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My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels
February 2009
On Sale: February 10, 2009
352 pages ISBN: 0307405850 EAN: 9780307405852 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Here, from Jay Dobyns, the first federal agent to
infiltrate the inner circle of the outlaw Hells Angels
Motorcycle Club, is the inside story of the twenty-one-
month operation that almost cost him his family, his
sanity, and his life. Getting shot in the chest as a rookie agent, bartering for
machine guns, throttling down the highway at 100 mph, and
responding to a full-scale, bloody riot between the Hells
Angels and their rivals, the Mongols–these are just a few
of the high-adrenaline experiences Dobyns recounts in this
action-packed, hard-to-imagine-but-true story. Dobyns leaves no stone of his harrowing journey unturned.
At runs and clubhouses, between rides and riots, Dobyns
befriends bad-ass bikers, meth-fueled “old ladies,” gun
fetishists, psycho-killer ex-cons, and even some of
the “Filthy Few”–the elite of the Hells Angels who’ve
committed extreme violence on behalf of their club.
Eventually, at parties staged behind heavily armed
security, he meets legendary club members such as Chuck
Zito, Johnny Angel, and the godfather of all bikers,
Ralph “Sonny” Barger. To blend in with them, he gets full-
arm ink; to win their respect, he vows to prove himself a
stone-cold killer. Hardest of all is leading a double life, which has him torn
between his devotion to his wife and children, and his
pledge to become the first federal agent ever to be “fully
patched” into the Angels’ near-impregnable ranks. His act
is so convincing that he comes within a hairsbreadth of
losing himself. Eventually, he realizes that just as he’s
been infiltrating the Hells Angels, they’ve been
infiltrating him. And just as they’re not all bad, he’s not
all good. Reminiscent of Donnie Brasco’s uncovering of the true
Mafia, this is an eye-opening portrait of the world of
bikers–the most in-depth since Hunter Thompson’s seminal
work–one that fully describes the seductive lure criminal
camaraderie has for men who would otherwise be powerless
outsiders. Here is all the nihilism, hate, and
intimidation, but also the freedom–and, yes, brotherhood–of
the only truly American form of organized crime.
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