Scott is deep undercover in the Outlaws, becoming close friends with members of the dangerous biker gang. But you can only get so deep for so long. And now Scott is at risk of losing everything: his marriage, his body and his mind.
Chapter 1: What happened during Scott's undercover operation?
The following episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence. Please take care when listening. This is about as bad as it can get in an undercover operation. Scott, as in FBI Special Agent Scott Payne, is being strip-searched for a wire. He's in the clubhouse basement of one of the most dangerous motorcycle gangs in America, the Outlaws.
His cover team is parked outside in a surveillance vehicle, listening.
And we just sat there and we waited and we didn't know, we kind of just Listen to hear what we're going to hear and then make a decision. If there was any violence, obviously we would have to put an end to it.
Could you still hear clothesline?
Oh yeah, we heard everything. Yeah. Everything.
That's Sergeant Thomas Higginbotham, or Higgy. He knows what the outlaws are capable of, especially clothesline, the group's enforcer, the one who's doing the search.
Scott is trying to seem nonchalant. On the outside, it looks like he's holding it together. But what's going on in his head is a different story.
Hey, is this it? Am I going to die right now? Am I just getting ready to take an ass-whipping? I don't know what's going to happen. Are they going to find it? If they find it, I mean, what's going to happen? He did ask me, you know, hey, am I going to find anything, like some naked pictures of my old lady, right? And he's, like, laughing because I'm supposed to be his buddy. He's like, ha, ha, ha.
And I'm like, you know.
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Chapter 2: What was Scott's state of mind during the strip search?
Clothesline runs his hands all over Scott's clothes. The seconds go by slowly.
But then, I pass. And he hands me everything. So we go right back into business. And then I'll make a joke. So I'm having that adrenaline dump. Now my hamstrings are starting to come back under me, but I'm a talker, and I'm talking nervously.
When I mention this undercover video to Higgy, he reveals something that shocks me.
Michelle, I've never watched it.
What?
Really? I never watched it. What I heard, I heard. And I said, that's all I need to know. What else do I need to know? I didn't want to watch it.
There's no curiosity?
No, I was sitting there. I heard it. And I know it happened. And I didn't need to hear anymore. It was sickening. It was scary.
After what feels like forever, Scott emerges from the cellar, his heart's racing and ringing in his ears, and he heads straight to the bar to calm his nerves.
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Chapter 3: How did Scott and Kara cope with his undercover work?
I love my role as a wife. I love my role as a mother. If I could just write my life the way I wanted it, my life was how I would have written it. So as far as that goes, you know, I love being the supporting person in the relationship.
They met through mutual friends back in the 90s, before Scott joined the FBI. He was working in the Vice and Narcotics Unit in South Carolina at the time. And after years of dating long distance, they tied the knot in 2001.
I mean, immediately when we got married, he started his undercovers. And I remember telling him one morning, I'm like, maybe you could go back to landscaping. And he's like, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I don't like saying goodbye to you in the morning and not knowing if you're going to come home that night. And he said, honey.
I could be mowing the lawn and get struck by lightning. If it's my day to go, it's my day to go. We're believers. That's what we believe.
Their faith bonded them from the beginning. And Kara says it was her faith that helped her with the stress of his undercover work. That and a film starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.
Here's what I tell people when they ask me, like, how did you cope with, you know, living with an undercover and how did you deal with it? And I said, well, I did get some training through the movie of Donnie Brasco. That was my training.
If you've seen this film, this isn't exactly comforting. Donnie Brasco is based on the real-life story of Joe Pistone, an FBI agent who went undercover for six years to infiltrate one of the biggest mafia families in New York City. It was a tough gig, and very hard on his marriage. Brasco's wife is played in the movie by Anne Hesch.
He leaves me with the house and the kids and the bills. But not a husband. I want my husband.
Even though Scott and Kara would talk every day when he was undercover, she couldn't help but worry about him.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Scott face balancing family and work?
A typical month might go like this. This full weekend, three day, four day weekend, I'm undercover in Oklahoma. I come home. I'm putting together all that stuff, typing it up. Then I go and I'll be a case agent. And then I take off to Massachusetts and I'm undercover for the outlaws. I come back.
And because I'm anal and try to be a professional, I would go through all the recordings and end up typing these long reports with accurate verbatim statements in them that were pertinent to the case. And then maybe the last week, I find out that the training coordinator for the division has set up that whole week we're doing firearms and tactical training.
And then in between all that, we as a SWAT team might get called out two or three times.
It was a tough time. He did the work of not two people, but three or possibly 10. I don't know anyone else who could sustain that kind of workload and that period of time and still stay focused and clear and know what your goal is and successfully carry it out.
So I would come home just beat. And I'm like, I'm so happy to see my family and, you know, get caught up on what I missed and how things are going. And, but I was just beat. And I mean, I wanted a home cooked meal. I was tired of going through drive-thrus. I was tired of eating out. And to me at that point, hamburger helper would have been a home cooked meal.
And I would come home sometimes and it may be like a Thursday night or something or a Friday. And I would get there and my wife, she'd say, guess what, honey? And I'd go, what? She goes, I got a babysitter so we can go out tonight. And I'd go, oh, damn it. My liver's going, no. And I'm like, oh, man, you know, let's go have some drinks. I've missed you. Let's have some quality time.
And I'm like, oh, but I cowboy up and try to make it, you know.
The nights Scott was home, he'd also try to spend as much time as possible with his daughters.
At the end of the day, I would most likely pour myself a Jack and Coke. And then I would go into my oldest daughter's room first. And then I would rock her to sleep. But as I'm rocking her, I would always hum.
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Chapter 5: What was the significance of Big Scotty in Scott's life?
Not a massage, but like, you know, you just rub your finger very lightly across the eyebrow and across the forehead and then down their face. And I would count it. It'd be like one, two, and I'd go through their hair and over their ears and maybe tickle the lip and come back up. So that was the trick.
But my youngest daughter, I think she was asleep and she'd tap me and she'd go, Daddy, do the twick, do the twick. Because she's still learning how to speak.
Scott continued to balance life at home and with the outlaws, and his friendship with the Targets continued to deepen, especially with Big Scotty.
And it does get harder. The deeper you go and the longer you are, you know, because, you know, he's got kids that are the same age as my kids. And instead of being at home with my youngest daughter, rocking her to sleep or doing the twick, she's there without me, and I'm holding his daughter. And I'm bouncing her on my lap.
I mean, he would come home with stories. And so he would talk about these guys, especially one in particular, that he literally was best friends through and through with this guy. Other than just the one little detail of he wasn't being completely honest about who he was. But other than that, he was who he is, you know, and he other than his name, he was he was him.
Big Scotty was respected by the outlaws. He'd often bring Scott to gatherings and vouch for him.
and uh you know i'm walking in and of course everybody's like you know he's like hey what's going on everybody's like hey he's big t big scotty hey what's going on you know and they're doing this they turn to me and i'd go yeah they go who are you and i go i'm i'm just his bitch i'm just following him today you know nothing to look at here you know that's me i did like the self-deprecating humor the tommy boy chris farley type stuff and uh
You know, we'd go in there and you'd start meeting more people and hanging out, building trust, you know, getting to know people.
The two became inseparable. And as the investigation went on, Scott couldn't help but think about what loomed around the corner.
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Chapter 6: How did the undercover operation unfold?
That Thursday night, I sleep maybe a couple of hours. And then Friday, I get up and I'm back on. I get on a flight to fly home to McAllen. I drive for like 15, 20 minutes to the house, walk straight in, brush my teeth, change my shirt. And my wife and my daughters and my mother-in-law are ready.
He loads everyone into the truck and off they go to the big annual Rio Grande Valley Christmas party for FBI agents and their families.
So I show up and I'm Santa Claus. Here I am literally a couple of days earlier, naked in a basement at gunpoint. And, you know, ho effing ho, right?
He had very long days, very long nights, a lot of lack of sleep, a ton of drinking while he was there, you know, which we all know just complicates things. But he just functioned through it all. I definitely remember how exhausted he was. And, you know, as a wife, you're like, what can I do to help you? And there's nothing I can do.
Then came a day that Kara refers to as a wake-up call.
He was at work, and I was at home, and one of our kids was sick, and I was just trying to decide to take her to the doctor. It was such a simple thing, and so I called him, and I mean, I just kind of called him for everything.
Well, we would get in these arguments because my wife hated going to the doctor because as a protective mother, she's like, it's a virus. I'm going to take our kid. We're going to sit in a waiting room for three plus hours or more with a bunch of sick kids, exposing our kids to more. And after a whole day, they're going to go, oh, it's just a virus.
But my point was, we'll go make sure they're taking the money out of my damn check anyway. We got a health plan. Go. So that conversation had happened more than once.
But he was in the middle of an interview and I didn't know that he took the call.
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of the drug transport operation?
And I'm sitting here going, I go, well, working out. And I go, nah, working out is a way of life. I mean, does it release endorphins? Does it make me feel better? Yeah, but I'm not working out to Yanni. I'm not in some namaste, you know. You know, I'm throwing iron around and screaming and punching bags and, you know.
Scott still passes the test, and the safeguard team clears him to go back to work.
I was worried about him. I was worried about his emotional state, really. He's married, he has kids, he's with these guys.
Hickey was watching and listening to Scott more than anyone. And he worried about Scott's psyche after spending so many days and nights with violent criminals.
He could easily get hurt. He could harm his marriage. There's a lot of things that could go wrong. And he's drinking. And he's on motorcycles. He's in cars. All the things that happened to civilians could happen to him. And that's his job. That's his career. And after a while, you see his personality. It changes. It changes. And I've seen it with undercovers before.
But the case continued. And next up, Daytona Bike Week. That's a motorcycle rally held every year in Daytona Beach, Florida. Even though the event is meant for all bike enthusiasts, members of the major motorcycle gangs never fail to show up. And they don't leave their rivalries at home.
We're just going where the case will take you. You know, I'm getting introduced to more people. I'm getting introduced to higher-ranking people. I'm getting more exposure. So you might get new targets.
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Chapter 8: How did Kara describe her experience as Scott's wife?
The problem is he's at a national run for the outlaws. We don't know who they bring to their parties and their meetings and the people he's going to see. He could have easily bumped into someone he had arrested as a local cop or whatever or an FBI agent. He knows he's around dangerous people. He's there.
Scott makes his way to Florida with another undercover agent who we'll call Tony. The whole week, he's rubbing shoulders with outlaw members from around the world, including one very senior outlaw who investigators have been watching closely. Everyone called him Hillbilly. Hillbilly, he took a liking to Scott and started talking pretty freely around him.
This got the FBI team in Florida excited, so much so that an agent asked if Scott would work undercover there as well.
He said, how about we get together, we put it all on a big table. Boston, don't take your case down yet. Scott, you come to Florida and patch under Hillbilly.
Getting patched as a full-fledged outlaw is a big deal for an undercover. A notch in your belt, like you were that good convincing them you're legit, that they let you into the inner circle. The Taunton chapter, which he infiltrated, had wanted Scott to patch over. But Higgy and the rest of the team in Massachusetts were opposed to it from the beginning.
So they bring him in, that means he has to be a probationary outlaw. He has to start like everybody else. So he has to basically be that guy. He may be required to commit a violent act or commit a felony to get that patch. So they put him in that position. Then they start showing up at his house or his apartment. You know what I mean? So now you look at like Scott, like where the L was.
He was with them, riding with them. So he'd ride at the back of the pack. But when the angels of the rival gangs attacked
bikers they have in massachusetts i'm sure they do in other states they go to the back of the pack they run them over and they shoot them that's what they do so now we're going to have this big guy six four six five he's a perfect target for a rival gang so i'm not comfortable with that and why would i be
But it's kind of like the bragging rights, right? That you get patched shows that you were in deep and they really believed you. And so as an undercover, that's... Yes.
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