WEBVTT - Episode 9: 1989 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:27.956 Pushkin previously on deep cover. In the mid nineteen eighties, 0:00:27.996 --> 0:00:31.596 the FBI took down a massive drug smuggling ring which 0:00:31.636 --> 0:00:35.396 was importing huge loads of marijuana from Colombia into the 0:00:35.476 --> 0:00:39.876 United States with the help of agent Ned Timmins. The 0:00:39.956 --> 0:00:44.076 three ring leaders were caught and imprisoned. Case closed, or 0:00:44.316 --> 0:00:48.276 so it appeared, until one of the ringleaders, Stephen Kaylish, 0:00:48.636 --> 0:00:51.636 revealed that there was a silent partner, and he was 0:00:51.716 --> 0:00:55.796 none other than General Manuel Noriega, the ruler of Panama 0:00:55.916 --> 0:01:00.596 and a top CIA asset. This prompted congressional hearings and 0:01:01.076 --> 0:01:05.236 an indictment. Meanwhile, Ned was still busy at the FBI. 0:01:05.876 --> 0:01:08.596 Thanks to all of us undercover work, Ned still had 0:01:08.636 --> 0:01:12.596 all minds of contacts in the drug world and they 0:01:12.596 --> 0:01:16.076 were still paying off. In fact, he was getting even 0:01:16.196 --> 0:01:20.156 deeper into the illegal drug trade. These are the people 0:01:20.316 --> 0:01:25.036 that would have supplied the drugs to likely rich. There 0:01:25.036 --> 0:01:27.076 are the people that controlled everything on the Earth coast 0:01:27.076 --> 0:01:33.476 to Columbia. At one point, Ned pose as a buyer 0:01:33.716 --> 0:01:36.556 and he busted a smuggler who was bringing in cocaine 0:01:36.596 --> 0:01:40.476 and marijuana into the US. So another win for Ned, 0:01:41.076 --> 0:01:45.076 and it also opened yet another door for him. Afterwards, 0:01:45.396 --> 0:01:48.236 Neddie got a call from the smuggler's wife, a woman 0:01:48.316 --> 0:01:58.436 from Colombia. We'll call her Simone. Simone reached out to 0:01:58.556 --> 0:02:01.636 Ned because she wanted to help her husband. Basically, she 0:02:01.716 --> 0:02:04.396 wanted to get his sentence reduced or get him moved 0:02:04.436 --> 0:02:08.396 to a better prison. Simone had information to trade, so 0:02:08.556 --> 0:02:11.716 she contact did Ned, hoping to make a deal. She 0:02:11.836 --> 0:02:15.396 was connected with the biggest people in the cartels and 0:02:15.636 --> 0:02:17.876 talked a good game. She knew what she was talking about, 0:02:17.956 --> 0:02:21.196 she knew the right names. Ned was eager to work 0:02:21.236 --> 0:02:24.796 Simone's connections, but he was also leary about messing with 0:02:24.836 --> 0:02:28.956 the Colombians. I don't think twice at killing you the Colombians. 0:02:29.276 --> 0:02:31.956 Anything can happen, you know. Remember you don't know anybody 0:02:31.996 --> 0:02:40.596 but yourself. So Ned had his concerns, but he's still 0:02:40.676 --> 0:02:44.196 interested in working with Simone. Seeing where her connections might 0:02:44.236 --> 0:02:47.996 take him. He decided to ask his wife, Kathy Timmins 0:02:47.996 --> 0:02:50.956 for help. At the time, Kathy was busy with her 0:02:50.956 --> 0:02:53.636 own work at the FBI and she was pregnant with 0:02:53.676 --> 0:02:56.756 their second child. So Ned said, I want you to 0:02:56.796 --> 0:02:59.716 come down and meet her so that you know she 0:02:59.836 --> 0:03:02.236 has someone that she can call as the backup person 0:03:02.276 --> 0:03:05.676 to me, you know, blah blah blah blah blah blah, 0:03:05.716 --> 0:03:08.756 as in here we go again. I mean she'd been 0:03:08.756 --> 0:03:12.076 through this before, like when Ned came home with Toby Anderson, 0:03:12.356 --> 0:03:18.636 the violent country western singer, and now this I always 0:03:18.796 --> 0:03:22.156 was being introduced to his his informants or his co 0:03:22.236 --> 0:03:26.076 operators as as like the backup person. You know, I 0:03:26.116 --> 0:03:29.116 wasn't listed as the case agent or anything like that. 0:03:29.716 --> 0:03:33.196 I think it just gave Ned a feeling of you know, 0:03:33.756 --> 0:03:35.636 and may and maybe he did it to try and 0:03:36.076 --> 0:03:42.476 further show the the co operator you know that here's 0:03:42.556 --> 0:03:45.796 here's someone else that you know has got your back. 0:03:46.636 --> 0:03:50.356 So despite it all, Kathy agreed to meet Simone, Ned's 0:03:50.396 --> 0:03:54.396 latest source at a hotel in Detroit. I went down 0:03:55.516 --> 0:03:58.236 to the hotel and then met her, and you know, 0:03:59.476 --> 0:04:03.116 she spoke briefly and he said, well, you know, if 0:04:03.156 --> 0:04:07.116 you need anything, give me a call. You know that 0:04:08.156 --> 0:04:12.596 you're gonna be working with Ned. But on the way home, 0:04:13.076 --> 0:04:17.236 Cathy had second thoughts about the whole arrangement. I mean, 0:04:17.316 --> 0:04:21.956 she was strikingly beautiful woman and now she's sitting here 0:04:22.756 --> 0:04:27.476 with no husband, she's got no other connections. Besides, Ned, 0:04:28.356 --> 0:04:31.156 it's not a not a good situation to have your 0:04:31.236 --> 0:04:35.396 husband involved in. I mean, you can almost predict trouble. 0:04:41.556 --> 0:04:46.236 I'm Jake Albern and this is deep Cover, our final 0:04:46.276 --> 0:05:16.116 episode nineteen eighty nine. Yes, hey, is this is Jake. 0:05:16.156 --> 0:05:21.276 How are you? I'm okay? Thank you? Can you're hear me? Okay? 0:05:21.916 --> 0:05:24.996 That's Simone. There are a lot of details about her 0:05:25.116 --> 0:05:27.596 story that I can't share with you. I need to 0:05:27.636 --> 0:05:30.716 protect her identity. But here's what you need to know. 0:05:31.276 --> 0:05:34.916 After meeting Ned, she started brainstorming with him about what 0:05:35.036 --> 0:05:38.236 intel she could offer. She was still hoping to help 0:05:38.236 --> 0:05:41.196 her husband, who at this point was in federal prison 0:05:41.236 --> 0:05:47.956 in Michigan. Will please started conversations, a lot of conversation. 0:05:49.076 --> 0:05:52.036 It was, as I said, a person that you could trust. 0:05:52.916 --> 0:05:56.396 But she was scared about ratting on the cartels and 0:05:56.636 --> 0:06:00.796 ultimately she got cold feet. It was too dangerous. So 0:06:01.516 --> 0:06:03.996 I didn't know want to take one point, and this 0:06:04.076 --> 0:06:07.876 meant she couldn't help her husband. But she actually kept 0:06:07.956 --> 0:06:11.876 meeting with Ned, and I think one of those days 0:06:11.996 --> 0:06:16.476 who were sitting in the restroom, i'll attracted to each other. 0:06:17.196 --> 0:06:20.476 Simone says that she trusted Ned more than that that 0:06:20.636 --> 0:06:23.116 he seemed like a hero to her. That's the word 0:06:23.196 --> 0:06:28.076 she used, whoa because the way he moved, the way 0:06:28.156 --> 0:06:33.196 he taught his security, he's self confident, how muchure he was, 0:06:34.076 --> 0:06:38.836 and those were things in his personality that I was attracted. 0:06:43.356 --> 0:06:46.396 Simone eventually told Ned that she was willing to connect 0:06:46.476 --> 0:06:50.476 him with other sources. She knew another Columbian who needed 0:06:50.556 --> 0:06:54.156 help and he was willing to talk. Simone even offered 0:06:54.236 --> 0:06:57.836 to meet Ned in Venezuela and make the necessary introductions. 0:06:59.156 --> 0:07:04.716 They spent a week down there together. Oh, Jake, it's 0:07:04.756 --> 0:07:08.156 almost like the two of us were separated from the world. 0:07:09.196 --> 0:07:13.036 You know, just sat her own, drank wine and talked 0:07:13.036 --> 0:07:17.876 about other stuff. And well, just intelligence is beautiful, you know. 0:07:17.956 --> 0:07:20.996 I mean you walked through the airport whether and people 0:07:21.036 --> 0:07:25.196 were running into pilings and walls and dusts staring at her. 0:07:25.276 --> 0:07:28.476 You know. I spoke with another FBI agent who was 0:07:28.556 --> 0:07:31.556 down in Venezuela with them. He told me that Simone 0:07:31.796 --> 0:07:36.156 was beguiling. He said, quote, she didn't walk, she glided. 0:07:36.676 --> 0:07:38.916 She was quite the beauty and she knew how to 0:07:39.076 --> 0:07:42.796 use it too. This agent suspected that Ned and Simone 0:07:43.036 --> 0:07:46.156 were getting a bit too close, but he didn't say anything, 0:07:46.556 --> 0:07:48.756 in part because Ned was such a veteran at this 0:07:48.836 --> 0:07:55.836 type of work. Ned and Simone did have an affair. 0:07:56.356 --> 0:07:58.796 It actually started just a few months after they met. 0:07:59.676 --> 0:08:04.356 It was like an escape, an escape from what, escape 0:08:05.196 --> 0:08:11.676 from drug cases and FBI and and uh, you know, 0:08:12.476 --> 0:08:17.956 stress and whatever. It was a release. It was almost 0:08:17.996 --> 0:08:21.836 like I didn't care anymore. What do you mean you 0:08:21.876 --> 0:08:27.556 didn't care about what exactly? I was totally burned out 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:31.356 with the FBI and the stress of running big cases 0:08:31.476 --> 0:08:35.396 like this and dealing with other divisions and other agencies, 0:08:35.476 --> 0:08:38.956 and you know, it's very complicated to work big cases 0:08:39.036 --> 0:08:43.836 and abide by the rules and and all the legal 0:08:43.916 --> 0:08:48.316 issues and FBI protocol and everything. It was just an escape. 0:08:53.276 --> 0:08:56.876 I asked Simon if she ever felt pressured or coerced 0:08:56.956 --> 0:09:00.276 by Ned. She said no, never, that their feelings were 0:09:00.396 --> 0:09:05.156 mutual and her family adored Ned. I was really also 0:09:06.996 --> 0:09:16.956 with me, was like, so he was sick. I know. Yeah. 0:09:19.396 --> 0:09:24.396 All of that being said, Ned's affair created some serious problems. Obviously, 0:09:24.596 --> 0:09:27.956 it was not good for his marriage and professionally well, 0:09:28.476 --> 0:09:31.916 Ned was a federal agent. Someone was providing information to 0:09:31.996 --> 0:09:35.156 the FBI, and Ned was supposed to be assessing the 0:09:35.356 --> 0:09:38.636 value of her intel. Could she or her connections help 0:09:38.716 --> 0:09:42.596 the US government or not? Now, NED couldn't really make 0:09:42.676 --> 0:09:46.156 that call objectively. There was a conflict of interest and 0:09:46.276 --> 0:09:52.156 a power and balance too. It's not too ethical, it 0:09:52.276 --> 0:09:58.436 wasn't too honorable, Hannah. It just happened after it started. 0:09:58.476 --> 0:10:03.196 Did you have a moment of like, oh shit, what 0:10:03.316 --> 0:10:06.156 have I done? Kind of thing? Yeah, I mean you 0:10:06.196 --> 0:10:08.676 always had thoughts that it's the wrong thing to do. 0:10:09.156 --> 0:10:11.836 It's it's nothing you want to want to become public 0:10:11.996 --> 0:10:16.476 er or whatever. You know. It was just kind of 0:10:16.556 --> 0:10:19.836 spiraling out of control. I didn't know where it was 0:10:19.876 --> 0:10:29.516 going to land. While all this was going on, Ned's 0:10:29.556 --> 0:10:33.156 biggest case, the one that helps spark congressional hearings and 0:10:33.356 --> 0:10:37.556 the indictment of Noriega, that case was still simmering. The 0:10:37.676 --> 0:10:41.276 defendants in the case we're all serving time. Mister beach club, 0:10:41.476 --> 0:10:45.116 the gentleman smuggler, and the grocery guy. They're just counting 0:10:45.156 --> 0:10:48.556 the days and the weeks and the months until one 0:10:48.636 --> 0:10:51.796 day in mid December of nineteen eighty nine, when something 0:10:51.916 --> 0:10:55.916 weird happens. On that day, Stephen Kaylish, the gentleman smuggler 0:10:56.276 --> 0:11:00.196 says he was thrown into solitary confinement. Well, solitary you 0:11:00.276 --> 0:11:03.676 have no access to television, radio, I mean you get 0:11:03.716 --> 0:11:08.236 a blanket, pillow, food, you don't have contact with other prisoners. 0:11:09.116 --> 0:11:13.116 It's basically for protection. Stephen had been watching the news 0:11:13.236 --> 0:11:16.316 for weeks and had an inkling that something big was 0:11:16.356 --> 0:11:20.036 about to go down in Panama. You know, they've ratcheted 0:11:20.156 --> 0:11:24.316 up this whole, this whole thing about Noriega and Panama. 0:11:24.956 --> 0:11:29.076 It's in the news almost daily. Noriega's waving a fucking 0:11:29.156 --> 0:11:33.916 machete around. I mean, I'm watching them just fall to pieces, 0:11:33.996 --> 0:11:38.036 you know, but I mean the guy's office rocker. For 0:11:38.196 --> 0:11:40.756 over a year, Noriega had been thumbing his nose at 0:11:40.796 --> 0:11:44.156 the US, basically saying, you guys want me gone, but 0:11:44.436 --> 0:11:47.516 you can't do anything about it. Remember, thanks in large 0:11:47.556 --> 0:11:51.556 part to this investigation and Stephen Kaylish's account, Noriega had 0:11:51.596 --> 0:11:54.436 been indicted as a drug trafficker, and it seemed like 0:11:54.516 --> 0:11:58.276 this indictment was now fueling something bigger, like the US 0:11:58.436 --> 0:12:02.356 might actually take action. In his novel, Ned writes about 0:12:02.396 --> 0:12:04.556 how big a deal it would be if the US 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:09.716 could take down Noriega. Ned knew the very little of 0:12:09.796 --> 0:12:11.556 what he was doing made any real difference in the 0:12:11.636 --> 0:12:14.876 drug war. It was a cynicism that came with a territory. 0:12:15.516 --> 0:12:17.716 As long as there was demand, there would be people 0:12:17.756 --> 0:12:20.636 willing to run the risks of supply. As long as 0:12:20.716 --> 0:12:24.076 twenty million Americans were smoking dope, there would be dope 0:12:24.156 --> 0:12:27.796 in America. There would be cocaine and heroine, and for 0:12:27.876 --> 0:12:31.396 the pill poppers, there would be crooked doctors and false prescriptions. 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:34.836 He knew that, but getting to a guy like Noriego 0:12:34.916 --> 0:12:40.916 would make a difference. Down in Panama, Noriego was presenting 0:12:41.036 --> 0:12:44.196 himself as the great defender of his country and its canal. 0:12:44.756 --> 0:12:48.116 He delivered impassioned speeches, hyping his role as the hero, 0:12:48.836 --> 0:12:52.156 almost like pr stunts, the way a promoter might hype 0:12:52.196 --> 0:12:55.636 an upcoming fight between two heavyweights. And this is when 0:12:55.836 --> 0:12:59.516 Noriega appeared, wielding a machette as he spoke to a crowd, 0:13:13.996 --> 0:13:17.236 and eventually all of his taunts they hit home. With 0:13:17.356 --> 0:13:21.396 President George Bush Senior. Part of the problem was optics 0:13:21.676 --> 0:13:25.356 to the public. Bush sometimes came across as mild mannered 0:13:25.436 --> 0:13:28.916 and even meek when he was running for president. Newsweek 0:13:28.956 --> 0:13:31.596 even ran a cover story about Bush that would become 0:13:31.756 --> 0:13:36.916 infamous called Fighting the whimp Factor. And now here was Noriega, 0:13:37.076 --> 0:13:42.596 the uber alpha male, waiving his machete. Gradually tension mounted. 0:13:43.076 --> 0:13:46.956 The US issued sanctions against Panama and tried pressuring Noriega 0:13:46.996 --> 0:13:51.596 to step down. Noriega just dug in his heels. So 0:13:51.796 --> 0:13:55.156 the stage was set, and then a group of Panamanian 0:13:55.236 --> 0:14:00.236 soldiers opened fire on four off duty US servicemen. Good 0:14:00.316 --> 0:14:03.276 evening every science an American military man was killed by 0:14:03.316 --> 0:14:07.796 a Panamanian fruit Saturday night, President Bush and Panama's military dictator, 0:14:07.916 --> 0:14:11.836 General Manuel Noriega, have been circling each other from a distance. 0:14:12.876 --> 0:14:15.996 Bush addressed the nation and laid out the case for war. 0:14:17.476 --> 0:14:20.596 Many attempts have been made to resolve this crisis through 0:14:20.756 --> 0:14:27.316 diplomacy and negotiations. All were rejected by the dictator of Panama, 0:14:27.876 --> 0:14:38.196 General Manuel Noriega, an indicted drug trafficker. They called the 0:14:38.276 --> 0:14:43.156 invasion operation just cause it was a big undertaking, involving 0:14:43.196 --> 0:14:46.796 nearly twenty six thousand US troops and three hundred aircraft. 0:14:50.156 --> 0:14:54.596 During the fighting, twenty three US servicemen died, hundreds of 0:14:54.676 --> 0:14:58.396 Panamenians were killed, maybe more. The exact death toll remains 0:14:58.396 --> 0:15:02.036 in dispute. Some estimates are in the thousands. It's a 0:15:02.076 --> 0:15:04.516 little stomach churning to think about the number of people 0:15:04.556 --> 0:15:10.676 who died to capture a single man. And for a while, 0:15:11.076 --> 0:15:14.716 Noriega himself was nowhere to be found, which back in 0:15:14.836 --> 0:15:18.796 DC was rather awkward. I've been frustrated that he's been 0:15:19.076 --> 0:15:23.996 in power this long, extraordinarily frustrated. The good news he's 0:15:23.996 --> 0:15:26.036 out of power. The bad news he has not yet 0:15:26.116 --> 0:15:31.396 been brought to justice. US forces eventually tracked down Noriega 0:15:31.556 --> 0:15:35.396 hiding in the Vatican embassy. They tried to smoke Noriega 0:15:35.476 --> 0:15:45.716 out by blasting rock music deafening volumes. I actually remember 0:15:45.836 --> 0:15:49.156 watching this all unfold as a kid on TV. The 0:15:49.236 --> 0:15:51.716 soldiers played songs like We're not going to take it 0:15:51.836 --> 0:16:03.236 by Twisted Sister. US generals eventually called off the tactic 0:16:03.316 --> 0:16:08.716 after a Vatican officials complained anyway. Noriega eventually turned himself 0:16:08.796 --> 0:16:12.236 in and that was it. The last member of the 0:16:12.356 --> 0:16:24.116 smuggling syndicate was in custody. After his capture, Noriega was 0:16:24.116 --> 0:16:26.676 flown to Miami, where he went on trial. He was 0:16:26.716 --> 0:16:29.516 found guilty and sentenced to forty years in prison on 0:16:29.636 --> 0:16:34.236 eight counts of drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering. Officially, 0:16:34.756 --> 0:16:37.316 that was the end of the story, neatly packaged with 0:16:37.436 --> 0:16:41.636 a bow operation just cause, a righteous effort to take 0:16:41.676 --> 0:16:45.316 down a drug trafficker. But I gotta tell you, like 0:16:45.476 --> 0:16:47.996 so many people, I never really believe that this is 0:16:48.076 --> 0:16:51.276 why the US invaded. So I talked with John Dingis, 0:16:51.396 --> 0:16:54.436 a former MPR journalist who covered Noriega at the time. 0:16:54.876 --> 0:16:57.956 He also wrote an excellent book on Noriega called Our 0:16:58.036 --> 0:17:02.276 Man and Panama. I don't buy the theories that are 0:17:02.356 --> 0:17:06.956 put forward of why the invasion was done other than 0:17:07.156 --> 0:17:10.596 a raw exercise of US power. For John, there war 0:17:10.716 --> 0:17:14.196 wasn't about drug trafficking charges or our desire to restore 0:17:14.316 --> 0:17:18.676 democracy in Panama. I think it was a power decision 0:17:19.116 --> 0:17:24.036 by George Bush, the fact that Noriega had defied him personally. 0:17:24.516 --> 0:17:27.396 You don't fool around with the US government in the 0:17:27.476 --> 0:17:31.996 way that Noriega was doing it. That's it the old 0:17:32.116 --> 0:17:35.116 rules of the playground. A little guy acts out, the 0:17:35.196 --> 0:17:38.076 big guy puts him in his place. It's a classic 0:17:38.196 --> 0:17:46.036 gangster move. In the end, seems like what Ned Timmins 0:17:46.116 --> 0:17:49.956 and Stephen Klish helped provide. Wasn't a motivation for war, 0:17:50.596 --> 0:17:59.396 wasn't a cause? They just provided a convenient excuse when 0:17:59.476 --> 0:18:02.596 we come back. A moment of reckoning for Ned, both 0:18:02.636 --> 0:18:26.036 for his marriage and his career. Months before the invasion, 0:18:26.196 --> 0:18:28.876 as the whole conflict between Bush and Noriego was still 0:18:28.956 --> 0:18:32.196 heating up, Ned was facing problems of his own. He'd 0:18:32.236 --> 0:18:35.276 been having an affair with his source, Simone, and he 0:18:35.396 --> 0:18:38.436 was still working with her now down in Miami. At 0:18:38.476 --> 0:18:40.916 some point he started to worry that his colleagues were 0:18:41.036 --> 0:18:43.916 spying on him. Like he remembers this one day when 0:18:43.956 --> 0:18:48.476 he was driving around. I was starving, so I whipped 0:18:48.476 --> 0:18:50.556 around a few times and pulled into like a burger 0:18:50.676 --> 0:18:55.116 king or something, and all of a sudden, here's what 0:18:55.276 --> 0:18:57.996 I believe was an agent comes running through the alley 0:18:58.956 --> 0:19:04.836 and prep radio fell out of his waistband and I 0:19:04.916 --> 0:19:06.356 look and I see him jump in a car and 0:19:07.116 --> 0:19:12.996 pretty obvious FBI surveillance. Suddenly the paranoia that Ned felt 0:19:13.036 --> 0:19:16.756 down in the Caymans kicked back in. There was a 0:19:16.796 --> 0:19:21.396 supervisor in Miami. I strongly believed that, you know, he 0:19:22.236 --> 0:19:24.956 when I'd come into Miami for the meetings, that he'd 0:19:24.996 --> 0:19:28.436 have me surveiled. I would meet with Simone, but never, 0:19:29.076 --> 0:19:31.676 you know, there was never an overnight stuff or anything. 0:19:32.596 --> 0:19:35.116 I meet, whether he usually had somebody else with me, whatever, 0:19:35.916 --> 0:19:38.276 you know, I think he kind of felt something was 0:19:38.316 --> 0:19:42.796 going on. Meanwhile, back in Detroit, Cathy gets a call 0:19:42.916 --> 0:19:45.836 from Ned's boss. He'd been in touch with the supervisor 0:19:45.956 --> 0:19:49.196 down in Miami. Apparently the guy who'd been watching Ned 0:19:50.276 --> 0:19:53.636 and the supervisor in Miami had said that Ned was 0:19:53.756 --> 0:19:57.836 in trouble and that they were pulling him in, and 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:06.436 that Ned was having an inappropriate relationship, a sexual relationship 0:20:06.636 --> 0:20:14.836 with with the female operative, and that that Ned denied it, 0:20:15.396 --> 0:20:17.596 but that they were going to be sending him home. 0:20:21.956 --> 0:20:24.836 Kathy says she'd actually suspected what Ned had been up 0:20:24.876 --> 0:20:27.996 to for some time. Kathy was an investigator, and a 0:20:28.076 --> 0:20:31.116 good one. She'd found hotel matches in Ned's coat one 0:20:31.196 --> 0:20:33.876 night and pieced together that he'd been visiting a hotel 0:20:33.996 --> 0:20:37.676 where Simone was staying. You know, you can imagine it's 0:20:37.676 --> 0:20:40.876 a typical married fight at that point. It's got nothing 0:20:40.956 --> 0:20:44.916 really much to do with the FBI or his undercover work, 0:20:44.956 --> 0:20:47.116 and I couldn't have cared less about his undercover work 0:20:47.156 --> 0:20:50.956 at that point, I just said, you know, I don't 0:20:50.996 --> 0:20:52.396 want to I don't want to talk to you about it. 0:20:53.276 --> 0:20:58.236 I don't you know, I don't want you near me. 0:21:00.116 --> 0:21:02.196 Then there is the issue of what would have happened 0:21:02.236 --> 0:21:05.596 to Ned professionally, what the consequences might be for having 0:21:05.636 --> 0:21:08.956 an affair with Simone. Typically, what you would do next 0:21:09.116 --> 0:21:12.956 in the FBI is you start an investigation to find 0:21:12.996 --> 0:21:16.636 out what may or may not have also been compromised. 0:21:16.716 --> 0:21:19.636 On that case, I don't believe that they opened one 0:21:19.716 --> 0:21:22.516 up on him because he basically came home and said 0:21:22.516 --> 0:21:25.316 that he was going to resign. Ned says there was 0:21:25.396 --> 0:21:28.356 no investigation. He says he came back from Miami and 0:21:28.516 --> 0:21:31.756 resigned on his own accord. At the office in Detroit. 0:21:32.196 --> 0:21:35.996 No one knew why Ned suddenly disappeared. Even his partner 0:21:36.196 --> 0:21:40.076 Linnis then a Lavish's was mystified. I think everybody was 0:21:40.156 --> 0:21:43.396 kind of scratching their heads. It was kind of a shocker, saying, gee, 0:21:43.716 --> 0:21:49.036 what happened? Question was you know, I'm saying, literally thinking 0:21:49.116 --> 0:21:52.516 back at it, nobody really knew. Was he terminated or 0:21:52.556 --> 0:21:54.996 did he leave on his own? No, there was no 0:21:55.156 --> 0:21:57.716 real explanation as to why he was there. One day, 0:21:57.836 --> 0:22:01.596 when the next day he's not. Officially, the FBI said 0:22:01.636 --> 0:22:04.196 it wouldn't talk to me about Ned, but I did 0:22:04.316 --> 0:22:07.716 speak with one of Ned's former supervisors from the early eighties. 0:22:08.316 --> 0:22:10.876 He wasn't there when Ned resigned, but the way that 0:22:10.956 --> 0:22:13.796 it all played out for Ned, it didn't really surprise him. 0:22:14.036 --> 0:22:17.396 The supervisor told me that back then, in certain situations, 0:22:17.836 --> 0:22:21.956 agents did sometimes just resigned to avoid a big, messy investigation. 0:22:22.716 --> 0:22:25.556 He also told me that six years was a very 0:22:25.636 --> 0:22:29.596 long time to do undercover work. At one point, I asked, Ned, 0:22:30.156 --> 0:22:32.676 why didn't you just walk away before things got out 0:22:32.716 --> 0:22:35.956 of control, like back when your first son was born. 0:22:36.876 --> 0:22:39.156 I don't know if if you want to call it 0:22:39.276 --> 0:22:43.796 an addiction, adrenaline addiction, or you know, whatever it was. 0:22:46.196 --> 0:22:49.596 That's all I lived for was I mean, you know, 0:22:49.716 --> 0:22:53.716 I love my kids. I talked to him every day. 0:22:53.836 --> 0:22:57.836 Yet you know they're on separate size of the US, 0:22:57.956 --> 0:22:59.436 but I can you know, I can't spend a lot 0:22:59.476 --> 0:23:02.916 of time with them, but you know, we we talk 0:23:02.996 --> 0:23:09.556 every day. I don't know what would happened. Maybe if 0:23:09.556 --> 0:23:13.316 I could pull the throttle back hand, all things would 0:23:13.316 --> 0:23:15.676 have been a lot different, But it didn't happen. So, 0:23:17.356 --> 0:23:20.316 Cathy says she respects what Ned accomplished as an agent, 0:23:20.716 --> 0:23:23.716 but it's all overshadowed by the cost that it exacted 0:23:23.756 --> 0:23:27.276 on both of them personally, And she still wonders how 0:23:27.436 --> 0:23:29.916 and if it might have all played out differently, if 0:23:29.996 --> 0:23:32.476 somehow Ned had been able to walk away from the 0:23:32.556 --> 0:23:38.116 undercover work, if he had just been working cases. You know, 0:23:38.236 --> 0:23:40.356 you don't have those opportunities. You can't go sit at 0:23:40.396 --> 0:23:42.716 a bar all day if you're working cases. You know, 0:23:42.836 --> 0:23:46.596 you can't go off on these. You can't create a 0:23:46.676 --> 0:23:49.396 whole new persona of yourself. You are who you are. 0:23:49.996 --> 0:23:52.476 You're just an FBI agent. You're not God, You're not 0:23:53.036 --> 0:23:57.116 some movie star, you know, having dinners with fancy people 0:23:57.316 --> 0:24:01.956 in fancy places, and you know, you're just an average person. 0:24:02.796 --> 0:24:05.956 If you remove the undercover work from the equation, might 0:24:06.036 --> 0:24:09.276 our marriage have failed over time because of alcohol and 0:24:09.436 --> 0:24:13.156 fooling around the stuff. Maybe, but we will never know. 0:24:14.476 --> 0:24:17.756 In any case, After he stepped down, Ned's colleagues at 0:24:17.756 --> 0:24:20.996 the FBI did throw him a little goodbye party. It 0:24:21.236 --> 0:24:24.836 was at this restaurant in Oakland County. Some people from 0:24:24.876 --> 0:24:28.276 the other law enforcement agencies, from our old police department came, 0:24:28.836 --> 0:24:32.316 so it wasn't hugely attended, but you know, there were 0:24:32.436 --> 0:24:35.156 enough people there, and you know, they gave him a 0:24:35.356 --> 0:24:38.396 plaque and wished him well, and you know, we all 0:24:38.476 --> 0:24:41.116 had lunch, and you know, he gave a little talk 0:24:41.156 --> 0:24:44.356 about how he'll miss the FBI, and you know, but 0:24:44.516 --> 0:24:48.436 this is what he wants to do now. And he 0:24:48.556 --> 0:24:51.236 worked so hard and that's all he ever wanted to be, 0:24:51.516 --> 0:24:55.316 was an FBI agent, and he just threw it all away, 0:24:56.596 --> 0:25:05.316 literally threw it all away. Looking back, Ned says at 0:25:05.356 --> 0:25:08.636 the undercover work, it kind of slowly wore him down, 0:25:09.116 --> 0:25:14.636 and that's why he resigned. I'd just had it was 0:25:14.716 --> 0:25:19.876 out of gas. I wanted to do something different, you know, 0:25:20.156 --> 0:25:26.596 I had just exhausted with the FBI. And I'm sure 0:25:26.676 --> 0:25:29.516 he was. But the way he talks about it, it's 0:25:29.596 --> 0:25:32.756 clear to me that these were his glory days. And honestly, 0:25:33.036 --> 0:25:35.276 I think part of Ned is still stuck in nineteen 0:25:35.316 --> 0:25:38.596 eighty nine. He talks about everything that happened like it 0:25:38.756 --> 0:25:41.956 was yesterday, boasting about the role that he played in history. 0:25:42.516 --> 0:25:45.516 And there is a certain logic to his conviction. Ned 0:25:45.556 --> 0:25:49.156 flipped Toby, which led him to shine, which perhaps more 0:25:49.196 --> 0:25:51.996 than anything else, led to the downfall of Lee Rich 0:25:52.396 --> 0:25:56.236 and in a way, Stephen Kalish too. Without them, there's 0:25:56.276 --> 0:26:00.476 no star witness to testify against Noriega, and without that, well, 0:26:00.516 --> 0:26:03.996 there's much less of a pretext for invading Panama. A 0:26:04.076 --> 0:26:24.636 bit of a stretch, maybe, but it's not crazy. When 0:26:24.676 --> 0:26:26.876 I was done reporting this story, I went back and 0:26:26.996 --> 0:26:30.356 reread Ned's novel. What struck me most was how and 0:26:30.476 --> 0:26:32.916 where it ended. The image that we're left with is 0:26:32.956 --> 0:26:36.716 of Ned at the very top of his game. Ned 0:26:36.836 --> 0:26:39.476 was back to the less glamorous, if more direct work 0:26:39.596 --> 0:26:42.476 of hitting the dealers where they lived. He'd gotten so 0:26:42.716 --> 0:26:45.556 used to undercover work he would literally walk from a 0:26:45.636 --> 0:26:48.436 courthouse where he had been testifying and make a buye 0:26:48.476 --> 0:26:51.636 in his suit and tie. He didn't give a fuck anymore, 0:26:52.356 --> 0:26:54.196 and it only made him even better at the work. 0:26:55.676 --> 0:26:58.796 In the novel, Ned doesn't resign from the FBI. He 0:26:58.956 --> 0:27:04.916 just goes right back to work chasing bad guys. And 0:27:05.076 --> 0:27:07.356 in the very last scene of the book, Ned is 0:27:07.356 --> 0:27:11.196 down on Louisiana. He's just finished visiting Lee Rich in jail, 0:27:11.636 --> 0:27:14.996 and he's at some hotel, sitting at the bar. The 0:27:15.156 --> 0:27:18.356 lighting is very dim, and mysterious, and he meets this 0:27:18.516 --> 0:27:22.676 woman who's clearly simone. It's their first encounter. He's just 0:27:22.916 --> 0:27:27.756 having a drink and she walks in. Using the mirror 0:27:27.796 --> 0:27:30.276 behind the bottles of booze on display on the top shelf, 0:27:30.916 --> 0:27:33.116 he watched the figure of a woman moved through the 0:27:33.196 --> 0:27:36.996 dim light. He turned as she got close enough, and 0:27:37.156 --> 0:27:39.356 found himself looking into the face of one of the 0:27:39.396 --> 0:27:42.636 most beautiful women he had ever seen. She put a 0:27:42.716 --> 0:27:45.316 newspaper in front of Ned. It was an article he 0:27:45.356 --> 0:27:49.236 had read, an article about the case and ultimately about him. 0:27:50.236 --> 0:27:53.916 Are you this agent? Ned turned to face her fully. 0:27:54.836 --> 0:27:57.156 The fuzzy edges of perception given to him by the 0:27:57.196 --> 0:28:00.356 whiskey started to straighten themselves as he scanned the room 0:28:00.436 --> 0:28:03.476 to be sure she was alone. Columbians were known to 0:28:03.596 --> 0:28:06.556 use women as assassins, or maybe she was just marking 0:28:06.636 --> 0:28:09.596 him for another. But apart from a few the drunks 0:28:09.636 --> 0:28:11.956 in the room given her the once over, no one 0:28:12.076 --> 0:28:18.236 was paying any attention to him. Who's asking? The woman 0:28:18.316 --> 0:28:20.836 goes on to tell Ned she knows someone down in 0:28:20.916 --> 0:28:25.076 Columbia who's in deep trouble. Ned took her by the 0:28:25.116 --> 0:28:27.236 elbow and guided her to a seat next to him. 0:28:28.156 --> 0:28:31.316 What is it you need, he asked. She looked back 0:28:31.396 --> 0:28:34.036 at him with tears glossing the surface of her eyes. 0:28:35.396 --> 0:28:45.436 We need your help. And that's how it ends, kind 0:28:45.476 --> 0:28:48.236 of suddenly. I guess you could call it a cliffhanger 0:28:48.716 --> 0:28:51.196 or a teaser for a sequel, but you get the 0:28:51.276 --> 0:28:54.396 basic idea. Ned is about to go off on another 0:28:54.436 --> 0:28:59.236