Retired FBI undercover agent Scott Payne traces his career from local policing and vice/narcotics work to federal undercover operations, describing the tradecraft and personal cost of long-term infiltrations. He recounts applying to several agencies after college and being told, he says, that “they weren’t hiring white men” at the time. Payne details early work on prostitution and vice, including his claim that public figures sometimes appeared as customers, and later outlines how technology such as facial recognition has made deep-cover work harder.
A central portion focuses on organised crime and extremism cases. Payne describes border investigations into cartel-linked kidnappings and extortion, including negotiating returns of victims and alleging that Mexican interrogations sometimes used torture. He also claims that during Covid some border checkpoints were left unmanned, creating predictable gaps.
Payne gives an extended first-person account of infiltrating the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, including an incident where he says members took him to a basement at gunpoint and strip-searched him for a wire, while his team prepared an emergency breach. He then describes infiltrating the neo-Nazi accelerationist group “the Base”, naming its alleged leader and outlining the group’s cell structure, rituals, and recruitment tactics. Payne alleges members discussed plans to assassinate an Atlanta-area anti-fascist couple and to exploit public events as potential flashpoints.
He also speaks candidly about burnout, a panic attack and later suicidal ideation during a recent divorce, urging first responders to seek help and reduce stigma.
Payne describes a moment during a two-year FBI operation against the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in Massachusetts when he was led into a basement, held at gunpoint, and ordered to provide personal details and remove his clothes while members searched for recording equipment. He says a concealed recording device was nearly discovered but missed.
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