 --> 0:19:54.316 just little pariscope comes out of the top of the van. 0:19:54.836 --> 0:19:57.676 Oh the good old days when the drug dealers didn't 0:19:57.676 --> 0:20:01.916 know what every TV writer knew. Unmarked vans with periscopes 0:20:02.276 --> 0:20:05.276 meant trouble. So then we'd develop a raide plan and 0:20:05.316 --> 0:20:12.316 get a search warton, kicking the doors all the way 0:20:12.396 --> 0:20:15.596 up to the nineteen seventies, the Bureau wasn't really focused 0:20:15.596 --> 0:20:18.356 on drug suppliers. That had been the job of the 0:20:18.476 --> 0:20:22.756 Drug Enforcement Agency, the d EA. Now, the DA did 0:20:22.796 --> 0:20:26.476 have some big investigations, but they were mostly one off busts. 0:20:26.996 --> 0:20:29.556 You know, they'd seize the drugs, lay them out on 0:20:29.556 --> 0:20:34.956 the table, big photo op, busted, end of story. But 0:20:35.076 --> 0:20:38.076 by the early eighties this approach wasn't cutting it anymore. 0:20:38.516 --> 0:20:42.076 President Reagan's Attorney General empowered the FBI to get involved 0:20:42.076 --> 0:20:44.876 in the drug wars. After all, the Bureau were the 0:20:44.916 --> 0:20:48.236 ones taking down the mob. Something big had to be 0:20:48.236 --> 0:20:50.996 behind all of this. The feeling was this couldn't be 0:20:50.996 --> 0:20:53.716 just a bunch of local, mom and pop drug dealers. 0:20:54.116 --> 0:20:57.556 Here's what the Attorney General, William French Smith said at 0:20:57.556 --> 0:21:01.076 the time. Quote The popular notion that the syndicate or 0:21:01.116 --> 0:21:05.236 traditional organized crime stays out of drugs is simply not true. 0:21:05.716 --> 0:21:09.396 Many of the syndicates families have developed elaborate drug network works. 0:21:09.876 --> 0:21:13.156 Virtually every one of them is involved in drugs in 0:21:13.156 --> 0:21:16.076 one way or another. End quote. But that's not all. 0:21:16.436 --> 0:21:20.596 Smith also told Americans precisely who was distributing all the 0:21:20.676 --> 0:21:25.076 drugs for the syndicates. Quote. Over the past decade, some 0:21:25.436 --> 0:21:29.636 eight hundred outlaw motorcycle gangs have developed around the country 0:21:29.716 --> 0:21:33.956 and in foreign countries, and drugs represent their primary source 0:21:33.996 --> 0:21:39.076 of revenue. The strategies of the Attorney General and Ned 0:21:39.076 --> 0:21:43.996 Timmins had what you might call synergy. As Ned saw it, 0:21:44.356 --> 0:21:48.316 Toby was his way in and up the ladder. So 0:21:48.476 --> 0:21:51.796 the FBI came up with a plan Ned would go 0:21:51.876 --> 0:22:01.676 undercover and become a biker. Ned's wife, Kathy, remembers how 0:22:01.756 --> 0:22:05.716 quickly things changed. I didn't like that. He of course 0:22:05.756 --> 0:22:08.316 started growing his hair out and he had a Fu 0:22:08.396 --> 0:22:11.836 Manchu stash, and when we would go out, we'd always 0:22:11.956 --> 0:22:14.076 people look at us and we'd get seated like way 0:22:14.076 --> 0:22:16.676 at the back of a restaurant, you know, like like 0:22:16.796 --> 0:22:22.756 we were creepy. The mustache was just the beginning. Ned 0:22:22.876 --> 0:22:25.516 knew he needed to up his skills as a biker, so, 0:22:25.876 --> 0:22:29.156 like any good FBI agent, he went to school the 0:22:29.356 --> 0:22:33.316 Ontario Provincial Police Motorcycle School. Ned says he learned to 0:22:33.396 --> 0:22:36.516 ride his bike upstairs and lay the bike down at 0:22:36.596 --> 0:22:39.836 high speeds. I rode a bike a lot for the FBI, 0:22:41.156 --> 0:22:45.236 and you're very vulnerable and after you've been to school, 0:22:45.276 --> 0:22:51.316 you realize just how dangerous a motorcycle is. After graduation, 0:22:51.756 --> 0:22:55.276 Ned went back to Detroit. He created a new persona 0:22:55.396 --> 0:23:04.276 and carefully chose a new name, Ed Thomas, because you 0:23:04.316 --> 0:23:07.756 wanted something that was close to Ned. A couple of 0:23:07.796 --> 0:23:10.636 times I was undercovered an airport and old colleagues, buddies, 0:23:10.876 --> 0:23:14.676 Tarryann and Tolman, they're going, hey, Ned, and it's an 0:23:14.676 --> 0:23:18.916 awkward situation if you're with a bunch of bikers, Ed Thomas. 0:23:18.916 --> 0:23:21.596 It was close enough that you can stumble through it. 0:23:22.556 --> 0:23:27.356 Ed Thomas a badass biker with money and connections. If 0:23:27.356 --> 0:23:30.756 you wanted the chemicals to make meth, Ed Thomas is 0:23:30.796 --> 0:23:35.356 your guy, and the ruse worked. Ed helped the FBI 0:23:35.476 --> 0:23:38.876 take down other outlaw bikers on at least one occasion. 0:23:39.156 --> 0:23:41.596 Ned told me that they cuffed him as well at 0:23:41.596 --> 0:23:44.236 the arrest, made sure it look like he really was 0:23:44.316 --> 0:23:48.156 a criminal. The FBI wanted to protect his cover because 0:23:48.236 --> 0:23:51.996 Ned he was really good at this. You know who 0:23:52.076 --> 0:23:56.876 was not so good at this whole undercover thing. Toby, 0:24:00.276 --> 0:24:03.836 Ned's wingman. Toby was still living the biker life, and 0:24:03.956 --> 0:24:09.276 increasingly there were problems. Like the time that Toby was 0:24:09.316 --> 0:24:12.596 out at a bar and watching another band play. The 0:24:12.716 --> 0:24:16.116 lead singer was playing this fancy and very pricy less 0:24:16.196 --> 0:24:21.076 Ball electric guitar, and Toby liked it a lot. What 0:24:21.196 --> 0:24:23.996 happened next is kind of a legend. I heard it 0:24:24.036 --> 0:24:26.556 from a few different people, including another biker who was 0:24:26.636 --> 0:24:29.716 there that night at the bar, So out of nowhere, 0:24:29.876 --> 0:24:34.076 Toby screamed FBI at the top of his lungs, whipped 0:24:34.076 --> 0:24:38.236 out his gun and started shooting. He snatched the guitar 0:24:38.476 --> 0:24:41.876 and bolts out of the bar like he deputized himself 0:24:41.876 --> 0:24:44.436 as an FBI agent or something, and then totally went 0:24:44.516 --> 0:24:47.956 rogue and for a while he got away with it. 0:24:48.476 --> 0:24:51.996 Toby now has this sweet Les Paul electric guitar, and 0:24:52.156 --> 0:24:54.956 right away he started touring his local haunts with it. 0:24:55.316 --> 0:24:59.316 Not a worry in the world because that's Toby, and 0:24:59.476 --> 0:25:02.316 because it's Toby, that's not the end of the story. 0:25:02.836 --> 0:25:06.436 A few weeks later, Toby's performing up on stage and 0:25:06.996 --> 0:25:10.356 he gets shot. We don't know who did it for sure, 0:25:10.476 --> 0:25:12.996 but everyone I spoke to said it had to be 0:25:13.076 --> 0:25:15.436 the guy he robbed and stole the guitar from a 0:25:15.436 --> 0:25:19.316 few weeks earlier. So Toby he's shot and bleeding out 0:25:19.356 --> 0:25:24.716 on stage across town. HiT's bedtime at dad's house when 0:25:24.956 --> 0:25:30.876 the phone rings and I get a call again, like 0:25:30.916 --> 0:25:33.356 ten o'clock at night, So you'd better get down to 0:25:33.396 --> 0:25:39.956 this bar. Toby's been shot, and so I raced down. 0:25:39.996 --> 0:25:42.036 It's like a forty five minute drive. He's still laying 0:25:42.076 --> 0:25:44.916 on the floor in the bar shot. I get there 0:25:44.916 --> 0:25:46.836 and say, look at you gotta go to the fucking hospital. 0:25:47.356 --> 0:25:53.396 It's okay, I'm going of if you'd go with me. Well, 0:25:53.436 --> 0:25:55.476 I got a call from somebody in my family to 0:25:55.716 --> 0:25:57.876 say that my dad has been shot, and that was 0:25:58.236 --> 0:26:03.116 that it was pretty severe. That's Jesse Anderson again, Toby's son, 0:26:03.756 --> 0:26:06.596 and that day, the day his dad got shot, it's 0:26:06.636 --> 0:26:12.476 always stayed with him. On the way to the hospital, 0:26:12.636 --> 0:26:16.476 they got stopped by a train and he almost bled 0:26:16.516 --> 0:26:18.916 out in the ambulance because the train was so long. 0:26:18.956 --> 0:26:22.076 And at this time I now think, I think I'm 0:26:22.076 --> 0:26:26.796 about twelve years old. But again, for me to hear 0:26:26.876 --> 0:26:30.196 that my dad was shot, it's like going to the store. 0:26:30.356 --> 0:26:34.916 I mean, it's the stuff happened all the time. Something 0:26:34.996 --> 0:26:40.676 like this happened all the time. Toby recovered from being 0:26:40.716 --> 0:26:44.316 shot and just kind of carried on. As crazy as 0:26:44.356 --> 0:26:48.076 that sounds, this was normal life for the Anderson household. 0:26:48.716 --> 0:26:51.356 In fact, hearing Jesse talked about his dad like this, 0:26:51.756 --> 0:26:54.476 it helped me understand what life was like in Toby's world. 0:26:55.036 --> 0:26:58.316 Mayhem just seemed to follow this guy everywhere. Everything was 0:26:58.396 --> 0:27:01.276 topsy turvy. Even jumping in the car to pick up 0:27:01.276 --> 0:27:05.556