April 26, 2005

• Deep Cover

  
  I heard part of Billy Queen’s story yesterday as Terry Gross interviewed him on her program, Fresh Air,
  on public radio. (You can hear it at that link.)  I liked the
  sound of his voice.  His accent revealed a Southern background,
  but someone who hadn’t stayed in the South.  His tone and his
  words revealed a complex man:  humor, strength, sensitivity,
  courage and principle.

  Some of the experiences he talked about suggested that life inside the
  Mongols MC has a lot in common with what I experienced with the Hells
  Angels almost forty years ago.  Women are property and aren’t
  valued as highly as the bikes they ride on.  Men who hang around
  and party with the club are both tested and… “seduced,” I
  suppose. 

  They’re shown a good time (if they meet the tests of courage and brazen
  disregard for laws and mores) and when they’ve been around long enough
  and made enough friends and a good enough impression, the’re invited to
  join the club.  Then, once they become a “prospect” and wear the
  bottom rocker of the club’s colors, suddenly they’re of almost as low
  status as a woman, sent on errands and required to do all sorts of
  demeaning tasks for any member who commands them.  That’s how I
  remember it, too.

  
  Two things about the interview made a deep impression on me. 
  Billy’s mother died while he was undercover.  He took off and went
  to her funeral and while “out” he spent some time at the ATF
  offices.  When he got back to the Mongols, the president of his
  chapter and several other members gave him hugs and expressed their
  sympathy.  None of his fellow ATF agents had done anything of the
  sort.  In a way, that makes a sort of sense to me.  I’ve read
  that among police and intelligence agencies, undercover agents are
  outsiders, sorta like the drummers in rock and roll bands, just too
  “out there” to be wholly acceptable to the common herd.

  The other bit of his story that really impressed me was what he related
  about stitching up a serious wound for one of the women.  A member
  who had recently done some jail time for beating his ol’lady, beat her
  up again and split her mouth through and through.  He knew that if
  she went to the ER he’d go back to jail.  The bikers had seen
  Billy stitch a knife wound in his own palm, so they taped her face
  together with Scotch tape and called him to sew up the woman’s
  lip.  He was reluctant, because he had never dealt with a wound of
  that depth.  When he realized that if he didn’t do it, they’d just
  Scotch tape her lip again, he put three stitches in the inside of her
  lip and five or six on the outside.  He said it turned out “pretty
  good,” and that a doctor had later told the woman that he might have
  used a different technique, but it was a “good job.”

  Billy is supposed to be in Witness Protection now.  He told Terry
  Gross that “nobody knew” he was there for that interview, that he
  sleeps with a sawed-off shotgun by the door and never goes anywhere
  without a gun.  After the interview, I looked to see what else I
  could find with Google.  I learned that he spoke recently before
  students at his alma mater.  
  It surprised me to read about the three-page membership application and
  background investigation by a private investigator that was required by
  the Mongols.  I don’t think the Hells Angels used to go to those
  lengths to avoid being infiltrated by the cops.  The times they
  are a’changin’.

  I also learned that a movie studio has bought his story and that
  negotiations are underway to engage a director.  Mel Gibson is
  slated to play Billy Queen.  He has a great story and it could
  make a fine movie.  I’m hoping he manages to keep a low enough
  profile to survive for a while, and that his new life under wraps isn’t
  so boring he can’t handle it.  With some radical reconstructive
  surgery and a voice coach he might be somewhat safer out in public.
  

  • 1:17 pm
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