WILLIAM
QUEEN'S - UNDER AND ALONE
In 1998, William Queen was a veteran law enforcement agent with
a lifelong love of motorcycles and a lack of patience with
paperwork. When a “confidential informant” made contact with his
boss at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, offering to
take an agent inside the San Fernando chapter of the Mongols
(the scourge of Southern California, and one of the most
dangerous gangs in America), Queen jumped at the chance, not
realizing that he was kicking-starting the most extensive
undercover operation inside an outlaw motorcycle gang in the
history of American law enforcement.
Nor did Queen suspect that he would penetrate the gang so
successfully that he would become a fully “patched-in” member,
eventually rising through their ranks to the office of
treasurer, where he had unprecedented access to evidence of
their criminal activity. After Queen spent twenty-eight months
as “Billy St. John,” the bearded, beer-swilling, Harley-riding
gang-banger, the truth of his identity became blurry, even to
himself.
During his initial “prospecting” phase, Queen was at the mercy
of crank-fueled criminal psychopaths who sought to have him test
his mettle and prove his fealty by any means necessary, from
selling (and doing) drugs, to arms trafficking, stealing
motorcycles, driving getaway cars, and, in one shocking
instance, stitching up the face of a Mongol “ol’ lady” after a
particularly brutal beating at the hands of her boyfriend.
Yet despite the constant criminality of the gang, for whom
planning cop killings and gang rapes were business as usual,
Queen also came to see the genuine camaraderie they shared.When
his lengthy undercover work totally isolated Queen from family,
his friends, and ATF colleagues, the Mongols felt like the only
family he had left. “I had no doubt these guys genuinely loved
Billy St. John and would have laid down their lives for him. But
they wouldn’t hesitate to murder Billy Queen.”
From Queen’s first sleight of hand with a line of
methamphetamine in front of him and a knife at his throat, to
the fearsome face-off with their decades-old enemy, the Hell’s
Angels (a brawl that left three bikers dead), to the
heartbreaking scene of a father ostracized at Parents’ Night
because his deranged-outlaw appearance precluded any interaction
with regular citizens, Under and Alone is a breathless,
adrenaline-charged read that puts you on the street with some of
the most dangerous men in America and with the law enforcement
agents who risk everything to bring them in.
BOOK REVIEW FOR UNDER AND ALONE BY WILLIAM QUEEN
BY MICHAEL TIMLIN
Have you ever known how it
feels to be totally alone and afraid for you life? Read Under
and Alone, and you will know. William Queen, has done an
incredible job of bringing his time as an under cover agent for
the ATF to life on these pages.
He gave up three years of being with his family to do the
unheard of, becoming a patched in member of the Mongols
Motorcycle Club. Then to rise within the club to become an
officer. Yet everyday was filled with the fear of being found
out and murdered. His bravery and commitment towards the
investigation is profound, yet you get the feeling that even
though he did his job. He developed a personal relationship with
some of the most dangerous people this country has every seen.
This is a must read book if you have ever been in or around the
motorcycle life style, whether you are a weekend warrior or a
true blue motorcyclist.-
5
STARS
