The Jordan Harbinger Show
1120: Scott Payne | How the FBI Turned Me Into the Perfect Outlaw
Tue, 25 Feb 2025
FBI veteran Scott Payne takes us into the world of undercover ops: infiltrating biker gangs, near-death moments, and the psychological toll of betrayal. What We Discuss with Scott Payne: Scott Payne worked undercover for the FBI infiltrating The Outlaws motorcycle gang, forming relationships with dangerous criminals over an 18-month period to gather evidence on crimes including drug trafficking, stolen vehicles, and potential connections to murder. Scott's undercover work involved serious personal danger, including a harrowing experience where he was strip-searched in the basement of the gang's clubhouse while wearing recording devices that could have gotten him killed if discovered. The psychological toll of undercover work is significant — Scott describes forming genuine friendships with targets that he ultimately had to betray, as well as physical and mental exhaustion that led to a breakdown during the operation. The FBI has developed safeguards for undercover agents' mental health, including psychological assessments and contact agents who provide support and maintain the agent's connection to their real identity during long undercover operations. Success in undercover work depends on authenticity and adaptability. Rather than completely fabricating a persona, Payne maintained aspects of his true self while adjusting to his environment, allowing him to build believable relationships and respond naturally in high-pressure situations. This approach — staying true to your core self while adapting to challenging circumstances — can be applied in many professional and personal situations requiring resilience. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1120 And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally! This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom! Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Who is Scott Payne and what is his background?
Und was sie tun, ist, dass sie schauen und sagen, okay, aus all den Aus-State-Plätzen, die hier kommen, und unseren Aus-State-Patienten, wo kommen die meisten her? Und Ost-Tennessee und Südwest-Kentucky waren groß. Also, kurz gesagt, sie sind hier hergekommen und haben Schmerzkliniken aufgebaut. Und als Fallagent, ich und ein Freund meines und die Heide Task Force,
did about a year and a half investigation. We did wiretaps, I ran the undercover, we brought in undercovers, and it was, again, hand over for cash. And I would be a sponsor, and I would have you, but then it was once a month, because they cracked down, you couldn't just doctor shop.
But once a month, I'm bringing everybody in, or scattered throughout the month, and I'm paying for everything, and we're just turning the pills over on the street. It looked like a fallout shelter. I mean, it was no secret. You walk in and people are nodding out like they got a rig in their arm, like they're on heroin. They're passed out in a chair.
And back to what you were saying, in one pain clinic we had in particular, they didn't like all the congregation of vehicles. And they did this in Florida too. But they didn't like it because they thought it attracted bad attention, law enforcement attention, if you will. So literally across a Ja, genau. I'm hurting, I'm hurting. And then they come out, I don't know, 30 minutes to an hour later.
They have the prescription in their hand and they're waving it like the kid on Willy Wonka. He got the golden ticket. And they're now playing Frogger, which is an old video game. I'm telling my age here. But they are dodging vehicles across six lanes of traffic. trying not to get hit by a car, running. This is the same person that was limping walking in, by the way.
And they're running to bring their script and then they go to a pharmacy in Philadelphia.
Jeez, that's so tragic and gross. But, oh man, what a mess. And the doctors, of course, are just, they're getting paid, so they don't care. It's part of the racket.
Yeah, and the one we did in Tennessee, we uncovered like dirty nurses, dirty staff members. But when you're running a wiretap, you're usually trying to decode everything. It might be a new gang with new slang, and we're trying to figure out what cheddar is, or we're trying to figure out what this one is, and what are they calling a hamburger, whatever their thing is.
Doesn't matter whether it's a Hispanic Title III or whatever, you're still trying to figure it out. On the pill stuff, the sponsor would call in and say, I got two new members. And they go, okay, I need their name, date of birth, social security number, because it's still medical. So it made it easy to identify everybody.
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