Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang
In 1998, William Queen was a veteran law enforcement agent with a lifelong love of motorcycles and a lack of patience with paperwork. When a “confidential informant” made contact with his boss at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, offering to take an agent inside the San Fernando chapter of the Mongols (the scourge of Southern California, and one of the most dangerous gangs in America), Queen jumped at the chance, not realizing that he was kicking-starting the most extensive undercover operation inside an outlaw motorcycle gang in the history of American law enforcement.Nor did Queen suspect that he would penetrate the gang so successfully that he would become a fully “patched-in” member, eventually rising through their ranks to the office of treasurer, where he had unprecedented access to evidence of their criminal activity. After Queen spent twenty-eight months as “Billy St. John,” the bearded, beer-swilling, Harley-riding gang-banger, the truth of his identity became blurry, even to himself.
During his initial “prospecting” phase, Queen was at the mercy of crank-fueled criminal psychopaths who sought to have him test his mettle and prove his fealty by any means necessary, from selling (and doing) drugs, to arms trafficking, stealing motorcycles, driving getaway cars, and, in one shocking instance, stitching up the face of a Mongol “ol’ lady” after a particularly brutal beating at the hands of her boyfriend.
Yet despite the constant criminality of the gang, for whom planning cop killings and gang rapes were business as usual, Queen also came to see the genuine camaraderie they shared. When his lengthy undercover work totally isolated Queen from family, his friends, and ATF colleagues, the Mongols felt like the only family he had left. “I had no doubt these guys genuinely loved Billy St. John and would have laid down their lives for him. But they wouldn’t hesitate to murder Billy Queen.”
From Queen’s first sleight of hand with a line of methamphetamine in front of him and a knife at his throat, to the fearsome face-off with their decades-old enemy, the Hell’s Angels (a brawl that left three bikers dead), to the heartbreaking scene of a father ostracized at Parents’ Night because his deranged-outlaw appearance precluded any interaction with regular citizens, Under and Alone is a breathless, adrenaline-charged read that puts you on the street with some of the most dangerous men in America and with the law enforcement agents who risk everything to bring them in.
From the Hardcover edition.
Product Details
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This harrowing, turbocharged account of undercover life is reminiscent of Joseph D. Pistone's Donnie Brasco. After military service in Vietnam, Queen began his law enforcement career, eventually spending 20 years as an ATF special agent. In 1998, through contact with a "confidential informant," he began to hang with the Mongol Nation, a violent Southern California motorcycle club ("a tight-knit collective of crazies, unpredictable and unrepentant badasses") with 20 chapters in several states and 350 members both in and out of prison. Assuming the role of bearded biker "Billy St. John," Queen entered into a 28-month undercover operation. To gather evidence of homicide, weapons and narcotics violations, he sometimes wore a wire, knowing that its discovery could lead to his murder. Indeed, he was suspected at first of being a cop and forced to prove himself in more than a few dangerous situations. But after months of hazing, he became a trusted member. Queen steers clear of melodrama and captures both sides of his double life; the sadistic characters and criminal camaraderie are contrasted with his own inner turmoil, as he thought of the Mongols as his friends while the investigation escalated. The strength and white-hot intensity of the writing make this read like a movie, and Hollywood is certain to take note. 16 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (On sale Apr. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Queen risked his life when he joined the Mongols as bearded biker Billy St. John. His adventures with one of America’s most notorious bike gangs, where he explains "murder and mayhem have become simply a lifestyle choice," resulted in the convictions of more than 50 Mongols and earned him an impressive cache of awards. More important, after harrowing trials that included selling drugs to driving getaway cars, Queen lived to tell all about it. Queen recounts these two years with a straightforward gruffness that captivated critics. His story is tight, suspenseful, and unstoppable—you know he’s going to bust the men who became like brothers to him, but it’s just a matter of when and how. The movie version starring Mel Gibson is slated for 2006.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
From Booklist
Queen infiltrated the notorious California motorcycle gang the Mongols for two years (1998-2000) and recalls the experience in an account remarkable not only for its cliff-hanging moments but also for the perceptive observations of gangster culture. Mongols are lethally loyal to their own, with an interior hierarchy ascended by passing various tests. Deadly situations abounded for Queen, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and while he didn't have to carry through on a group expectation to stab a Mongol enemy, he projected a pugilistic allegiance that earned him the club's trust and its coveted patch, which proclaimed him a true Mongol brother. The psychological stress of living the deception (including witnessing the abuse and sexual degradation of women) was compounded by acting the Mongol part for uniformed police who pulled him over. Ratcheted up by foreknowledge that Queen would eventually betray the Mongols, some of whom he regarded as genuine friends, the narrative is unstoppable. A word-of-mouth sleeper. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Customer Reviews
book
wonderful book could not put it down thank god there are people in this world that will put life on the line to make it a better safer place to be!!!
Under cover
I loved this book and recomend it to all my friends. It shows a clasic struggle between good and evil and how at times it can be hard to tell which is which. Shows both sides to being a member of a MC in that the brother hood is awsome but it also shows you the illegal side of things and how evil the people in the Club can be.
It's OK
The book is ok, but lacks in writing style which also effects it over all.
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