May 20, 2024 • 25 mins
Have you ever walked a mile in the shoes of an undercover cop? I'm Michael Bates, and I'm peeling back the veil on the pulse-pounding world of covert police operations. My latest podcast episode plunges you into the heart of the action, where I share the intense strategy and stomach-churning risks that come with the territory. Every moment is a high-wire act of maintaining trust and gathering irrefutable evidence against criminals, all while keeping a razor-sharp focus on safety. From the edgy brother duo notorious for their sexual aggression to the critical role of trusted contacts like Betty, these are the stories that don't make the six o'clock news.
Wrapping up the episode, "Whisper in the Shadows" isn't just a podcast—it's a gathering place for the brave men and women who've navigated a world shrouded in darkness. I extend an open invitation to my fellow former covert operatives and undercover officers to join the conversation and add their voices to the chorus of unsung heroes. We celebrate the camaraderie that carries us through the aftermath of high-stakes operations and the personal sacrifices made in the line of duty. So, tune in, subscribe, and brace yourself for a journey into the shadows where truth is often stranger and more thrilling than fiction.
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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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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 to Whisper in theShadows podcast.
I hope you're enjoying the truestories of my journey as an
undercover cop.
Last week I had the near misswith Alphonse and buying drugs
(01:44):
in my apartment, which wasrecorded as well as the buy,
where I thought my controllerwas someone going to roll me.
During this, betty had beenpushing me to do a buy from the
brothers.
Now we had had discussions andthere was an agreement to buy
gear from them, but it had justnever happened.
There are probably a lot ofreasons why, but I think the
main reason was I didn't want toput myself in a situation where
(02:06):
I was alone with them.
Given their relationship withBetty, they both believed I was
Betty's boy toy, so it wouldn'tbe a stretch for them to want to
try and get some of this ass,so to speak.
This was going to put me in anuncomfortable position where I
may have to physically resisttheir advances.
Now I may be making light of ithere, but it was a genuine
concern that ran through my mind.
(02:27):
I mean, look at it like thisBoth had a sexual relationship
with Betty where they were thedominant person.
They treated her as their toy.
I was Betty's toy, supposedlysomewhat submissive, albeit a
top like them and not a bottom.
But everyone knows thestatistics of female abuse.
I would suggest that the ratesin the gay community are
(02:49):
somewhat higher, with even lessbeing reported for a multitude
of reasons, many of which are avery poor reflection of society
and therefore policing ingeneral.
But I was not going to putmyself in a situation where I
could become a possible victimfor this or any other job.
My well-being on that front wasmore important than catching
(03:12):
some drug dealer Now.
Early in the following week Iwas at Betty's place and was
discussing how I was going tobuy gear from them.
I decided it was going to be ather place, either with one or
both of them.
I explained why and Betty justlaughed it off.
But there there was somethingthat said I was probably right.
I didn't take it any further,but I did say she could talk to
me if she wanted to.
The look was enough andsometimes you just know.
(03:36):
Anyway, we agreed to do the buyat her place.
Betty called the older brother,yakov, on loudspeaker and agreed
to meet him at her place thefollowing evening.
The good thing about it beingon loudspeaker was I could
easily record it.
Recording phone conversationsor any conversation was never
the easiest thing to do.
I have spoken about the issuesof wearing tape recorders,
(03:57):
especially placing them in yourjocks, both from burns through
to targets grabbing your crotchto see if you were wearing a
wire.
I still don't know how she knewthat was where the tapes were
usually hidden, but nonethelessrecording telephone calls was
always the most difficult.
That is because you couldn'talways have your phone on
loudspeaker At the time.
The law also said that arecording was inadmissible if
(04:20):
the recording device wasattached or touching the phone
itself.
We developed ways of being ableto record telephone calls
without the need to contact tothe phone, but still it was very
difficult to do this in theopen.
It was even more difficult whenyou're driving.
Now I know I said I wasn't goingto tell you anyone else's
stories, but this is one thatwas given as a do not try this
(04:43):
at home example during ourtraining, but also shows the
absurdity of undercover policing.
Now, allegedly there was a UCwho, during his job, had a
target who was actually blind.
So the UC would go to thetarget's house and do deals with
him.
Now I'm not sure how that allworked, but he did buy a lot of
drugs.
This one day he had to drivethe target to his supplier to
(05:06):
get more drugs.
This was how trusted he hadbecome.
It was a relatively long driveon a major arterial highway.
The UC and the target engagedin general conversation and then
the target started talkingabout his business and that of
the larger parts of thesyndicate for want of a better
descriptor.
He belonged to.
The UC had his trusty taperecorder in his car just in case
(05:29):
he needed to use it on a buy atsome stage.
Now, in those days these thingsweren't rechargeable.
They ran ran on finite lifebatteries.
I usually kept a pack ofbatteries both in my car glove
box and also around my safehouse.
So here they are driving alongthe highway, the UC and the
blind target.
The UC decides hey, this ispretty good information he's
(05:51):
given me and also prettyincriminating.
I should probably record it.
So he pulls out his taperecorder there in the car.
As they are driving along, heis asking questions and the
target is answering himApparently he was actually
talking into the tape and thenputting questions and the target
is answering him.
Apparently he was actuallytalking into the tape and then
putting it toward the target,not unlike how journos use their
phones these days to record theconversation.
(06:12):
What that must have looked liketo other people on the road is
anyone's guess, but he got theentire conversation recorded.
He was lucky he hadn't beenseen by anyone he was dealing
with, because that would havebeen hard to explain away.
Not unlike the time he was seenby another target talking on
his phone.
The target watched him set upthe way we recorded it and then
(06:33):
have the phone call and thentake it all apart.
He was asked by that target andthe UCF opted off, as the
target must have been mistakenand given an excuse of what he
really saw.
I'm pretty sure that broughtdealings with that target to an
abrupt end.
Okay, so back to the brothers.
The deal was set up and Bettyhad decided she was going to be
(06:54):
there but not be there, if thatmakes sense.
She was going to let me use herpremises, but she was going to
excuse herself from the actualproceedings, which was fair
enough.
I was going to buy half anounce this time just to see how
the gear was and then makeregular one ounce buys every
three or four days.
Well, that was a story I'd comeup with.
I go home and I call mycontroller and tell him that the
(07:17):
buy was set up for thefollowing evening.
That night I went home, my realhome, and spent some quality
time there.
The next morning I headed intothe covert safe house office and
then into the city to meet upwith my controller in the drug
squad.
My controller and I talkedthrough the deal and all the
possibilities.
Now, these guys were of easternEuropean descent, as in, born
(07:38):
overseas and migrated when theywere young due to the conflict
in their country.
They were hard men from aculture where showing you were a
man was ingrained, so there wasalways a concern of them being
violent to prove a point.
And then I had my otherconcerns.
My controller decided he wouldride shotgun for this buy and he
parked nearby just in case hegot them.
(08:00):
Rather, we got the moneytogether, all $50 and $100 notes
photocopied and signed for Lastminute contingencies were made.
Then I took off home with themoney for a nana nap.
It was a tough life beingundercover after all.
Later that afternoon I make sureeverything is set up for the
meet.
I give Betty a call and talkher through how I wanted the buy
to happen and she was on board.
(08:20):
I touch base with my controller, who was still in the office,
and let him know that I wasgoing to go around to Betty's at
about 7pm.
I was meeting Yakov at 7.30 andwas planning on doing the buy
pretty quick, smart and notstaying long.
Well, that was what I thoughtthe plan was, and you all know
me and plans.
So I go and grab some dinnernear by to Betty's and then rock
(08:43):
around to her place.
My controller calls me as I'marriving to say he was in the
area.
I was going to call him asYakov arrived so he could be
close by, and by arrive I meanknocking on the door,
sophisticated hey.
I go upstairs and down theoutside veranda of the park and
it's passing a couple of thestrippers I knew who were
heading back into work.
(09:03):
I knock on Betty's door andwait.
A couple of minutes later Iknock again.
Now Betty's place isn't thatbig, so it's not like she
wouldn't have heard me, norwould she have had far to go to
the door.
Another few minutes pass by andI was about to knock again when
the door cracks open.
Betty peers out from behind thedoor, then opens it slightly
(09:25):
wider.
Oh, it's only you.
She said yeah, of course.
Who else would it be?
Why are you hiding?
I asked it doesn't matter, Ithought you were someone else.
Come in, darling, she said.
Betty had a smile on her face,but it was a fake one.
Something had happened and shewasn't as out there as she
normally was.
We walk inside and she puts herhead out the door before
(09:47):
closing it to do a quick look upand down the balcony Again, not
like her.
Do you want to tell me what'swrong?
I asked no, nothing, just someguy who was harassing me.
She replied Betty, you lookkind of upset.
Do you still want to go throughwith this deal?
I asked yes, of course It'll befine, nothing to worry about.
(10:09):
She replied.
I wasn't really convinced, butshe had her Betty smile on and
had composed herself.
Have you heard from Yarko?
I asked her.
Yes, both he and Bogdan arecoming Now, slightly alarmed.
I said wait, said wait, what?
Both of them?
That isn't what we agreed withYarko.
(10:29):
I said no, I know, but theyboth wanted to be here for the
first one, she saidmatter-of-factly.
It was now nearly 7 20 pm, whichmeant they would be here soon,
most likely early.
I didn't want to risk callingmy controller about this, but I
was also a little anxious.
Then came the knock at the door.
Fuck, I said to myself under mybreath.
Here we go.
(10:50):
Betty said to me Wait, give mea second before you open the
door, I said.
I then got out my phone andcalled my controller.
They're here, I said.
Both of the brothers yes, Iknow, I saw them arrive.
My controller replied you all.
Good, yeah, I will be, I saidand hung up the phone.
Okay, let them in, I said toBetty.
(11:11):
She greeted the brothers at thedoor and told them I was
waiting in the lounge room.
I was sitting in one of theextra chairs opposite where
Betty usually sat waiting forthem.
I had my money in my jacketpocket and no recording device
this time around.
I think it became a bit of aritual or a superstition for me
that I didn't record first buys.
A bit like when footballersdon't wash their lucky DTs,
(11:32):
except probably not as gross.
Yarko and Bogdan saunter intothe living room with Betty
behind them.
Yarko, bogdan.
I said with a nod Michael, howare we?
Yarko asked Good, good, eagerto do this deal and get the gear
out to my customers so they cantell me it is good and we can
make this a regular thing.
(11:53):
I said, looking him in the eyes, let's sit at the table, it
will probably be easier.
I said so you're not going totest it?
Bogdan asked.
Now, this was what I wanted totry and not have happen,
placating both of the brotherswith my answers.
One, I could convince, but ifthe other one even slightly
didn't believe me, then that wasgoing to cause all sorts of
issues, as blood is thicker thanwater.
(12:13):
Now, I had never and did nevertry any of the product I was
buying.
I knew very well where thatcould lead, both in a legal
sense ie in the court andallegations as well as health
wise.
How am I going to talk my wayout of this one?
I thought to myself.
As we sat down, I eyed Bogdan upto see if I could get a measure
of him.
He was clearly the youngerbrother and probably trying to
(12:35):
prove himself to his big brother, as happens the world over.
I didn't need that shit tonight.
No, I'm doing a lot of drivingtonight to see customers at
different clubs, so I don't wantto do something and get pulled
over whilst I'm holding.
I said to him, you know what Imean.
Seems a bit strange.
Bogdan said as he sat down howdo you know Betty?
(12:57):
Again, he asked.
I looked at Yarko.
I mean really, we're going todo this.
I said to him, ignoring hislittle brother.
Looking at his little brother,yarko nodded.
It's all right, betty trustshim, so should should we?
And there was the crux of it.
Bogdan didn't trust me, anoutsider who had lobbed up and
(13:17):
waving himself into theirbusiness.
I mean, he was right.
Of course they shouldn't havetrusted me.
I was a narc, an undercover cop.
But that was the game we allplayed, wasn't it?
But the little exchange made medefinitely want to get out as
soon as I could.
Betty excused herself and saidshe had something to she had to
do.
Now.
That was the plan all along,but it made me feel even more
(13:40):
anxious.
I tried not to show it and wasbeing a little bit showy, or
maybe even flamboyant with themto cover it.
Do you have the money?
Yarko asked.
I do, indeed.
I replied and made a show ofpulling it out and unfolding it.
Put it on the table in front ofme Again.
If it was going to go wrong,this is when it would be the
point of exchange.
(14:00):
Money and drugs can do strangethings to rational people, let
alone people who probably use alittle too much of their own
product.
And I am hoping you have thegear.
I asked yes, we do.
Yarko said, nodding to Bogdan.
With that, bogdan produces thereason we were all there.
Well, the reason I was there,they were there for the money,
(14:24):
obviously.
Bogdan had a clipsial bag with acrystal-like powder that was a
pinkish-white colour.
Nice, I said Can I jump on that?
Yeah, I wouldn't too much, itis pretty good.
But you want them coming back?
Yarko said I'd do maybe a thirdchimed in Bogdan.
Yeah right, I said.
(14:44):
I handed the money to Yarko andI then had to sit there while
he counted it out to make sure Ihad the agreed amount.
It took him two goes to getthere, but in the end both he
and Bogdan were happy.
Bogdan then slid the bag acrossBetty's dining room table.
Thanks for this, I said.
As I scooped it up, a quickexamination.
I put it straight into myjacket pocket.
Well, I think I might have toget home and package this up and
get out.
(15:05):
I said to no one in particularwhy don't you do it here?
Bogdan asked Little shit.
I thought to myself.
He just wasn't going to let itgo, was he?
This is Betty's place and Iwouldn't put her in that
situation.
I said but you, bogdan startedBogdan, enough, okay, yarko said
to him.
Bogdan's face looked ashen ashe shut up.
(15:30):
I think that is my cue to leave.
I said Betty, I'm going, darling.
I called out.
Betty had gotten changed andspruced herself up.
She looked immaculate.
Whatever was worrying herearlier?
She had become a chameleon andput it behind her.
How did we all go?
She asked I think this is thestart of a good business deal.
I said I agree, I think we'llbe doing a lot of business
(15:53):
together from now on.
Bogdan replied I'll walk you tothe door, betty said.
I gave both yakov and bogdan ahandshake, took betty by the arm
and walked out of the lounge.
As we got to the door, I saidyou certainly scrub up, all
right, are you sure everythingis okay, cheeky bugger?
She replied but yes, I'm fine,darling, don't you worry about
me.
Okay, I'll call you tomorrow.
(16:15):
And with that I left.
For some reason my pace down thestairs was quicker than usual.
I literally ran, walked downthe stairs and out to my car.
I gave my controller the headsup I'd left and organized to
meet him at a place on the otherside of town.
When we got there we had aquick chat about what had
happened during the buy and alsoabout the fact that Bogdan was
(16:35):
asking a lot of questions andseemed to be less convinced of
who I was.
My controller said that hewould look into it, but the best
thing to do was to call Bettythe following day and find out
what was said to her.
If she thought there was anissue, then we would reassess.
Then I handed the drugs over tomy controller, who then took
them out to be lodged.
(16:57):
He was quite happy because wemade buys from the major targets
we identified and things weremoving along.
Now I didn't think we would getmuch further than the brothers
and we definitely wouldn't getfurther than Alphonse.
No one ever had.
There was a possibility ofpicking up some other bit
players, but my gut was tellingme that this was who we were
going to get.
(17:17):
But you just never knew.
In this game there was always asurprise twist that you never
saw coming.
Anyway, I headed back to my safehouse and decided to have an
early night.
I got some amazing Chinese foodfrom a little shop close by and
settled in and watched a video.
Okay, you're right, I didn'twatch the video.
(17:38):
I did have Chinese, though, andjust as I finished came a call
that you always dreaded Mate,the boys are going out, are you
in Now?
I could never say no to thatcall.
That may have something to dowith why I got divorced during
my time in the police, or it mayjust be because I was a social
animal, or maybe it was becauseI valued the mates I had during
(17:58):
that time and they allowed me todecompress and tell the stories
and get all the crap out of oursystems.
Whatever the reason, it turnedinto a late night at one of the
favorite establishments.
I won't go into too much detailof what happened, but we ended
up at the home of two of theguys still drinking.
It was very late and there wasa conversation about piercing
(18:19):
parts of your body, because Ihad my nose pierced and one of
the guys said he would piercehis foreskin, for a six pack
Challenge was accepted on thepromise of said six pack, and he
duly did that.
We all thought it was hilarious.
The next morning when we woke,it turned out that during the
night it had come out forcefully.
He was in a fair bit of pain,as you can imagine, and we all
(18:41):
felt so guilty we went andbought him a full carton instead
.
You can't say we weren'tcompassionate.
I got home eventually, afterI'd sobered up enough to drive.
I called my controller todiscuss the events of the
previous evening with thebrothers and also the piercing
incident, and on reflection hewas of the same opinion.
We didn't think we would getmuch further.
(19:02):
I then called Betty andstrangely she didn't answer.
There was no such thing asmessage banks back then, so I
left it for an hour or so.
I tried again.
The call just rang out.
Now this was kind of strange,as Betty usually always answered
or at the very least calledback Another hour or so and I
make another call Again, nothing.
(19:24):
I called my controller and toldhim about the calls to Betty.
He agreed it was strange, butalso reminded me about her
medical condition and she mightbe having treatment.
I hoped that was the case.
I went into the office and wasdoing some statements and some
transcribing.
When my controller called me hehad managed to speak to Betty
and after the previous night shehad said she was out.
(19:44):
I wasn't sure what that meant.
I agreed to go and meet him atmy place so we could discuss
this more.
I get home and he is waitingfor me there.
We go inside and he basicallysays that Betty has gotten cold
feet.
It appears Bogdan was verysketchy about me and was making
threats of me being a copper andhow he would react.
That spooked her to the pointwhere she decided she was out.
(20:07):
I could steal with the targets,but she wasn't going to be
involved.
According to Betty, yarkodidn't agree with his brother,
but Bogdan was sus.
Decision was going to have tobe made.
Do we deal with Yarko andexclude Bogdan?
Was there a risk that Bogdancould turn up during a buy and
just how sus was he on me?
(20:27):
We had a very frank discussionand my gut feel was we weren't
going to get any further.
My controller agreed, but itwasn't our decision per se.
So he went back to the drugsquad officers to have a chat
with the inspector.
The decision was eventually madeto close up the op.
I didn't have any more contactwith the targets and I stayed
away from the strip clubs forthe time being.
(20:48):
I did call Betty but again gotno response.
The close was planned to happenin a fortnight's time from the
decision being made.
There was a lot to do betweennow and then.
The main thing was for me tomove out of my safe house.
To start with.
Now, that was a big project initself, given the state of the
place.
I had a lot of cleaning I hadto do.
(21:09):
I could have left it as thelease was in my covert name, but
I didn't feel right doing that,or rather my controller didn't
feel right doing that.
The drug squad and surveillancedid some more, finding out about
where everyone lived and wherethe targets were going to be
raided.
Now, remember, I had never beento anyone's house except for
the guys I had met at the stripclub.
Whilst some of this legwork wasdone, as we were going, the
(21:32):
decision came abruptly, whichmeant these things had to be
sped up.
The home addresses wereeventually verified and places
of work etc were also worked out.
General schedules ie work weredeveloped, so we knew what time
to execute the warrants and alsowhere to ensure we had the best
chance of 1.
Grabbing the targets and 2.
Finding them with drugs andmoney and whatever else they had
(21:54):
.
I had no input into any of this, thankfully.
I just did up my statements andkept transcribing tapes, so the
evidence was there for theknock teams on the day of the
raids.
Not a lot of fun, if I'm beinghonest, but necessary.
Apart from having to attend theoffice every few days, I didn't
really have much to do.
(22:14):
It was kind of like a holiday.
To be honest, that was one ofboth the good things and bad
things of working undercover.
There was a fair amount ofdowntime, of hurry up and wait,
if you will.
For someone who was alwayslooking for things to do, that
was a little bit of a problemand may have contributed to
mischief being gotten into in mypersonal life.
Now, I'm not blaming work forthat, but I'm pretty sure if I
(22:36):
didn't have as much downtime Ipossibly wouldn't have been as
dumb as I was Now.
I can hear you saying toyourselves what the hell?
What did he do?
It is personal life stuff andto protect those involved,
especially my ex-wife, that isall I'm saying.
So it came time to close the opand do all the raids etc.
I had tried to get in contactwith Betty, despite the
(22:57):
suggestion I shouldn't, withoutany luck.
Apparently, my controller didhave contact with her and told
her the op was closing on theday.
That was the last anyone heardfrom her.
It was a pretty standardclosure, to be honest.
I wasn't required at all.
The various raid teams got alltheir targets and I think all of
(23:20):
the targets made fullconversions.
In the subsequent interviews Iknow I didn't have to go to
court for any of these targetsat all.
It was a pretty straightforwardop.
Even if we didn't get the MrBiggs, we still got some pretty
high level players who weresupplying quite a bit of speed
into the nightlife scene.
Now, as I said, I didn't havecontact with Betty again.
I knew she had cancer but Ididn't know just how bad it was
at the time of the op.
My understanding is that ittook its toll and not long after
(23:42):
the op closed.
That was both good and bad.
Good in the sense that shewouldn't have faced any
retribution from the targets.
Bad because I genuinely likedher.
She was a nice person.
With the political storm thatrages over sexuality today, she
was just a guy who preferred tobe a female.
There was no pretension.
There was no railing againstthe machine.
(24:04):
There was no.
You must accept me, it was.
This is who I am, like me ornot?
Because, darling, I don't givea fuck and your opinion can't
hurt me.
That is an attitude I've triedand failed more times than
succeeded in keeping throughoutmy life.
I wasn't as rocked by Betty'sdeath as I was with Susan's, but
(24:26):
still it was sad.
But life goes on, and so did myjourney as an undercover cop.
My next operation would be thelast and it was going to be
slightly challenging for a fewreasons, but that is for next
time.
Thank you for listening toWhisper in the Shadows my true
stories of a real-lifeundercover cop.
I hope you've enjoyed thatepisode.
(24:47):
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.
Please get in contact by myemail, which is
(25:09):
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 to Whisper in theShadows podcast.
I hope you're enjoying the truestories of my journey as an
undercover cop.
Last week I had the near misswith Alphonse and buying drugs
(01:44):
in my apartment, which wasrecorded as well as the buy,
where I thought my controllerwas someone going to roll me.
During this, betty had beenpushing me to do a buy from the
brothers.
Now we had had discussions andthere was an agreement to buy
gear from them, but it had justnever happened.
There are probably a lot ofreasons why, but I think the
main reason was I didn't want toput myself in a situation where
(02:06):
I was alone with them.
Given their relationship withBetty, they both believed I was
Betty's boy toy, so it wouldn'tbe a stretch for them to want to
try and get some of this ass,so to speak.
This was going to put me in anuncomfortable position where I
may have to physically resisttheir advances.
Now I may be making light of ithere, but it was a genuine
concern that ran through my mind.
(02:27):
I mean, look at it like thisBoth had a sexual relationship
with Betty where they were thedominant person.
They treated her as their toy.
I was Betty's toy, supposedlysomewhat submissive, albeit a
top like them and not a bottom.
But everyone knows thestatistics of female abuse.
I would suggest that the ratesin the gay community are
(02:49):
somewhat higher, with even lessbeing reported for a multitude
of reasons, many of which are avery poor reflection of society
and therefore policing ingeneral.
But I was not going to putmyself in a situation where I
could become a possible victimfor this or any other job.
My well-being on that front wasmore important than catching
(03:12):
some drug dealer Now.
Early in the following week Iwas at Betty's place and was
discussing how I was going tobuy gear from them.
I decided it was going to be ather place, either with one or
both of them.
I explained why and Betty justlaughed it off.
But there there was somethingthat said I was probably right.
I didn't take it any further,but I did say she could talk to
me if she wanted to.
The look was enough andsometimes you just know.
(03:36):
Anyway, we agreed to do the buyat her place.
Betty called the older brother,yakov, on loudspeaker and agreed
to meet him at her place thefollowing evening.
The good thing about it beingon loudspeaker was I could
easily record it.
Recording phone conversationsor any conversation was never
the easiest thing to do.
I have spoken about the issuesof wearing tape recorders,
(03:57):
especially placing them in yourjocks, both from burns through
to targets grabbing your crotchto see if you were wearing a
wire.
I still don't know how she knewthat was where the tapes were
usually hidden, but nonethelessrecording telephone calls was
always the most difficult.
That is because you couldn'talways have your phone on
loudspeaker At the time.
The law also said that arecording was inadmissible if
(04:20):
the recording device wasattached or touching the phone
itself.
We developed ways of being ableto record telephone calls
without the need to contact tothe phone, but still it was very
difficult to do this in theopen.
It was even more difficult whenyou're driving.
Now I know I said I wasn't goingto tell you anyone else's
stories, but this is one thatwas given as a do not try this
(04:43):
at home example during ourtraining, but also shows the
absurdity of undercover policing.
Now, allegedly there was a UCwho, during his job, had a
target who was actually blind.
So the UC would go to thetarget's house and do deals with
him.
Now I'm not sure how that allworked, but he did buy a lot of
drugs.
This one day he had to drivethe target to his supplier to
(05:06):
get more drugs.
This was how trusted he hadbecome.
It was a relatively long driveon a major arterial highway.
The UC and the target engagedin general conversation and then
the target started talkingabout his business and that of
the larger parts of thesyndicate for want of a better
descriptor.
He belonged to.
The UC had his trusty taperecorder in his car just in case
(05:29):
he needed to use it on a buy atsome stage.
Now, in those days these thingsweren't rechargeable.
They ran ran on finite lifebatteries.
I usually kept a pack ofbatteries both in my car glove
box and also around my safehouse.
So here they are driving alongthe highway, the UC and the
blind target.
The UC decides hey, this ispretty good information he's
(05:51):
given me and also prettyincriminating.
I should probably record it.
So he pulls out his taperecorder there in the car.
As they are driving along, heis asking questions and the
target is answering himApparently he was actually
talking into the tape and thenputting questions and the target
is answering him.
Apparently he was actuallytalking into the tape and then
putting it toward the target,not unlike how journos use their
phones these days to record theconversation.
(06:12):
What that must have looked liketo other people on the road is
anyone's guess, but he got theentire conversation recorded.
He was lucky he hadn't beenseen by anyone he was dealing
with, because that would havebeen hard to explain away.
Not unlike the time he was seenby another target talking on
his phone.
The target watched him set upthe way we recorded it and then
(06:33):
have the phone call and thentake it all apart.
He was asked by that target andthe UCF opted off, as the
target must have been mistakenand given an excuse of what he
really saw.
I'm pretty sure that broughtdealings with that target to an
abrupt end.
Okay, so back to the brothers.
The deal was set up and Bettyhad decided she was going to be
(06:54):
there but not be there, if thatmakes sense.
She was going to let me use herpremises, but she was going to
excuse herself from the actualproceedings, which was fair
enough.
I was going to buy half anounce this time just to see how
the gear was and then makeregular one ounce buys every
three or four days.
Well, that was a story I'd comeup with.
I go home and I call mycontroller and tell him that the
(07:17):
buy was set up for thefollowing evening.
That night I went home, my realhome, and spent some quality
time there.
The next morning I headed intothe covert safe house office and
then into the city to meet upwith my controller in the drug
squad.
My controller and I talkedthrough the deal and all the
possibilities.
Now, these guys were of easternEuropean descent, as in, born
(07:38):
overseas and migrated when theywere young due to the conflict
in their country.
They were hard men from aculture where showing you were a
man was ingrained, so there wasalways a concern of them being
violent to prove a point.
And then I had my otherconcerns.
My controller decided he wouldride shotgun for this buy and he
parked nearby just in case hegot them.
(08:00):
Rather, we got the moneytogether, all $50 and $100 notes
photocopied and signed for Lastminute contingencies were made.
Then I took off home with themoney for a nana nap.
It was a tough life beingundercover after all.
Later that afternoon I make sureeverything is set up for the
meet.
I give Betty a call and talkher through how I wanted the buy
to happen and she was on board.
(08:20):
I touch base with my controller, who was still in the office,
and let him know that I wasgoing to go around to Betty's at
about 7pm.
I was meeting Yakov at 7.30 andwas planning on doing the buy
pretty quick, smart and notstaying long.
Well, that was what I thoughtthe plan was, and you all know
me and plans.
So I go and grab some dinnernear by to Betty's and then rock
(08:43):
around to her place.
My controller calls me as I'marriving to say he was in the
area.
I was going to call him asYakov arrived so he could be
close by, and by arrive I meanknocking on the door,
sophisticated hey.
I go upstairs and down theoutside veranda of the park and
it's passing a couple of thestrippers I knew who were
heading back into work.
(09:03):
I knock on Betty's door andwait.
A couple of minutes later Iknock again.
Now Betty's place isn't thatbig, so it's not like she
wouldn't have heard me, norwould she have had far to go to
the door.
Another few minutes pass by andI was about to knock again when
the door cracks open.
Betty peers out from behind thedoor, then opens it slightly
(09:25):
wider.
Oh, it's only you.
She said yeah, of course.
Who else would it be?
Why are you hiding?
I asked it doesn't matter, Ithought you were someone else.
Come in, darling, she said.
Betty had a smile on her face,but it was a fake one.
Something had happened and shewasn't as out there as she
normally was.
We walk inside and she puts herhead out the door before
(09:47):
closing it to do a quick look upand down the balcony Again, not
like her.
Do you want to tell me what'swrong?
I asked no, nothing, just someguy who was harassing me.
She replied Betty, you lookkind of upset.
Do you still want to go throughwith this deal?
I asked yes, of course It'll befine, nothing to worry about.
(10:09):
She replied.
I wasn't really convinced, butshe had her Betty smile on and
had composed herself.
Have you heard from Yarko?
I asked her.
Yes, both he and Bogdan arecoming Now, slightly alarmed.
I said wait, said wait, what?
Both of them?
That isn't what we agreed withYarko.
(10:29):
I said no, I know, but theyboth wanted to be here for the
first one, she saidmatter-of-factly.
It was now nearly 7 20 pm, whichmeant they would be here soon,
most likely early.
I didn't want to risk callingmy controller about this, but I
was also a little anxious.
Then came the knock at the door.
Fuck, I said to myself under mybreath.
Here we go.
(10:50):
Betty said to me Wait, give mea second before you open the
door, I said.
I then got out my phone andcalled my controller.
They're here, I said.
Both of the brothers yes, Iknow, I saw them arrive.
My controller replied you all.
Good, yeah, I will be, I saidand hung up the phone.
Okay, let them in, I said toBetty.
(11:11):
She greeted the brothers at thedoor and told them I was
waiting in the lounge room.
I was sitting in one of theextra chairs opposite where
Betty usually sat waiting forthem.
I had my money in my jacketpocket and no recording device
this time around.
I think it became a bit of aritual or a superstition for me
that I didn't record first buys.
A bit like when footballersdon't wash their lucky DTs,
(11:32):
except probably not as gross.
Yarko and Bogdan saunter intothe living room with Betty
behind them.
Yarko, bogdan.
I said with a nod Michael, howare we?
Yarko asked Good, good, eagerto do this deal and get the gear
out to my customers so they cantell me it is good and we can
make this a regular thing.
(11:53):
I said, looking him in the eyes, let's sit at the table, it
will probably be easier.
I said so you're not going totest it?
Bogdan asked.
Now, this was what I wanted totry and not have happen,
placating both of the brotherswith my answers.
One, I could convince, but ifthe other one even slightly
didn't believe me, then that wasgoing to cause all sorts of
issues, as blood is thicker thanwater.
(12:13):
Now, I had never and did nevertry any of the product I was
buying.
I knew very well where thatcould lead, both in a legal
sense ie in the court andallegations as well as health
wise.
How am I going to talk my wayout of this one?
I thought to myself.
As we sat down, I eyed Bogdan upto see if I could get a measure
of him.
He was clearly the youngerbrother and probably trying to
(12:35):
prove himself to his big brother, as happens the world over.
I didn't need that shit tonight.
No, I'm doing a lot of drivingtonight to see customers at
different clubs, so I don't wantto do something and get pulled
over whilst I'm holding.
I said to him, you know what Imean.
Seems a bit strange.
Bogdan said as he sat down howdo you know Betty?
(12:57):
Again, he asked.
I looked at Yarko.
I mean really, we're going todo this.
I said to him, ignoring hislittle brother.
Looking at his little brother,yarko nodded.
It's all right, betty trustshim, so should should we?
And there was the crux of it.
Bogdan didn't trust me, anoutsider who had lobbed up and
(13:17):
waving himself into theirbusiness.
I mean, he was right.
Of course they shouldn't havetrusted me.
I was a narc, an undercover cop.
But that was the game we allplayed, wasn't it?
But the little exchange made medefinitely want to get out as
soon as I could.
Betty excused herself and saidshe had something to she had to
do.
Now.
That was the plan all along,but it made me feel even more
(13:40):
anxious.
I tried not to show it and wasbeing a little bit showy, or
maybe even flamboyant with themto cover it.
Do you have the money?
Yarko asked.
I do, indeed.
I replied and made a show ofpulling it out and unfolding it.
Put it on the table in front ofme Again.
If it was going to go wrong,this is when it would be the
point of exchange.
(14:00):
Money and drugs can do strangethings to rational people, let
alone people who probably use alittle too much of their own
product.
And I am hoping you have thegear.
I asked yes, we do.
Yarko said, nodding to Bogdan.
With that, bogdan produces thereason we were all there.
Well, the reason I was there,they were there for the money,
(14:24):
obviously.
Bogdan had a clipsial bag with acrystal-like powder that was a
pinkish-white colour.
Nice, I said Can I jump on that?
Yeah, I wouldn't too much, itis pretty good.
But you want them coming back?
Yarko said I'd do maybe a thirdchimed in Bogdan.
Yeah right, I said.
(14:44):
I handed the money to Yarko andI then had to sit there while
he counted it out to make sure Ihad the agreed amount.
It took him two goes to getthere, but in the end both he
and Bogdan were happy.
Bogdan then slid the bag acrossBetty's dining room table.
Thanks for this, I said.
As I scooped it up, a quickexamination.
I put it straight into myjacket pocket.
Well, I think I might have toget home and package this up and
get out.
(15:05):
I said to no one in particularwhy don't you do it here?
Bogdan asked Little shit.
I thought to myself.
He just wasn't going to let itgo, was he?
This is Betty's place and Iwouldn't put her in that
situation.
I said but you, bogdan startedBogdan, enough, okay, yarko said
to him.
Bogdan's face looked ashen ashe shut up.
(15:30):
I think that is my cue to leave.
I said Betty, I'm going, darling.
I called out.
Betty had gotten changed andspruced herself up.
She looked immaculate.
Whatever was worrying herearlier?
She had become a chameleon andput it behind her.
How did we all go?
She asked I think this is thestart of a good business deal.
I said I agree, I think we'llbe doing a lot of business
(15:53):
together from now on.
Bogdan replied I'll walk you tothe door, betty said.
I gave both yakov and bogdan ahandshake, took betty by the arm
and walked out of the lounge.
As we got to the door, I saidyou certainly scrub up, all
right, are you sure everythingis okay, cheeky bugger?
She replied but yes, I'm fine,darling, don't you worry about
me.
Okay, I'll call you tomorrow.
(16:15):
And with that I left.
For some reason my pace down thestairs was quicker than usual.
I literally ran, walked downthe stairs and out to my car.
I gave my controller the headsup I'd left and organized to
meet him at a place on the otherside of town.
When we got there we had aquick chat about what had
happened during the buy and alsoabout the fact that Bogdan was
(16:35):
asking a lot of questions andseemed to be less convinced of
who I was.
My controller said that hewould look into it, but the best
thing to do was to call Bettythe following day and find out
what was said to her.
If she thought there was anissue, then we would reassess.
Then I handed the drugs over tomy controller, who then took
them out to be lodged.
(16:57):
He was quite happy because wemade buys from the major targets
we identified and things weremoving along.
Now I didn't think we would getmuch further than the brothers
and we definitely wouldn't getfurther than Alphonse.
No one ever had.
There was a possibility ofpicking up some other bit
players, but my gut was tellingme that this was who we were
going to get.
(17:17):
But you just never knew.
In this game there was always asurprise twist that you never
saw coming.
Anyway, I headed back to my safehouse and decided to have an
early night.
I got some amazing Chinese foodfrom a little shop close by and
settled in and watched a video.
Okay, you're right, I didn'twatch the video.
(17:38):
I did have Chinese, though, andjust as I finished came a call
that you always dreaded Mate,the boys are going out, are you
in Now?
I could never say no to thatcall.
That may have something to dowith why I got divorced during
my time in the police, or it mayjust be because I was a social
animal, or maybe it was becauseI valued the mates I had during
(17:58):
that time and they allowed me todecompress and tell the stories
and get all the crap out of oursystems.
Whatever the reason, it turnedinto a late night at one of the
favorite establishments.
I won't go into too much detailof what happened, but we ended
up at the home of two of theguys still drinking.
It was very late and there wasa conversation about piercing
(18:19):
parts of your body, because Ihad my nose pierced and one of
the guys said he would piercehis foreskin, for a six pack
Challenge was accepted on thepromise of said six pack, and he
duly did that.
We all thought it was hilarious.
The next morning when we woke,it turned out that during the
night it had come out forcefully.
He was in a fair bit of pain,as you can imagine, and we all
(18:41):
felt so guilty we went andbought him a full carton instead
.
You can't say we weren'tcompassionate.
I got home eventually, afterI'd sobered up enough to drive.
I called my controller todiscuss the events of the
previous evening with thebrothers and also the piercing
incident, and on reflection hewas of the same opinion.
We didn't think we would getmuch further.
(19:02):
I then called Betty andstrangely she didn't answer.
There was no such thing asmessage banks back then, so I
left it for an hour or so.
I tried again.
The call just rang out.
Now this was kind of strange,as Betty usually always answered
or at the very least calledback Another hour or so and I
make another call Again, nothing.
(19:24):
I called my controller and toldhim about the calls to Betty.
He agreed it was strange, butalso reminded me about her
medical condition and she mightbe having treatment.
I hoped that was the case.
I went into the office and wasdoing some statements and some
transcribing.
When my controller called me hehad managed to speak to Betty
and after the previous night shehad said she was out.
(19:44):
I wasn't sure what that meant.
I agreed to go and meet him atmy place so we could discuss
this more.
I get home and he is waitingfor me there.
We go inside and he basicallysays that Betty has gotten cold
feet.
It appears Bogdan was verysketchy about me and was making
threats of me being a copper andhow he would react.
That spooked her to the pointwhere she decided she was out.
(20:07):
I could steal with the targets,but she wasn't going to be
involved.
According to Betty, yarkodidn't agree with his brother,
but Bogdan was sus.
Decision was going to have tobe made.
Do we deal with Yarko andexclude Bogdan?
Was there a risk that Bogdancould turn up during a buy and
just how sus was he on me?
(20:27):
We had a very frank discussionand my gut feel was we weren't
going to get any further.
My controller agreed, but itwasn't our decision per se.
So he went back to the drugsquad officers to have a chat
with the inspector.
The decision was eventually madeto close up the op.
I didn't have any more contactwith the targets and I stayed
away from the strip clubs forthe time being.
(20:48):
I did call Betty but again gotno response.
The close was planned to happenin a fortnight's time from the
decision being made.
There was a lot to do betweennow and then.
The main thing was for me tomove out of my safe house.
To start with.
Now, that was a big project initself, given the state of the
place.
I had a lot of cleaning I hadto do.
(21:09):
I could have left it as thelease was in my covert name, but
I didn't feel right doing that,or rather my controller didn't
feel right doing that.
The drug squad and surveillancedid some more, finding out about
where everyone lived and wherethe targets were going to be
raided.
Now, remember, I had never beento anyone's house except for
the guys I had met at the stripclub.
Whilst some of this legwork wasdone, as we were going, the
(21:32):
decision came abruptly, whichmeant these things had to be
sped up.
The home addresses wereeventually verified and places
of work etc were also worked out.
General schedules ie work weredeveloped, so we knew what time
to execute the warrants and alsowhere to ensure we had the best
chance of 1.
Grabbing the targets and 2.
Finding them with drugs andmoney and whatever else they had
(21:54):
.
I had no input into any of this, thankfully.
I just did up my statements andkept transcribing tapes, so the
evidence was there for theknock teams on the day of the
raids.
Not a lot of fun, if I'm beinghonest, but necessary.
Apart from having to attend theoffice every few days, I didn't
really have much to do.
(22:14):
It was kind of like a holiday.
To be honest, that was one ofboth the good things and bad
things of working undercover.
There was a fair amount ofdowntime, of hurry up and wait,
if you will.
For someone who was alwayslooking for things to do, that
was a little bit of a problemand may have contributed to
mischief being gotten into in mypersonal life.
Now, I'm not blaming work forthat, but I'm pretty sure if I
(22:36):
didn't have as much downtime Ipossibly wouldn't have been as
dumb as I was Now.
I can hear you saying toyourselves what the hell?
What did he do?
It is personal life stuff andto protect those involved,
especially my ex-wife, that isall I'm saying.
So it came time to close the opand do all the raids etc.
I had tried to get in contactwith Betty, despite the
(22:57):
suggestion I shouldn't, withoutany luck.
Apparently, my controller didhave contact with her and told
her the op was closing on theday.
That was the last anyone heardfrom her.
It was a pretty standardclosure, to be honest.
I wasn't required at all.
The various raid teams got alltheir targets and I think all of
(23:20):
the targets made fullconversions.
In the subsequent interviews Iknow I didn't have to go to
court for any of these targetsat all.
It was a pretty straightforwardop.
Even if we didn't get the MrBiggs, we still got some pretty
high level players who weresupplying quite a bit of speed
into the nightlife scene.
Now, as I said, I didn't havecontact with Betty again.
I knew she had cancer but Ididn't know just how bad it was
at the time of the op.
My understanding is that ittook its toll and not long after
(23:42):
the op closed.
That was both good and bad.
Good in the sense that shewouldn't have faced any
retribution from the targets.
Bad because I genuinely likedher.
She was a nice person.
With the political storm thatrages over sexuality today, she
was just a guy who preferred tobe a female.
There was no pretension.
There was no railing againstthe machine.
(24:04):
There was no.
You must accept me, it was.
This is who I am, like me ornot?
Because, darling, I don't givea fuck and your opinion can't
hurt me.
That is an attitude I've triedand failed more times than
succeeded in keeping throughoutmy life.
I wasn't as rocked by Betty'sdeath as I was with Susan's, but
(24:26):
still it was sad.
But life goes on, and so did myjourney as an undercover cop.
My next operation would be thelast and it was going to be
slightly challenging for a fewreasons, but that is for next
time.
Thank you for listening toWhisper in the Shadows my true
stories of a real-lifeundercover cop.
I hope you've enjoyed thatepisode.
(24:47):
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.
Please get in contact by myemail, which is
(25:09):
whisperintheshadowspodcast atgmailcom.
I look forward to you joiningme next time.
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