William Queen
William "Billy" Queen Jr. is a retired
Career
Queen was raised in
In early 1998, as part of an operation to infiltrate motorcycle gangs, Queen joined the San Fernando Valley chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club as "Billy St. John", and was a member for 28 months.[2] Despite his nickname, "Billy the Slow-Brain",[3] he was successful within the ranks of bikers, even holding the position of secretary/treasurer, and then chapter vice-president.[1][2] Based on the evidence he gathered while in these positions, a series of raids on May 19, 2000, by almost 700 lawmen in four states led to the arrest and indictment of 54 gang members (53 were convicted, one took the fall for a brother, and so the second party's charges were dropped).[1] The ATF later described Queen's time undercover as "its most successful [biker gang] penetration."[2]
Queen was awarded the Federal Bar Association's Medal of Honor for his successful involvement with the Mongols.[4] After the trials of the gang members, Queen retired from the ATF, and wrote Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.[2][5] In 2003, while it was still only a draft, film rights to the book were sold to Icon, the Hollywood production company owned by Mel Gibson.[1][6][7][8] The book became a bestseller upon its release in 2005.[2]
Queen was also heavily featured in a 2008 episode of Outlaw Bikers, a series of
Bibliography
- Queen, William; Century, Douglas (2005). Under and Alone. ISBN 1-58836-440-2.
- Queen, William; Century, Douglas (2007). Armed and Dangerous. ISBN 978-1-4000-6577-6.
References
- ^ a b c d e Leduff, Charlie (March 23, 2005). "Chased by Mean Bikers, Former Agent Sheds His Cover to Chase Fame and Fortune". The New York Times.
- ^ Washington Post.
- ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (September 18, 2000). "Biker Gang Learns the Hard Way 'Billy the Slow-Brain' Is an Agent; Crime: Undercover operative compiles evidence against Mongols, who will be in federal court next month". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Meyer, Josh (April 19, 2001). "Agent Honored for Undercover Probe of Motorcycle Gang; Crime: ATF investigator is given the Federal Bar Assn.'s Medal of Valor. Nine other agents also receive awards". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Kamiya, Gary (July 24, 2005). "'Under and Alone': Hairy Guys on Wheels". The New York Times.
- ^ Susman, Gary (September 23, 2003). "Maxed Out". Entertainment Weekly.
- People magazine.
- ^ Garvey, Spencer (September 24, 2003). "Gibson Joins Motorcycle Gang". Filmstew.com.
- ^ "Program: Outlaw Bikers". BackChannel Media. May 12, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-05-14.