May 13, 2024 • 30 mins
Ever wondered what it's like to live on the edge of two worlds, balancing the fine line between law and crime? Imagine keeping your cool when a new supplier scrutinizes your every move, or tapping into the emotional veins of humanity as you witness the struggles of an informant facing her mortality. This episode takes you deep into the heart of undercover police work, where I, Michael Bates, share my experiences navigating through the treacherous terrains of trust and betrayal.
Feel the palpitations of high stakes during a drug deal as I orchestrate the perfect setup, with a hidden recorder and a strategic layout that could spell life or death. The intricate dance of capturing incriminating evidence against a backdrop of an unsuspecting criminal's scrutiny is a story of tension and triumph. Join me as I relive the adrenaline-fueled moments and the critical decisions made in my apartment—a sanctuary turned tactical stage for justice.
As the episode draws to a close, it's not just about the dark corners of the criminal world; it's also an invitation. To those who've walked this razor's edge between aliases and authentic lives, reach out and share your narratives. Let's weave a tapestry that not only reveals the criminal underbelly but honors the personal sagas that shape our world behind the badge. Subscribe for more tales that venture beyond the public eye, into the very soul of undercover policing.
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If you would like to be involved in a "Whisper In The Shadows" Podcast through talking about your experiences as an current or former Police/Law Enforcement Officer or tell your stories then I'd love to hear from you.
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Email - whisperintheshadowspodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to my podcast Whisper in the
Shadows the true story of areal-life undercover cop.
I'm Michael Bates and I was apolice officer for 15 years in
one of the country's statepolice forces.
I was also an undercover copfor over two years, and all the
episodes of this podcast are mytrue stories of what it's really
like to be an undercover cop.
(00:22):
Rather, I was Michael Bates, sofull disclosure Michael is not
actually my real name.
It was my COVID identity I usedon most of my operations.
Everyone has a notion of whatundercover policing is all about
, whether you think they are anarc, a COVID operative, a dog
or an undercover cop.
(00:43):
Most people seem to confuseplainclothes police with being
undercover.
There is a very big difference,though.
Most plainclothes police don'twear a uniform, so they aren't
as obtrusive in public.
Being covert is completelydifferent, though.
You become immersed in theworld of your targets.
When you're a police officer,part of your role is to
(01:03):
investigate crimes.
This means you try and findevidence to prove the person you
have arrested has committedthat crime.
Now, this evidence can consistof physical, verbal, video and
witnesses.
When you're an undercoverpolice officer, though, you are
the evidence and you are thereason someone gets convicted of
the crimes.
That is both exciting anddangerous.
(01:24):
So why don't we get on with thenext episode?
Welcome back once again, as weget toward the end of the
Whisper in the Shadows podcast,the true stories of Michael
(01:46):
Bates, a real undercover policeofficer who was me.
Thank you for joining me and Ihope you're enjoying listening
to them as much as I am andtelling them.
At the end of last episode, Ijust bought some speed through a
guy I had met at one of theclubs.
Needless to say, the supplierturned out to be good for a
whole lot of things and I onlydid the one buy because, quite
frankly, the group scared me andthat one by was enough to pick
(02:06):
him up.
It wasn't just the whole puppything, although that was a huge
red flag, they all just gave offbad vibes.
Gavin was also really, reallyflaky.
So in the end, I focused onother targets, like the brothers
and Alphonse.
Now, as I've already mentioned,alphonse was the brother of a
notorious strip club, brotheland peep show places.
(02:28):
How he was able to still be inbusiness was beyond me, but he
was.
He owned the club where I methim and where the now infamous
lap dance took place.
Now the club is still there.
I was only walking past it afew months ago.
It looks a lot less dingy thanit did in my day, but hey, some
things never change.
I will really have to go backand check it out.
(02:50):
So Betty had been off havingsome appointments and we'd been
out of touch for about a week.
When I finally got to talk toher she wasn't sounding very
well.
She laughed it off and wetalked about Alphonse and she
said he was keen to sell to mebut wouldn't do it in the club.
We had already decided to do itat my place so we could get it
on video.
It was just finding a timewhere it worked.
(03:12):
The brothers were also eager tosell and wanted to have another
meeting with me to discussterms and ongoing supply.
I agreed to meet them at herplace later that week.
Now Betty was actually sick.
She'd been diagnosed withcancer and was getting treatment
, but as I later found out, itwas terminal.
I'm guessing it the cancer wasone of the reasons she was going
(03:33):
to help dismantle this drugsyndicate, or rather syndicates.
She did end up telling me onenight at her place over a glass
of red I can't say I wasn't orjust a little upset.
I know it sounds funny, but youactually do bond with some of
these informants and targets.
For that matter, as I'vealready said, they generally
(03:54):
aren't bad people, they've justdone bad things.
I genuinely like Betty and Iwas sad that she was going to go
through that cancer battle.
We had a very long conversationwhere she gave me a big insight
into her life, where she grew up, went to school, all the things
that formed who she was, andhow she came to be sitting in
that tiny apartment talking tome as an undercover cop.
(04:16):
I don't remember her beingangry or sad or regretful of
choices.
She had lived her life and thatwas that.
Did she wish she had not donesome of the things she had?
Sure, like getting caught, butI got the impression she didn't
regret her life.
During the conversation Ilearned a lot about the
underbelly of our city.
There were stories ofpoliticians, business people,
(04:39):
even clergy, and some of thethings they had dabbled in that
would sully their stand-upreputations.
Years later, I worked for oneof these people at a company
that he was on the board of.
Every time I met him or saw himI couldn't help but think of
how much he was or had deceivedthe world and why he would hide
(05:00):
who he really was.
I mean, I know why he wasmarried and had been both at gay
clubs both before and afterthat marriage.
His previous roles would alsohave been questioned if his
extracurricular activities hadcome to light.
How they hadn't was beyond me,same with some of the other
high-profile and high-levelpoliticians.
(05:21):
Again, obviously these storieswere just that and I never
broached them with him.
But there are times when youjust know.
I had no reason to doubt Betty.
She had no reason to lie, so Ijust knew.
The meet with Alphonse wasorganized for late one afternoon
.
I was living in a newishtwo-bedroom apartment and I had
(05:41):
all the bits and bobs you have,like a lounge and a TV, dvd
player, a dining table andchairs, a bed, bedside tables in
the master bedroom and a hutchin the living dining room.
There was the second bedroom,which was basically a spare junk
room, so I kept all of mynotebooks, laptop videotapes etc
, etc.
In there.
It was a mess.
There was a desk and an oldsingle mattress in case I had
(06:04):
someone to stay over, but therewas stuff everywhere.
Now I had been out playing golfwith the boys earlier that day
and had got caught in trafficheading home.
Alphonse said he'd come by atabout 4.30pm, but I wanted to be
there well before in case heturned up early.
Plus, I had to clean up theincriminating stuff and also set
up the camera, so pressing playwould be easy.
(06:24):
I had to clean up theincriminating stuff and also set
up the camera, so pressing playwould be easy.
Of course, best laid plans andall of that, we took longer than
I had hoped at golf.
Well, okay, maybe I lost trackof time.
Then there was traffic, whichback then was nowhere near as
bad as it is now, but still badenough to cause me stress.
I got home at about 4.10pm.
I know this because I had atext from my controller asking
(06:45):
me where I was.
I parked the car.
Go out onto the street and havea quick look around to see if I
could see Alphonse's car parkedanywhere.
I couldn't.
I have time, I said to myself.
I ran inside and raced upstairs.
Now, as I said before, the spareroom was messy.
What I probably left out wasthat the unit itself was messy.
(07:07):
I was a single lad Well, amarried single lad Living by
myself with no one to say to mewhy haven't you put that away?
Or don't leave your shirt onthe floor?
Or when are you going to washthose dishes?
So yeah, it was a mess.
Where do I start?
I thought to myself.
Also, I had to get changedbecause I was in golf clothes.
(07:29):
Not sure how I'd explain thatto him.
Then I had to put a video tapeinto the recorder for the camera
and make sure it was turned onand all reset up so it didn't
look like he was being recorded.
Now.
Do you remember when you were akid and your parents asked you
to clean your room?
You'll get all the clothes andjunk and throw it on the bed off
(07:50):
the floor and pull the coverover to try and hide it.
Well, that was plan number one.
Then I did a quick run aroundthe living area and grabbed the
plates and cups and rubbish andput everything well, except the
rubbish into the dishwasher.
Plan number two done.
The spare room was going to takeforever, so I got the
incriminating stuff, put it allin a box I had and put that in
(08:14):
the dishwasher too.
I certainly hoped he wasn'tgoing to want to check out my
appliances.
Not sure if you remember metelling the story of keeping a
credit card in the buttercontainer, but I know why
sometimes you put things instupid places.
There was still mess all overthe place, but I thought that'll
do.
I had my own personal deskcomputer with me at the times,
(08:36):
as well as the laptop, so it wasset up in the spare room.
I couldn't do anything with it,so I threw a sheet over it.
That'll hide it, I thought tomyself.
Then, as a final act of hiding,I pulled the door closed.
Just as I get to the camerasetup, the bell goes.
Now, luckily for me, it was thebell to the outside door, not
the inside one.
And secondly, it was one ofthose video phones.
(08:59):
I pulled out the recording partof the setup, got out a tape
and was trying to get it out ofthe packing.
Breed goes the door again.
I get up and walk over to thevideo phone picking it up.
Hello Nick, is that you Can'tsee?
You, said Alphonse.
Yes, mate, it's me.
You won't see me.
Only I can see you.
Oh shit, okay.
(09:19):
Can I come in then?
Fuck, I thought to myself.
I don't have the camera set up.
Can I come in then, fuck, Ithought to myself, I don't have
the camera set up.
Okay, so he is a littleoverweight.
It will probably take him fouror five minutes to walk up the
stairs to where I am.
I have enough time.
I press the entry button.
Yes, mate, just push on thedoor.
I'm on the upper floor, thirddoor, on the right Righto.
(09:41):
Mick, I'm on my way.
I hang up.
The video phone ran back to thehutch or bookcase or whatever
you want to call it.
I put the tape in and pushed itall the way back inside in its
hiding place in the hutch.
I didn't put the cover back onbecause the on switch was on the
camera, which was hidden insidea clock radio that was sitting
on the hutch shelf and I neededto check it was recording.
(10:02):
Now, the camera and clock washardwired into the recorder.
It was made to look like apower cable came out of the
bottom that went into the wall,but part of that cable also ran
down a little hole underneaththe clock and into the recorder.
I turned the camera on and thegreen light was illuminated on
the recorder.
That was about three minutes,any minute, and I was going to
(10:23):
get a knock on the door.
I put the cover back on thehiding place, but as I did so I
didn't put it on straight.
Remember this was the firsttime I had used it for recording
a buy.
Ding dong came the frontdoorbell.
Fuck me, I cursed under mybreath.
Coming mate, I yelled out.
Now I was on my knees on thefloor setting up this stupid
(10:43):
thing.
I didn't notice that At thatpoint the cover was skew-iff and
looked like part of the hutchat the bottom had come away.
As I stood up I grabbed ontothe shelf of the hutch to help
me up.
As I did so, I must haveknocked the clock a little bit.
It was set up to cover thedining table and the front door.
I didn't notice it at the timebecause I was rushing and I was
(11:03):
stressing I dust myself off.
Ding-dong came the bell again,followed by a couple of bashes
on the door, made by a hand, nota fist.
I run over and open it up.
Standing in the doorway wasAlphonse, looking rather pissed
at having to wait.
Now he was an older guy,european, well southern European
(11:25):
background, probably about fivefoot six, so a little shorter
than me, but rotund.
I wouldn't have said all of itwas fat either.
He was allegedly a musclylittle guy and he was also
someone you didn't want to pissoff, mate.
I said what took you so long,mick?
I was standing here forever andhe said back yeah, sorry, mate,
(11:47):
really I was just cleaning up abit.
What do you think you're goingto fuck me after the deal or
something, came his reply.
Nah, nothing like that, youknow how it is.
I said yeah, okay, he replied.
I wasn't sure if he bought it,but he didn't seem overly
suspicious, just more annoyed atbeing made to wait.
Do you want a coffee or a tea?
I asked as I moved him towardsthe dining table.
(12:08):
Nah, I'm good, he replied.
He was looking around theapartment and not being
corralled to where I wanted himto go.
Mind if I have a look around,he asked.
Now, I did mind, and I didn'twant him to go poking his nose
into anything.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Do you want the 50 cent tour?
I said laughingly.
Over here is the lounge and thekitchen.
(12:32):
You can see through there.
I have a balcony that runs outoff the lounge and across to the
bedroom.
I said he followed me into thekitchen.
Shit view.
He said well, we are insuburbia, mate, I replied.
He then walked over to thebedroom past the hutch.
This, this is where theworkbench is.
Then he asked Um, yeah, I guess.
(12:52):
So it's my bedroom and I havean en suite.
He stuck his head in and had alook around.
As I was walking over to thebedroom entrance, I tried not to
look directly at the camera,but I did.
As I looked down, my heartskipped about three beats.
The piece of the hutch that wascovering the hiding spot of the
recorder was ajar.
Now, not a lot, but I noticedit.
(13:14):
If he had looked at me, I wasprobably going white and then
flush and then sweating, becausethat's what it felt like.
In reality, he walked straightpast it already and didn't
notice it, but that thoughtdidn't enter my mind.
I again had one of those lucidmoments where my body went.
What is the escape route?
How do I get to the door beforehe grabs me?
(13:36):
Do you think he's wearing a gun?
Speaking of guns, where is mygun?
It was in my cupboard, in mybedroom, hiding at the back of
it under a pile of clothes.
It's big, he said as he walkedback out.
It took me a second tocomprehend what he had said and
said huh, oh yeah, the bedroom.
It is quite big, isn't it?
He then turned and started towalk up little hallway which had
(13:57):
the main bathroom and thetoilet on one side and the spare
second bedroom on the other.
Don't look in the spare room, Isaid to myself.
I don't want to have to explainthat.
He looked in the bathroom.
Not bad, he said.
He then stopped and looked atthe closed door.
He motioned with his head.
What's in there, mate?
Just a spare room, basically myjunk room where I keep all the
(14:19):
mess.
I also have my computer and adesk in there.
I said you have a computer?
He asked what do you use it for, mate?
You know I go onto chat sitesand some of those porn sites.
That's why it's in there, sopeople don't see what I'm doing
from outside.
I said you dirty fucker.
He replied he took me at myword and didn't open the door.
I breathed an internal sigh ofrelief.
(14:43):
Now, back in those early 90s,the internet was just starting
off, so chat rooms were the bigthing.
You could literally chat toanyone about anything, organise
a hookup, organise to buy drugs.
They weren't highly regulatedand they were mostly anonymous.
It was the wild west of the web, but he appeared to buy that
explanation, which calmed medown.
(15:03):
I was still stressed aboutseeing the ajar piece of the
hutch, though Now I hadpre-organised how we were going
to sit.
I had put three chairs at thetable.
One had stuff piled on it whichmeant it was taken.
I was going to sit at the chairthat was at the top end edge of
the table, and the other chairwas virtually facing the camera.
The idea was that there wouldbe a clear angle of his face,
(15:26):
nothing blocking the view of thetable, so everything could be
seen and recorded.
I would count the money on thetable and out loud, so it all
got picked up, and he would handme the drugs across the table.
Now we already know how well meand plans go, don't we?
Well, as an initial one, as aninitial run, it was actually
going well.
(15:47):
He sat where I expected him toand I sat where I had wanted to.
The camera had a clear view ofhis face and table.
He also couldn't see the hutchfrom there, ie the piece I was
stressing over.
He could see the clock though,mate.
Your clock is slow, he said tome as I sat down, is it.
I replied, looking over at itnervously.
Yeah, he said, and he was right.
(16:09):
It was about 18 minutes slow.
I had no idea why, but I quicklysaid yeah, the power did go out
for a bit last night.
Maybe that was it.
Haven't noticed.
I'll fix it up later.
He nodded his head Right.
So how much did you want?
He asked Didn't we do thisalready with Betty?
I replied yes, mick, justconfirming.
Don't get your silk knickers ina knot, came his reply.
(16:31):
I'm not wearing any, came myreply.
He just laughed and threw hishead back.
He reached into his pocket andpulled out a clip seal bag with
a whitish pink crystallizedpowder.
That looks good.
I said your customers will likethis a lot.
I can promise you that.
He replied so three grand?
(16:52):
I asked yes, mick, that waswhat I asked for.
Alphonse replied yep, sure,just checking.
I said it's in my spare room.
Let me go and get it.
Yeah, I asked.
Yes, go on, go on.
He replied.
Now he didn't take his eyes offme.
He watched me get up and walkto the spare room, open the door
and inside I left the door openso he could see what I was
doing.
Well, hear what I was doing.
(17:14):
I grabbed the money out of a bag.
It was in mostly $100 noteswith some 50s.
I came back out of the room andpulled the door closed.
I had the money folded up in myhand and I looked up at
Alphonse.
He was just staring at me.
I gave him a quizzical look andwalked back to the table and
sat down in my chair Justchecking.
(17:35):
You didn't have anything elsein your hands, mick.
Nothing personal, he said.
That made me feel a littleuneasy.
It also made me wonder what hehad on him.
I have no doubt he was carrying.
That made me feel somewhat moreanxious now, when I think back
on the situation, than Iremember feeling then.
Maybe it was the adrenaline ormaybe I have repressed that
(17:58):
anxiousness.
Put the money on the table.
Do you want me to to count it?
I asked, if you like?
He replied with a grin.
So I started counting out$3,000.
When I finished I passed itover to him and he counted it a
second time.
All good, I asked yes, mick,correct weight.
He replied.
Can I have the gear?
(18:19):
I asked.
He put the money in his pocket.
Now, if I was going to getripped this was the point it
would happen.
Alphonse had both the drugs andthe money.
I didn't have any weapons thathe could see.
He most probably did Anotheranxious moment for me, but, as
always, there was nothing toworry about.
In full view of the camera, hepasses me the bag and says it is
really good speed, mick.
(18:39):
In full view of the camera, hepasses me the bag and says it is
really good speed, mick.
You will like it and you'll beback for more, mate.
I have no doubt I will be.
I have someone lined up alreadyto get some tonight.
I said how much are you sellingit in?
He asked Just 0.25s.
I said Can I jump on this?
Look, I wouldn't the first time, but maybe another half won't
(19:03):
hurt next time.
He said.
Afonso got up and said he wasgoing to go as he had to be at
the club.
I went and put the gear in mybedroom and came back out.
Afonso was standing staring atthe hutch and the clock.
Mate, that really bugs me,having it slow.
He said yeah, well, I'll fix itlater, so next time you won't
know.
I replied he was lookingstraight down the barrel of the
(19:24):
camera and it didn't evenregister.
I walked him to the door, ormore like, escorted him out very
subtly, mind you, I might comein tonight or maybe tomorrow
night.
I said to him Sure, mick, bennyknows I'm always there.
He replied I'll let you knowwhat my customers think.
With that he padded his pocketand walked out.
I had the video phone turned onso I could see him exit the
(19:48):
building.
Only then did I breathe a sighof relief.
That was far too stressful fora first buy.
These speed dealers were adifferent breed and had the
appearance of being dangerous.
I know that the bigwigs in theheroin trade were dangerous, but
it just seemed much more inyour face with speed dealers.
Maybe that was because therewere a lot of bikies getting in
(20:09):
on it and that was the culturebravado and bullshit, anyway.
So Alphonse had left and I satat the table for a minute and
collected my thoughts.
I then got up and went to thehutch and turned off the camera.
I opened the secret compartmentand took out the recorder and
ejected the tape.
At least that looked like ithad recorded, which was a good
(20:30):
outcome given the day I had beenhaving.
I turned it off, put it backinto its hiding hole and closed
it up Properly.
This time Now I had a videoplayer, kind of like a handheld
one, that I could use to watchthe videos.
Had I been a single guy, it mayhave got a thorough testing
regime on a nightly basis, but Iwasn't and I would never use it
(20:50):
for that sort of inappropriaterecording.
Anyway, I grab it, the tape andthe drugs and head off to my
controller's place to hand overthe evidence, check the tape and
do a basic run of notes.
Oh, and also let him know I wasstill alive.
On the drive over there andremember this was his real house
I was going to, I thought,crossed my mind that it would be
(21:10):
funny if I was pulled over nowwith a bag of speed just sitting
on my front passenger seat outin the open.
Any uniformed copper wouldthink it was their lucky day.
After a quick chat I pulled outthe video player and put the
tape in.
I rewound it and pressed play.
Now it wasn't the clearestpicture and it was black and
white.
I had found the best resultswere to use it with the light on
(21:32):
in the dining room, but theeither was off and that gave the
best picture quality.
You could see me at the door.
You knew it was me because,firstly, I was the only one
inside at the time and, secondly, I looked straight at the
camera unconsciously.
You see me open the door andgreet someone it was.
Then I noticed it.
The camera was facing the wrongway Well, not the wrong way,
(21:54):
but the fantastic field ofvision it had been meticulously
set up to watch was off.
You couldn't see who was at thedoor even when they came in.
Luckily, alphonse walked aroundthe unit a lot and he was
captured on it.
The second issue came when weboth sat down at the table.
I had moved the camera ever soslightly that you couldn't see
(22:14):
me sitting there, just a hand onthe table, and you just had him
in the edge of the frame.
When he moved to his right, hemoved out of frame.
Well, his face did.
What was I saying about me andBeth's laid plans?
Was it a total disaster?
No, not really.
You got him.
Him taking the money andcounting it, him taking the
(22:36):
drugs out of his pocket and himhanding me the drugs.
You couldn't argue.
It was someone else in the room, because you couldn't see
anyone for over 20 minutes.
He occasionally moved out offrame, but we were confident
that we had enough.
Seems the DPP thought the samewhen it finally came to run the
prosecutions.
The next day I caught up withBetty and she said she had been
(22:58):
to the club and seen Alphonse.
He was pretty happy with thedeal and didn't seem to have any
suspicions.
In her words, I was in and noone even batted an eyelid.
That night I went back to theclub.
I was only there for about 30minutes.
It may seem strange, but thereis only so many naked women you
can see before they all start tolook the same.
(23:18):
Being around them all the timedesensitizes you to the female
form and also to getting hornyover a naked woman.
It was truly a weird experience.
Anyway, I met up with Alphonseand I gave some feedback that my
customers loved his gear so Iwould need to get some more in a
day or two's time.
I now had his phone number so Iwas able to call him and
organize the next deal.
(23:40):
It was now Wednesday night and Ineeded an early night.
I left and went back to my unit.
On the way I stopped and gotsome Chinese takeaway and a DVD.
Quentin Tarantino had justreleased a new film, from Dusk
to Dawn.
It looked like a good film towatch something about drug
dealers kidnapping a family andtrying to cross at the Mexico-US
(24:00):
border Just some light fare.
I got home and by this time itwas almost midnight.
I had my dinner, had a fewbourbons and put the DVD on.
Now, if you're a little bit notinto horror movies, like I am,
watching a movie about vampiresat midnight is probably not the
best thing if you want toactually get some sleep.
Oh yeah, spoiler alert they runinto a coven of vampires and
(24:24):
have to fight their way out.
Summer Hayek was pretty hot,though.
On the Friday night I did mylast buy with Alphonse.
I went to the club that nightactually looking for Betty, as
she had been scarce on theground.
As it turned out, she washaving some medical procedures
for her cancer, but she hadn'ttold me or my controller that
and had just disappeared off theface of the earth.
I asked a few people if they'dseen her and got the old trouble
(24:51):
in paradise.
Hey responses.
We had publicly shown I was myown person so I could separate
myself from having to doeverything through or with her.
It was actually quite funnythinking back on it now.
Anyway, I ran into Alphonse andsat with him at the end of the
bar where he usually sat.
He said it gave him the perfectview of who came down the
stairs and what was happening inhis club.
Mick, I thought you were goingto get some more gear for the
(25:11):
weekend.
He said to me Mate, yeah, I am.
I just had to find Betty andask her about something.
I replied Now that somethingwas to buy with the brothers,
but I wasn't going to tell himthat.
Well, I have an ounce I cangive you now.
He said I'd have to go and getthe money.
I said and you don't like doingbusiness in the club?
I reminded him no, no, I wasn'tgoing to.
(25:33):
I have to go and get it too.
Meet me at the Cosmo in abouthalf an hour.
Can you do that?
He asked.
Yeah, an hour would be better.
I replied Now, the Cosmo was awell-known cafe bar.
It was a place that any crookwas to be seen and sometimes
many coppers.
It had the front part as wellas the back area usually where
deals were made and done withoutprying eyes.
(25:54):
I left and went back to my car.
As I was walking back, I rangthe controller and told him that
I had to come up blank on Betty, but Alphonse wanted me to buy
some more speed from him tonight.
That required him to go intothe office, get a drawdown of
cash and have it approved andsigned off, hence why I needed
the hour.
That was done and I met mycontroller on the street not far
(26:16):
from police headquarters.
He handed me the money and wehad a bit of a chat.
Since he was out, he decided hewould go and have a coffee Guess
where.
He arrived about 10 minutesbefore and was sitting out on
the footpath of part of the cafe.
I walked in and tried not tolook at him or acknowledge him
or that I even knew him.
I went down the side and out tothe back room.
(26:39):
Now there were about 10 or sopeople sitting at three tables.
Alphonse was sitting in a boothby himself.
I walked straight up to thebooth and sat down opposite him.
Mick, he said, nodded his head,mate, I have got to stop all
this running around.
I said Do you want your gear ornot?
He asked me.
He appeared a little short.
Mate, yeah, is everythingalright?
(27:00):
You were all good when I leftyou an hour ago at the club.
I said yeah, we just had somedickhead bucks party.
Come in.
He said Mate, let's make thisquick, then I'll get you back to
the club.
I replied I pulled out threegrand in $150 notes, all rolled
into a bundle with a rubber bandaround them.
I was using my right hand, asit was closest to the wall and
(27:22):
the hardest to see.
I passed it under the table tohim.
Do you want to count it?
I asked Nah, mick, I trust you.
He said, and with that hepassed me something under the
table.
It was obviously a plastic bagand had something powder-like in
it.
From the feel, I pulled into mylap, sat back and had a look.
It was pinkish, white in colourand looked crystallised.
(27:45):
That is good gear, mick, hesaid to me I'll be able to jump
on that for sure.
I said Pleasure doing businesswith you.
With that I put the bag in myjacket pocket and went to get up
.
Mate, have a good night.
I said yeah, do you want tocome back for a drink?
He said Nah, better, not Toomany jacks around tonight.
I don't want to get caughtholding all of this.
(28:06):
Yeah, fair enough, alphonsesaid.
We both got up and left together.
As we got to the front I shookhis hand.
He walked off down towards hisclub and I walked off in the
other direction to my car.
As this was happening, mycontroller got up, paid his bill
and walked off behind me.
I literally had to turn aroundand see who was following me
before I realised it was him.
(28:27):
I was that paranoid of gettingrolled and having the speed
stolen.
Jumpy munch, he said, as hesmiled at me.
We got back to my car and Idrove him back to his.
We went to my apartment wherewe did the lodging of the drugs
as an exhibit and I made somenotes.
It was well after midnight, somy controller left to go home
and I decided to try and get agood night's sleep.
(28:48):
Not more than 10 minutes later,my phone rang.
All I could hear was yellingand music in the background.
I looked at the number and itwas one of the boys.
They were out having a bignight Seemed only fair that I go
and join them.
Luckily, we didn't end up inany strip clubs, but we did end
up at the casino and again I wasmade to stand on my own, as per
(29:09):
usual.
I did, however, win some moneyon the crats table that night.
That's all we have time fortoday's episode.
Make sure you catch up nextTuesday when I detail the buys I
had with the brothers.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for listening toWhisper in the Shadows my true
(29:29):
stories of a real-lifeundercover cop.
I hope you've enjoyed thatepisode.
In the next one we'll exploremore exciting stories from my
operations.
Please make sure you subscribeto the podcast so you never miss
an episode.
Lastly, if you're an ex-COVIDoperative or undercover police
officer, I would love to chat toyou about your experiences or,
if you're feeling dangerous,tell your stories on my podcast.
(29:52):
Please get in contact by myemail, which is
whisperintheshadowspodcast atgmailcom.
I look forward to you joiningme next time.
Hello and welcome to my podcast Whisper in the
Shadows the true story of areal-life undercover cop.
I'm Michael Bates and I was apolice officer for 15 years in
one of the country's statepolice forces.
I was also an undercover copfor over two years, and all the
episodes of this podcast are mytrue stories of what it's really
like to be an undercover cop.
(00:22):
Rather, I was Michael Bates, sofull disclosure Michael is not
actually my real name.
It was my COVID identity I usedon most of my operations.
Everyone has a notion of whatundercover policing is all about
, whether you think they are anarc, a COVID operative, a dog
or an undercover cop.
(00:43):
Most people seem to confuseplainclothes police with being
undercover.
There is a very big difference,though.
Most plainclothes police don'twear a uniform, so they aren't
as obtrusive in public.
Being covert is completelydifferent, though.
You become immersed in theworld of your targets.
When you're a police officer,part of your role is to
(01:03):
investigate crimes.
This means you try and findevidence to prove the person you
have arrested has committedthat crime.
Now, this evidence can consistof physical, verbal, video and
witnesses.
When you're an undercoverpolice officer, though, you are
the evidence and you are thereason someone gets convicted of
the crimes.
That is both exciting anddangerous.
(01:24):
So why don't we get on with thenext episode?
Welcome back once again, as weget toward the end of the
Whisper in the Shadows podcast,the true stories of Michael
(01:46):
Bates, a real undercover policeofficer who was me.
Thank you for joining me and Ihope you're enjoying listening
to them as much as I am andtelling them.
At the end of last episode, Ijust bought some speed through a
guy I had met at one of theclubs.
Needless to say, the supplierturned out to be good for a
whole lot of things and I onlydid the one buy because, quite
frankly, the group scared me andthat one by was enough to pick
(02:06):
him up.
It wasn't just the whole puppything, although that was a huge
red flag, they all just gave offbad vibes.
Gavin was also really, reallyflaky.
So in the end, I focused onother targets, like the brothers
and Alphonse.
Now, as I've already mentioned,alphonse was the brother of a
notorious strip club, brotheland peep show places.
(02:28):
How he was able to still be inbusiness was beyond me, but he
was.
He owned the club where I methim and where the now infamous
lap dance took place.
Now the club is still there.
I was only walking past it afew months ago.
It looks a lot less dingy thanit did in my day, but hey, some
things never change.
I will really have to go backand check it out.
(02:50):
So Betty had been off havingsome appointments and we'd been
out of touch for about a week.
When I finally got to talk toher she wasn't sounding very
well.
She laughed it off and wetalked about Alphonse and she
said he was keen to sell to mebut wouldn't do it in the club.
We had already decided to do itat my place so we could get it
on video.
It was just finding a timewhere it worked.
(03:12):
The brothers were also eager tosell and wanted to have another
meeting with me to discussterms and ongoing supply.
I agreed to meet them at herplace later that week.
Now Betty was actually sick.
She'd been diagnosed withcancer and was getting treatment
, but as I later found out, itwas terminal.
I'm guessing it the cancer wasone of the reasons she was going
(03:33):
to help dismantle this drugsyndicate, or rather syndicates.
She did end up telling me onenight at her place over a glass
of red I can't say I wasn't orjust a little upset.
I know it sounds funny, but youactually do bond with some of
these informants and targets.
For that matter, as I'vealready said, they generally
(03:54):
aren't bad people, they've justdone bad things.
I genuinely like Betty and Iwas sad that she was going to go
through that cancer battle.
We had a very long conversationwhere she gave me a big insight
into her life, where she grew up, went to school, all the things
that formed who she was, andhow she came to be sitting in
that tiny apartment talking tome as an undercover cop.
(04:16):
I don't remember her beingangry or sad or regretful of
choices.
She had lived her life and thatwas that.
Did she wish she had not donesome of the things she had?
Sure, like getting caught, butI got the impression she didn't
regret her life.
During the conversation Ilearned a lot about the
underbelly of our city.
There were stories ofpoliticians, business people,
(04:39):
even clergy, and some of thethings they had dabbled in that
would sully their stand-upreputations.
Years later, I worked for oneof these people at a company
that he was on the board of.
Every time I met him or saw himI couldn't help but think of
how much he was or had deceivedthe world and why he would hide
(05:00):
who he really was.
I mean, I know why he wasmarried and had been both at gay
clubs both before and afterthat marriage.
His previous roles would alsohave been questioned if his
extracurricular activities hadcome to light.
How they hadn't was beyond me,same with some of the other
high-profile and high-levelpoliticians.
(05:21):
Again, obviously these storieswere just that and I never
broached them with him.
But there are times when youjust know.
I had no reason to doubt Betty.
She had no reason to lie, so Ijust knew.
The meet with Alphonse wasorganized for late one afternoon
.
I was living in a newishtwo-bedroom apartment and I had
(05:41):
all the bits and bobs you have,like a lounge and a TV, dvd
player, a dining table andchairs, a bed, bedside tables in
the master bedroom and a hutchin the living dining room.
There was the second bedroom,which was basically a spare junk
room, so I kept all of mynotebooks, laptop videotapes etc
, etc.
In there.
It was a mess.
There was a desk and an oldsingle mattress in case I had
(06:04):
someone to stay over, but therewas stuff everywhere.
Now I had been out playing golfwith the boys earlier that day
and had got caught in trafficheading home.
Alphonse said he'd come by atabout 4.30pm, but I wanted to be
there well before in case heturned up early.
Plus, I had to clean up theincriminating stuff and also set
up the camera, so pressing playwould be easy.
(06:24):
I had to clean up theincriminating stuff and also set
up the camera, so pressing playwould be easy.
Of course, best laid plans andall of that, we took longer than
I had hoped at golf.
Well, okay, maybe I lost trackof time.
Then there was traffic, whichback then was nowhere near as
bad as it is now, but still badenough to cause me stress.
I got home at about 4.10pm.
I know this because I had atext from my controller asking
(06:45):
me where I was.
I parked the car.
Go out onto the street and havea quick look around to see if I
could see Alphonse's car parkedanywhere.
I couldn't.
I have time, I said to myself.
I ran inside and raced upstairs.
Now, as I said before, the spareroom was messy.
What I probably left out wasthat the unit itself was messy.
(07:07):
I was a single lad Well, amarried single lad Living by
myself with no one to say to mewhy haven't you put that away?
Or don't leave your shirt onthe floor?
Or when are you going to washthose dishes?
So yeah, it was a mess.
Where do I start?
I thought to myself.
Also, I had to get changedbecause I was in golf clothes.
(07:29):
Not sure how I'd explain thatto him.
Then I had to put a video tapeinto the recorder for the camera
and make sure it was turned onand all reset up so it didn't
look like he was being recorded.
Now.
Do you remember when you were akid and your parents asked you
to clean your room?
You'll get all the clothes andjunk and throw it on the bed off
(07:50):
the floor and pull the coverover to try and hide it.
Well, that was plan number one.
Then I did a quick run aroundthe living area and grabbed the
plates and cups and rubbish andput everything well, except the
rubbish into the dishwasher.
Plan number two done.
The spare room was going to takeforever, so I got the
incriminating stuff, put it allin a box I had and put that in
(08:14):
the dishwasher too.
I certainly hoped he wasn'tgoing to want to check out my
appliances.
Not sure if you remember metelling the story of keeping a
credit card in the buttercontainer, but I know why
sometimes you put things instupid places.
There was still mess all overthe place, but I thought that'll
do.
I had my own personal deskcomputer with me at the times,
(08:36):
as well as the laptop, so it wasset up in the spare room.
I couldn't do anything with it,so I threw a sheet over it.
That'll hide it, I thought tomyself.
Then, as a final act of hiding,I pulled the door closed.
Just as I get to the camerasetup, the bell goes.
Now, luckily for me, it was thebell to the outside door, not
the inside one.
And secondly, it was one ofthose video phones.
(08:59):
I pulled out the recording partof the setup, got out a tape
and was trying to get it out ofthe packing.
Breed goes the door again.
I get up and walk over to thevideo phone picking it up.
Hello Nick, is that you Can'tsee?
You, said Alphonse.
Yes, mate, it's me.
You won't see me.
Only I can see you.
Oh shit, okay.
(09:19):
Can I come in then?
Fuck, I thought to myself.
I don't have the camera set up.
Can I come in then, fuck, Ithought to myself, I don't have
the camera set up.
Okay, so he is a littleoverweight.
It will probably take him fouror five minutes to walk up the
stairs to where I am.
I have enough time.
I press the entry button.
Yes, mate, just push on thedoor.
I'm on the upper floor, thirddoor, on the right Righto.
(09:41):
Mick, I'm on my way.
I hang up.
The video phone ran back to thehutch or bookcase or whatever
you want to call it.
I put the tape in and pushed itall the way back inside in its
hiding place in the hutch.
I didn't put the cover back onbecause the on switch was on the
camera, which was hidden insidea clock radio that was sitting
on the hutch shelf and I neededto check it was recording.
(10:02):
Now, the camera and clock washardwired into the recorder.
It was made to look like apower cable came out of the
bottom that went into the wall,but part of that cable also ran
down a little hole underneaththe clock and into the recorder.
I turned the camera on and thegreen light was illuminated on
the recorder.
That was about three minutes,any minute, and I was going to
(10:23):
get a knock on the door.
I put the cover back on thehiding place, but as I did so I
didn't put it on straight.
Remember this was the firsttime I had used it for recording
a buy.
Ding dong came the frontdoorbell.
Fuck me, I cursed under mybreath.
Coming mate, I yelled out.
Now I was on my knees on thefloor setting up this stupid
(10:43):
thing.
I didn't notice that At thatpoint the cover was skew-iff and
looked like part of the hutchat the bottom had come away.
As I stood up I grabbed ontothe shelf of the hutch to help
me up.
As I did so, I must haveknocked the clock a little bit.
It was set up to cover thedining table and the front door.
I didn't notice it at the timebecause I was rushing and I was
(11:03):
stressing I dust myself off.
Ding-dong came the bell again,followed by a couple of bashes
on the door, made by a hand, nota fist.
I run over and open it up.
Standing in the doorway wasAlphonse, looking rather pissed
at having to wait.
Now he was an older guy,european, well southern European
(11:25):
background, probably about fivefoot six, so a little shorter
than me, but rotund.
I wouldn't have said all of itwas fat either.
He was allegedly a musclylittle guy and he was also
someone you didn't want to pissoff, mate.
I said what took you so long,mick?
I was standing here forever andhe said back yeah, sorry, mate,
(11:47):
really I was just cleaning up abit.
What do you think you're goingto fuck me after the deal or
something, came his reply.
Nah, nothing like that, youknow how it is.
I said yeah, okay, he replied.
I wasn't sure if he bought it,but he didn't seem overly
suspicious, just more annoyed atbeing made to wait.
Do you want a coffee or a tea?
I asked as I moved him towardsthe dining table.
(12:08):
Nah, I'm good, he replied.
He was looking around theapartment and not being
corralled to where I wanted himto go.
Mind if I have a look around,he asked.
Now, I did mind, and I didn'twant him to go poking his nose
into anything.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Do you want the 50 cent tour?
I said laughingly.
Over here is the lounge and thekitchen.
(12:32):
You can see through there.
I have a balcony that runs outoff the lounge and across to the
bedroom.
I said he followed me into thekitchen.
Shit view.
He said well, we are insuburbia, mate, I replied.
He then walked over to thebedroom past the hutch.
This, this is where theworkbench is.
Then he asked Um, yeah, I guess.
(12:52):
So it's my bedroom and I havean en suite.
He stuck his head in and had alook around.
As I was walking over to thebedroom entrance, I tried not to
look directly at the camera,but I did.
As I looked down, my heartskipped about three beats.
The piece of the hutch that wascovering the hiding spot of the
recorder was ajar.
Now, not a lot, but I noticedit.
(13:14):
If he had looked at me, I wasprobably going white and then
flush and then sweating, becausethat's what it felt like.
In reality, he walked straightpast it already and didn't
notice it, but that thoughtdidn't enter my mind.
I again had one of those lucidmoments where my body went.
What is the escape route?
How do I get to the door beforehe grabs me?
(13:36):
Do you think he's wearing a gun?
Speaking of guns, where is mygun?
It was in my cupboard, in mybedroom, hiding at the back of
it under a pile of clothes.
It's big, he said as he walkedback out.
It took me a second tocomprehend what he had said and
said huh, oh yeah, the bedroom.
It is quite big, isn't it?
He then turned and started towalk up little hallway which had
(13:57):
the main bathroom and thetoilet on one side and the spare
second bedroom on the other.
Don't look in the spare room, Isaid to myself.
I don't want to have to explainthat.
He looked in the bathroom.
Not bad, he said.
He then stopped and looked atthe closed door.
He motioned with his head.
What's in there, mate?
Just a spare room, basically myjunk room where I keep all the
(14:19):
mess.
I also have my computer and adesk in there.
I said you have a computer?
He asked what do you use it for, mate?
You know I go onto chat sitesand some of those porn sites.
That's why it's in there, sopeople don't see what I'm doing
from outside.
I said you dirty fucker.
He replied he took me at myword and didn't open the door.
I breathed an internal sigh ofrelief.
(14:43):
Now, back in those early 90s,the internet was just starting
off, so chat rooms were the bigthing.
You could literally chat toanyone about anything, organise
a hookup, organise to buy drugs.
They weren't highly regulatedand they were mostly anonymous.
It was the wild west of the web, but he appeared to buy that
explanation, which calmed medown.
(15:03):
I was still stressed aboutseeing the ajar piece of the
hutch, though Now I hadpre-organised how we were going
to sit.
I had put three chairs at thetable.
One had stuff piled on it whichmeant it was taken.
I was going to sit at the chairthat was at the top end edge of
the table, and the other chairwas virtually facing the camera.
The idea was that there wouldbe a clear angle of his face,
(15:26):
nothing blocking the view of thetable, so everything could be
seen and recorded.
I would count the money on thetable and out loud, so it all
got picked up, and he would handme the drugs across the table.
Now we already know how well meand plans go, don't we?
Well, as an initial one, as aninitial run, it was actually
going well.
(15:47):
He sat where I expected him toand I sat where I had wanted to.
The camera had a clear view ofhis face and table.
He also couldn't see the hutchfrom there, ie the piece I was
stressing over.
He could see the clock though,mate.
Your clock is slow, he said tome as I sat down, is it.
I replied, looking over at itnervously.
Yeah, he said, and he was right.
(16:09):
It was about 18 minutes slow.
I had no idea why, but I quicklysaid yeah, the power did go out
for a bit last night.
Maybe that was it.
Haven't noticed.
I'll fix it up later.
He nodded his head Right.
So how much did you want?
He asked Didn't we do thisalready with Betty?
I replied yes, mick, justconfirming.
Don't get your silk knickers ina knot, came his reply.
(16:31):
I'm not wearing any, came myreply.
He just laughed and threw hishead back.
He reached into his pocket andpulled out a clip seal bag with
a whitish pink crystallizedpowder.
That looks good.
I said your customers will likethis a lot.
I can promise you that.
He replied so three grand?
(16:52):
I asked yes, mick, that waswhat I asked for.
Alphonse replied yep, sure,just checking.
I said it's in my spare room.
Let me go and get it.
Yeah, I asked.
Yes, go on, go on.
He replied.
Now he didn't take his eyes offme.
He watched me get up and walkto the spare room, open the door
and inside I left the door openso he could see what I was
doing.
Well, hear what I was doing.
(17:14):
I grabbed the money out of a bag.
It was in mostly $100 noteswith some 50s.
I came back out of the room andpulled the door closed.
I had the money folded up in myhand and I looked up at
Alphonse.
He was just staring at me.
I gave him a quizzical look andwalked back to the table and
sat down in my chair Justchecking.
(17:35):
You didn't have anything elsein your hands, mick.
Nothing personal, he said.
That made me feel a littleuneasy.
It also made me wonder what hehad on him.
I have no doubt he was carrying.
That made me feel somewhat moreanxious now, when I think back
on the situation, than Iremember feeling then.
Maybe it was the adrenaline ormaybe I have repressed that
(17:58):
anxiousness.
Put the money on the table.
Do you want me to to count it?
I asked, if you like?
He replied with a grin.
So I started counting out$3,000.
When I finished I passed itover to him and he counted it a
second time.
All good, I asked yes, mick,correct weight.
He replied.
Can I have the gear?
(18:19):
I asked.
He put the money in his pocket.
Now, if I was going to getripped this was the point it
would happen.
Alphonse had both the drugs andthe money.
I didn't have any weapons thathe could see.
He most probably did Anotheranxious moment for me, but, as
always, there was nothing toworry about.
In full view of the camera, hepasses me the bag and says it is
really good speed, mick.
(18:39):
In full view of the camera, hepasses me the bag and says it is
really good speed, mick.
You will like it and you'll beback for more, mate.
I have no doubt I will be.
I have someone lined up alreadyto get some tonight.
I said how much are you sellingit in?
He asked Just 0.25s.
I said Can I jump on this?
Look, I wouldn't the first time, but maybe another half won't
(19:03):
hurt next time.
He said.
Afonso got up and said he wasgoing to go as he had to be at
the club.
I went and put the gear in mybedroom and came back out.
Afonso was standing staring atthe hutch and the clock.
Mate, that really bugs me,having it slow.
He said yeah, well, I'll fix itlater, so next time you won't
know.
I replied he was lookingstraight down the barrel of the
(19:24):
camera and it didn't evenregister.
I walked him to the door, ormore like, escorted him out very
subtly, mind you, I might comein tonight or maybe tomorrow
night.
I said to him Sure, mick, bennyknows I'm always there.
He replied I'll let you knowwhat my customers think.
With that he padded his pocketand walked out.
I had the video phone turned onso I could see him exit the
(19:48):
building.
Only then did I breathe a sighof relief.
That was far too stressful fora first buy.
These speed dealers were adifferent breed and had the
appearance of being dangerous.
I know that the bigwigs in theheroin trade were dangerous, but
it just seemed much more inyour face with speed dealers.
Maybe that was because therewere a lot of bikies getting in
(20:09):
on it and that was the culturebravado and bullshit, anyway.
So Alphonse had left and I satat the table for a minute and
collected my thoughts.
I then got up and went to thehutch and turned off the camera.
I opened the secret compartmentand took out the recorder and
ejected the tape.
At least that looked like ithad recorded, which was a good
(20:30):
outcome given the day I had beenhaving.
I turned it off, put it backinto its hiding hole and closed
it up Properly.
This time Now I had a videoplayer, kind of like a handheld
one, that I could use to watchthe videos.
Had I been a single guy, it mayhave got a thorough testing
regime on a nightly basis, but Iwasn't and I would never use it
(20:50):
for that sort of inappropriaterecording.
Anyway, I grab it, the tape andthe drugs and head off to my
controller's place to hand overthe evidence, check the tape and
do a basic run of notes.
Oh, and also let him know I wasstill alive.
On the drive over there andremember this was his real house
I was going to, I thought,crossed my mind that it would be
(21:10):
funny if I was pulled over nowwith a bag of speed just sitting
on my front passenger seat outin the open.
Any uniformed copper wouldthink it was their lucky day.
After a quick chat I pulled outthe video player and put the
tape in.
I rewound it and pressed play.
Now it wasn't the clearestpicture and it was black and
white.
I had found the best resultswere to use it with the light on
(21:32):
in the dining room, but theeither was off and that gave the
best picture quality.
You could see me at the door.
You knew it was me because,firstly, I was the only one
inside at the time and, secondly, I looked straight at the
camera unconsciously.
You see me open the door andgreet someone it was.
Then I noticed it.
The camera was facing the wrongway Well, not the wrong way,
(21:54):
but the fantastic field ofvision it had been meticulously
set up to watch was off.
You couldn't see who was at thedoor even when they came in.
Luckily, alphonse walked aroundthe unit a lot and he was
captured on it.
The second issue came when weboth sat down at the table.
I had moved the camera ever soslightly that you couldn't see
(22:14):
me sitting there, just a hand onthe table, and you just had him
in the edge of the frame.
When he moved to his right, hemoved out of frame.
Well, his face did.
What was I saying about me andBeth's laid plans?
Was it a total disaster?
No, not really.
You got him.
Him taking the money andcounting it, him taking the
(22:36):
drugs out of his pocket and himhanding me the drugs.
You couldn't argue.
It was someone else in the room, because you couldn't see
anyone for over 20 minutes.
He occasionally moved out offrame, but we were confident
that we had enough.
Seems the DPP thought the samewhen it finally came to run the
prosecutions.
The next day I caught up withBetty and she said she had been
(22:58):
to the club and seen Alphonse.
He was pretty happy with thedeal and didn't seem to have any
suspicions.
In her words, I was in and noone even batted an eyelid.
That night I went back to theclub.
I was only there for about 30minutes.
It may seem strange, but thereis only so many naked women you
can see before they all start tolook the same.
(23:18):
Being around them all the timedesensitizes you to the female
form and also to getting hornyover a naked woman.
It was truly a weird experience.
Anyway, I met up with Alphonseand I gave some feedback that my
customers loved his gear so Iwould need to get some more in a
day or two's time.
I now had his phone number so Iwas able to call him and
organize the next deal.
(23:40):
It was now Wednesday night and Ineeded an early night.
I left and went back to my unit.
On the way I stopped and gotsome Chinese takeaway and a DVD.
Quentin Tarantino had justreleased a new film, from Dusk
to Dawn.
It looked like a good film towatch something about drug
dealers kidnapping a family andtrying to cross at the Mexico-US
(24:00):
border Just some light fare.
I got home and by this time itwas almost midnight.
I had my dinner, had a fewbourbons and put the DVD on.
Now, if you're a little bit notinto horror movies, like I am,
watching a movie about vampiresat midnight is probably not the
best thing if you want toactually get some sleep.
Oh yeah, spoiler alert they runinto a coven of vampires and
(24:24):
have to fight their way out.
Summer Hayek was pretty hot,though.
On the Friday night I did mylast buy with Alphonse.
I went to the club that nightactually looking for Betty, as
she had been scarce on theground.
As it turned out, she washaving some medical procedures
for her cancer, but she hadn'ttold me or my controller that
and had just disappeared off theface of the earth.
I asked a few people if they'dseen her and got the old trouble
(24:51):
in paradise.
Hey responses.
We had publicly shown I was myown person so I could separate
myself from having to doeverything through or with her.
It was actually quite funnythinking back on it now.
Anyway, I ran into Alphonse andsat with him at the end of the
bar where he usually sat.
He said it gave him the perfectview of who came down the
stairs and what was happening inhis club.
Mick, I thought you were goingto get some more gear for the
(25:11):
weekend.
He said to me Mate, yeah, I am.
I just had to find Betty andask her about something.
I replied Now that somethingwas to buy with the brothers,
but I wasn't going to tell himthat.
Well, I have an ounce I cangive you now.
He said I'd have to go and getthe money.
I said and you don't like doingbusiness in the club?
I reminded him no, no, I wasn'tgoing to.
(25:33):
I have to go and get it too.
Meet me at the Cosmo in abouthalf an hour.
Can you do that?
He asked.
Yeah, an hour would be better.
I replied Now, the Cosmo was awell-known cafe bar.
It was a place that any crookwas to be seen and sometimes
many coppers.
It had the front part as wellas the back area usually where
deals were made and done withoutprying eyes.
(25:54):
I left and went back to my car.
As I was walking back, I rangthe controller and told him that
I had to come up blank on Betty, but Alphonse wanted me to buy
some more speed from him tonight.
That required him to go intothe office, get a drawdown of
cash and have it approved andsigned off, hence why I needed
the hour.
That was done and I met mycontroller on the street not far
(26:16):
from police headquarters.
He handed me the money and wehad a bit of a chat.
Since he was out, he decided hewould go and have a coffee Guess
where.
He arrived about 10 minutesbefore and was sitting out on
the footpath of part of the cafe.
I walked in and tried not tolook at him or acknowledge him
or that I even knew him.
I went down the side and out tothe back room.
(26:39):
Now there were about 10 or sopeople sitting at three tables.
Alphonse was sitting in a boothby himself.
I walked straight up to thebooth and sat down opposite him.
Mick, he said, nodded his head,mate, I have got to stop all
this running around.
I said Do you want your gear ornot?
He asked me.
He appeared a little short.
Mate, yeah, is everythingalright?
(27:00):
You were all good when I leftyou an hour ago at the club.
I said yeah, we just had somedickhead bucks party.
Come in.
He said Mate, let's make thisquick, then I'll get you back to
the club.
I replied I pulled out threegrand in $150 notes, all rolled
into a bundle with a rubber bandaround them.
I was using my right hand, asit was closest to the wall and
(27:22):
the hardest to see.
I passed it under the table tohim.
Do you want to count it?
I asked Nah, mick, I trust you.
He said, and with that hepassed me something under the
table.
It was obviously a plastic bagand had something powder-like in
it.
From the feel, I pulled into mylap, sat back and had a look.
It was pinkish, white in colourand looked crystallised.
(27:45):
That is good gear, mick, hesaid to me I'll be able to jump
on that for sure.
I said Pleasure doing businesswith you.
With that I put the bag in myjacket pocket and went to get up
.
Mate, have a good night.
I said yeah, do you want tocome back for a drink?
He said Nah, better, not Toomany jacks around tonight.
I don't want to get caughtholding all of this.
(28:06):
Yeah, fair enough, alphonsesaid.
We both got up and left together.
As we got to the front I shookhis hand.
He walked off down towards hisclub and I walked off in the
other direction to my car.
As this was happening, mycontroller got up, paid his bill
and walked off behind me.
I literally had to turn aroundand see who was following me
before I realised it was him.
(28:27):
I was that paranoid of gettingrolled and having the speed
stolen.
Jumpy munch, he said, as hesmiled at me.
We got back to my car and Idrove him back to his.
We went to my apartment wherewe did the lodging of the drugs
as an exhibit and I made somenotes.
It was well after midnight, somy controller left to go home
and I decided to try and get agood night's sleep.
(28:48):
Not more than 10 minutes later,my phone rang.
All I could hear was yellingand music in the background.
I looked at the number and itwas one of the boys.
They were out having a bignight Seemed only fair that I go
and join them.
Luckily, we didn't end up inany strip clubs, but we did end
up at the casino and again I wasmade to stand on my own, as per
(29:09):
usual.
I did, however, win some moneyon the crats table that night.
That's all we have time fortoday's episode.
Make sure you catch up nextTuesday when I detail the buys I
had with the brothers.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for listening toWhisper in the Shadows my true
(29:29):
stories of a real-lifeundercover cop.
I hope you've enjoyed thatepisode.
In the next one we'll exploremore exciting stories from my
operations.
Please make sure you subscribeto the podcast so you never miss
an episode.
Lastly, if you're an ex-COVIDoperative or undercover police
officer, I would love to chat toyou about your experiences or,
if you're feeling dangerous,tell your stories on my podcast.
(29:52):
Please get in contact by myemail, which is
whisperintheshadowspodcast atgmailcom.
I look forward to you joiningme next time.
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