Befriend and Betray

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by Alex Caine


  I returned to Saint John, where Natalie and I made one last effort to work things out. To no avail. When I left again after a few weeks, I knew it was for good. This time I just kept driving west, past Ottawa, eager to change my environment and, in so doing, my headspace.

  Making money was suddenly a priority again. I’d left the house, our savings and pretty much whatever else there was to Natalie; all I’d taken was the Nissan pickup, my clothes and a few other personal things. Eventually I washed up in Calgary, where J.P. Lévesque had lined me up a three-month job involving a trio of dirty cops. If I’d had my wits about me and hadn’t been as good as broke, I never would have accepted the assignment. Jobs like that are lose-lose situations—everyone wants to see you fail. But I was not only hard up for money, I was also confused and despondent. My second marriage was over, my son had just moved across the big water and my last two infiltration gigs had ended disastrously.

  Never two without three, they say. The Calgary job wasn’t the fiasco San Diego or Ottawa had been, but it wasn’t a great success either. I amassed what I deemed to be the necessary proof and handed it in and that was that. As far as I know, it was handled internally from then on. Or just put in a drawer somewhere. It didn’t end up in the headlines or in court. Not knowing what happened was almost as discouraging as a case ending in catastrophe.

  That was it for me. After Calgary I couldn’t muster any more enthusiasm for infiltration work. I drifted around. I ended up back in my second home, Vancouver, for a few months. While there, I got word from George Cousens and the Rabbi that all my work in San Diego had finally resulted in something. Seems that the boys from Operation Five Star had used the evidence I compiled to obtain warrants for dozens of wiretaps. After listening in on their conversations for the better part of a year, the cops hit the Dago Hells Angels hard, raiding the clubhouse and homes, seizing weapons and drugs, and charging most of the gang with meth dealing and conspiracy to murder Mongols, as well as RICO organized-crime offenses.

  The Boss (Guy Castiglione), Mark Toycen, Ramona Pete, Zach Carpenter, Hatchet Dave and several other members all got nailed and eventually pleaded guilty. So did some twenty associates, including JoAnn. Bobby Perez also would have been arrested, I imagine, had someone not murdered him first.

  The cops also finally picked up people such as Taz, the Indian, his nephew Bobby, Smokey and his homeboys, and a few other people. They’d had the goods on these guys for more than a year and could easily have arrested them without compromising the investigation into the Dago Angels. But the cops had wanted big numbers and big headlines, so they’d let these guys operate with impunity for a year while compiling a case against the Angels.

  The wait may have been worth it for them in the end. Operation Five Star received an award at an international conference of biker cops and investigators not long after the bust. In his acceptance speech, Pat Ryan took pains to insist that it had all been the work of cops with badges. Sure, they’d tried to insert a contracted agent early in the game, but that had ended in failure, he stressed.

  The ill will from Ryan didn’t surprise me. His hostility toward me seemed clear since the belongings of mine that he was responsible for having shipped up from San Diego to Saint John a year earlier arrived severely damaged. An antique Russian table Henry had given me had been sawed in half. A couch I’d also got from Henry had its upholstery slashed. An expensive watch had been smashed, all its pieces put back in its case. Even my bike had been vandalized. On top of that, a bunch of very heavy crap had been thrown in—old steel desks and the like—just to make the load heavier. I, after all, had agreed to pay half the shipping costs.

  That gesture helped to convince me that getting out of the game, one I’d been playing on and off for a quarter century, was the right idea. Infiltration is hard enough when you know who your friends are; when you don’t know if the cops will stand behind you or what their real agenda is, well, there are better ways to make a living.

  Adjusting to retirement isn’t easy for many people. Even if there is a gold watch, a big send-off dinner, a Caribbean cruise—gifts and gestures that I, of course, never received—accepting that your services are no longer required is rarely easy.

  For me, learning to say no to the infiltration assignments that came my way was hard enough, as was the fact that slowly the calls stopped coming as the Rabbi and other police I had worked with retired too. But there was a different challenge, particular to my job, that in many ways dwarfed all others: figuring out who I really am.

  For a time, I imagined the real me would turn out to be distinct from all the characters I’ve pretended to be—something new, something different, hidden deep inside. I’d just have to dig and scrape and sweep away all the junk that had accumulated over the last twenty-five years or so.

  But that’s not how it works, I’ve learned. My mind is really a graveyard for all the people I’ve been. I’m not one or another of them; I’m a little of each. All the years of being someone else means, in a sense, that I can never be me. So I’ve quit wondering who I “really” am; it doesn’t seem that important anymore. What “me” was there ever?

  The few people who know of my career think of it as exciting. It certainly was at times. Mostly, however, it was just lonely. Always wearing a mask meant I could never make real friends, except perhaps with my handlers. Sure, there were bad guys whom I connected with; had the circumstances been different, there were a few I would have done most anything for. In the end, however, I put most of them in jail and then had to close the book on them as if they’d been killed. The end of a case is, in fact, the end of a life. And a man who lives many lives must endure many deaths.

  My own death could arrive at any moment—that’s something I’ve always had to accept, whether as a young hood in Hull, a soldier in Vietnam or a professional infiltrator. Just because I’ve retired doesn’t mean that the men I was hired to befriend and then betray will have forgiven me. The risk hasn’t disappeared with the paycheck. There are still contracts on my life and there is always the risk of that coincidence, that chance encounter, that unexpected meeting, which could throw my life into turmoil or end it altogether. Given that I’ve worked all over Canada and much of the United States, the odds aren’t actually as slim as I wish they were. Maybe someday they will get me. But not today.

  And today, like all the other days, I just have to take satisfaction from what I can. The good relations I have with my kids—and exes—despite my prolonged absences. (Liz is now a respected senior member of the clergy, my daughter is a teacher, and my son and his wife are planning a family. Natalie has remarried and has custody of her first daughter as well as the daughter we had together.) The bad guys I helped put in prison, many of whom the police had been after for a long time and who deserved nothing more than to be locked up in a small room for a very long time. The fact that for all the questionable and downright bad things I did—in Nam especially—I compensated by doing a little good as well.

  INDEX

  ______

  Aces and Eights, 119–121, 122

  Alana, 197–199

  Alfred, Uncle, 7, 8

  Alliance, 186

  American Motorcycle Association, 105

  Andrew, 180–184

  Andy K., 20–21

  Annihilators, 215

  April, 177

  ATF. See Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

  Bandidos

  and the Banshees, 114–115, 124

  in Canada, 192

  DEA assignment, 70–72

  and drugs, 85–88, 92, 92–94, 122, 147

  infiltrating the, 73–79, 78–79, 80–85

  nomad chapters, 108

  party at Bremerton, 107–112

  recruitment and membership, 83, 84–85, 88–91, 98, 99–100, 101–102

  and the Resurrection, 94–98, 155

  and Rex Endicott, 125–127

  secretary-treasurer of the, 131–132

  set-up in Seattle, 1
55–159

  Steve from Texas, 148, 150

  at Sturgis and after, 87–88, 130, 137–144, 144–147

  surveillance, 102, 112, 159

  suspicions about Caine, 78–79, 93, 129

  takedown, 162–165

  trip to Lubbock, 112–123

  undercover agents and, 261

  Vietnam connection, 84

  violence and, 104–105, 132–133

  Banshees, 113, 114–115, 124–125, 145, 147

  Barbie, 188, 276

  Barger, Sonny, 139, 142–143, 144

  Barney (Craig Pulfrey), 203, 206–207, 213, 179

  Bashir, 170, 177, 180–184, 279

  Bedborough, Jason (Hollywood), 201–202, 210, 214–215

  Bellingham Bandidos

  chapter meetings, 74, 90–91

  criminal activities of certain members, 87, 101, 106, 147, 151, 157

  and the Hells Angels, 106, 137

  infiltration goal, 70–71

  and Mongo, 89, 97–98

  at Sturgis, 87, 141

  takedown, 162–165

  Bikers for Christ, 87

  Billy. See Guinn, Billy

  Black Pistons, 147

  Blainedidos, 279

  Blue Knights, 87

  Bobby (the hood), 243–244, 245, 282

  Booze Fighters, 145, 271

  Boring, William. See Sly Willie

  Boutin, Arnold, 31–32

  Bouy, 231

  Brant, Larry

  and the Bandidos infiltration, 125

  concerns about the infiltrator, 149–150, 152–154, 154

  as DEA handler, 70, 77, 84, 92, 106–107

  Braybrook, Paul “Sunny”

  in jail, 195, 197, 198

  in Niagara Falls, 205

  in Toronto, 207, 210, 215

  Breed, 207

  Bremerton Bandidos

  annual party, 107–112

  Bobby Lund, 86, 90, 135

  demise of the Resurrection, 94–98

  end of investigation, 147, 165

  and the Hells Angels, 138

  Sturgis, 87, 138

  Brenda, 198–199

  Brett. See Toms, Brett

  Brian (son), 87

  and cousin Danny, 281–282

  growing up, 175, 182, 183, 190, 192, 217, 279

  married, 284

  Brown, Sergeant Tom, 67

  Bruce, 67

  Bubba, 261–262

  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

  agent Jaybird, 259, 261

  biker war, 71

  and Brooks Jacobson, 226–227, 240, 253, 268, 270

  case naming system, 104

  Dago case, 252, 253, 258, 260, 262

  KKK infiltration job, 166–168

  Operation Five Star, 3, 5, 236

  and Rex Endicott, 126–127

  and the Russians, 227–229

  Caine, Alex

  Bandidos meltdown, 150–152

  childhood, 7–14, 18–22

  incarceration, 32–36

  martial arts, 24, 37, 39, 54, 66, 81, 98, 180, 183, 194

  name change, 64

  other jobs, 19–22, 64, 176–177, 178

  as a photographer, 220–221, 238–239, 246–248

  post-assignment life, 63–64, 65–67, 160–162, 165–166, 160–171, 174–177, 187, 190–191, 217, 179, 280–281, 282–284

  the runaway, 12–16

  at university, 37–39

  Vietnam, 22–31

  youth, 18–22

  See also Brian; Charlotte; Liz;

  Natalie

  Campisano, Freddie, 206, 207, 213, 215

  Carcajou, 186–187, 188–190, 191

  Carlos, 172–174

  Carpenter, Zach, 249, 253, 273, 282

  Castiglione, Guy, 223, 238–239, 282

  Cécile, Aunt, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 179–180

  Central Intelligence Agency, 26, 29

  Chambers, Don, 139

  Charlotte (daughter), 67, 68, 183, 190, 217, 284

  Chillie Willie (James T. Chilton), 116

  Chilton, James T. (Chillie Willie), 116

  Ching-a-lings, 145

  Chiu, Rocky, 45–47, 47–48, 55–60, 60–62, 63

  Chosen Few, 145

  Christie, George, 139

  Chuck (biker shop owner), 74–75, 76, 78–79, 82

  Chuck (New Mexico Bandido). See Gillies, Charles David

  CIA, 26, 29

  Cisco, 247

  Cochrane, Corky

  and the Texas investment, 149–150, 154, 156–157

  FBI handler, 70, 76–77, 79, 84, 88, 92, 98, 106–107, 126

  and Rex Endicott, 126

  trip to Sturgis, 88

  Coffin Cheaters, 145, 146

  Columbia cartels, 165–166

  Cool Aid, 21

  Coon-Ass (Henry Lejeune), 111

  Cousens, Detective Constable George

  Operation Five Star, 282

  OPP handler, 195, 211, 224, 279

  PDR investigation, 198, 200, 203, 207

  Cowboy, 263, 266–267, 267–268, 269

  Craig, 87, 86, 159

  Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, 191

  Dago Hells Angels

  Bobby’s gun, 1–2, 3–4, 272–273, 275–276, 277–278

  drugs and, 218, 245–49, 249, 254, 255–256, 269

  I-95 ambush, 2, 263–267, 268

  infiltration of, 1–2, 220–224, 235, 237

  mission, 218–219, 219–220, 243–244

  and the Mongols, 251–252

  and photos, 238–239, 242, 246–248

  River Run, 257, 258–259, 260–267, 270–272, 272–274

  Danny, 280–281

  Daryl, 260

  Davis, Hunter, 219, 259

  Dean, 109

  DEA. See Drug Enforcement Administration

  Devon, Chris

  member of Dago Hells Angels, 222–223

  photos of girlfriend, 239–243

  and the Russians, 228, 236

  Dirtbag, 201

  Dirty Dozen, 145

  Dobyns, Jay (Jaybird), 259, 260–262, 270, 272

  Doc, 234

  Dog, 1, 260, 262, 263, 264, 267

  Dr. Jack

  arrest, 163, 164

  Bandido recruitment, 83, 90, 91

  chapter road captain, 108

  drug deal, 93, 101

  friendship with, 107, 143, 151, 164, 165

  Lubbock, 135, 137

  post-Sturgis biker world, 145

  violence and, 134–135

  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

  Bandidos assignment, 70–72, 73–79, 79, 80, 92, 103–4, 112, 150–152, 159, 162

  Bandidos prospect, 92, 103

  and Dog, 260

  and drugs, 82

  goals of the, 250–251

  and the Gypsy Jokers, 113–114

  Harley FXRT, 103–4, 176

  Operation Five Star, 3, 236, 251

  Pat Ryan, 240–241, 248–249

  process, 79, 104

  and Rex Endicott, 126–127

  and the Russians, 225–229

  and the San Diego Hells Angels, 218–224, 223, 236, 239

  surveillance, 112, 159

  Texas investment, 150–154

  working for the, 5, 73, 74, 84, 85, 161, 162, 165, 175, 178

  Dubois mob, 59

  Easyriders magazine, 247

  Eaton, Frank, 165

  El Cajon Police Department, 3, 236

  Émilienne, Aunt, 8

  Endicott, Rex, 125–127, 164

  Escouade Carcajou. See Carcajou

  Eunice, Ramona Pete. See Ramona Pete

  Father (Alex’s)

  and the Indian head, 11

  and the orphanage, 10

  personal history, 7–8, 12

  and the runaway, 14, 15

  and smoking, 17

  Federal Bureau of Investigation

  and the biker wars, 71, 81, 126–127, 152

  case namin
g system, 104

  deprogrammer, 149, 153

  employed by the, 5

  Hells Angels, 250–251

  KKK infiltration job, 166–168

  Operation Five Star, 3, 251

  and Rex Endicott, 126–127

  Texas investment, 152

  Thai pilots case, 64–65

  See also Corky Cochrane

  Fong, Tommy, 43, 50, 52

  Francis, John Jerome. See Jersey Jerry

  Frank, 38

  helping Alex, 73–74, 87, 177

  Liz living with, 63, 74, 151, 160, 162, 169

  renovation business, 42, 43, 64

  Fred. See Alfred, Uncle

  Frio (William Jerry Pruett), 117–118, 121–122, 122–123

  Gabrielle, 230, 232

  Gerry, Thomas Lloyd (Hammer), 108, 110, 112

  Ghost Riders, 95–96, 137, 138–139, 145, 165

  Gillies, Charles David (Ha Ha), 115–117

  grandmother (Alex’s), 9

  Guinn, Billy, 224, 246, 248, 275, 279

  Gunk

  arrest, 159, 164

  Bandido violence, 90, 108–110, 132–133

  and criminal activities, 133–134

  and the Firebird, 94

  on Mongo, 89, 90

  role as secretary-treasurer, 131

  as sponsor, 81–83, 98, 105–106, 111

  Gypsy Jokers, 145, 146

  Ha-Ha (Charles David Gillies), 115–117

  Hammer, 108, 110, 112

  The hand, 230

  Hatchet Dave, 242, 282

  Hells Angels

  in Canada, 175, 186, 192, 215–216

  DEA mission, 71, 218

  drugs and, 218

  George Weger and, 106

  I-95 ambush, 2, 266–267

  nomad chapters, 108

  and the Para-Dice Riders, 192–194, 202, 205, 215–216

  Quebec Hells Angels, 186, 187, 188–190, 192, 201, 211, 281

  Sturgis negotiations, 137–144

  Sturgis truce, 144–147

  tension between Bandidos and, 112–113

  Vietnam connection, 84

  See also Dago Hells Angels

  Henchmen, 145

  Henry, 225–226, 227–233, 236, 283

  Heritage Front, 280

  Hessians, 145

  Hickok, Bill, 119

  Highway Mike, 252–254, 255, 260, 264, 274

  Hobo

  and Al Lim, 49, 49–52, 55

  friendship with, 39–42, 148

  Hong Kong drug deal, 43–44, 48–49, 50, 55, 57, 63

 

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