Under and Alone

The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang

By: William Queen

Narrated by: Don Leslie

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

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 28 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.

©2005 William Queen (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"His story is tight, suspenseful, and unstoppable." (Bookmarks Magazine)

"[A] harrowing, turbocharged account of undercover life....The strength and white-hot intensity of the writing make this read like a movie." (Publishers Weekly)

"Under and Alone is the dangerous and fascinating true story of an undercover ATF agent and the psychological price he was made to pay for his courageous work.” (Joseph Wambaugh, best-selling author of The Onion Field)

Great listen!

Brass balls!! Very captivating listen, an amazing story. Not sure how he pulled it off.

Great audio if you are into, UC work, true crime

The only reason for the four stars for performance was that I had just finished KOZ prior to this and that live Audio was more immersive and amazing to hear with the story. This easily could of been equally great,plus if you listen to that first and this second the stories intertwine.

Good story

Good story but the narrator was slightly boring to listen to. Overall story was good

This book makes his undercover work all worth it.

The adrenaline never stopped. Everything was tricky where the slightest clue could have blown Queen's cover and got him beaten to death.

I think Don Leslie, one of my favorite narrators, carried the book. Leslie tells the story in terms of chapters and paragraphs, and he gets into the author's psyche to the point where the listener can feel it physically. You can't listen to a narrator like this and ever go back again to the ones who put the same brand of emphasis on each sentence without any discernment.

The thing about the Mongols is they were/are crazy brawlers with little to no regard for life. One naturally feels afraid of them, and several innocent guys made the mistake of being in their way at one point or another when Queen was a Mongol.

One of the stories within the story was Queen's relationship to his kids. Too bad for Queen, he seems to have sacrificed family for the undercover life. People should appreciate the long-term affects of undercover work on the detective. Queen made huge sacrifices.

At the end, I understood that the convictions were not the most important fruits of the investigation behind Queen. I'm not even sure the convictions matter much at all. Rather, it's the understanding of how these biker gangs/clubs operate that is valuable. That's all in the book!

Intense and Engaging from start to finish.

This book grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. I hated to turn it off when I had to because I was so enthralled in the story. The story is fascinating with a great flow and rythym to it, and the narrator did a great job. The only negative I have is the ending, it just fizzled out and disappointed me a bit. I was expecting the ending to have more story to it, instead he gave us an abrupt, quick, and dry finish that left me wondering if I had somehow missed a chapter. I can't say more as it will ruin the book for someone that hasn't read it. That being said, I still highly recommend this book!

Good book overall

What did you love best about Under and Alone?

story was realistic, kept me on the edge

What did you like best about this story?

wanted to keep reading it, related to it

Which character – as performed by Don Leslie – was your favorite?

Billy

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Gripping!

Where does Under and Alone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Phenomenal story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Billie St John!

What about Don Leslie’s performance did you like?

Incredible performance! Like it was the author. He became the author.

This guy has guts!

This was a very riveting story. Even though I knew the author survived by the fact that I was listening to the book he wrote about his experience, I was scared he was going to be exposed in every scene. Not only is this a raw look into a world that I will never see, it also was revealing about some of the psychological tolls undercover agents suffer while doing their jobs. A good listen.

very interesting

hard to put it down ! will listen to it again,
thank you
Gregg West

Great Listen

This is one of my favorites so far. Instead of the narrator sounding like he is reading a book, it gives you the feeling that it is happening at that moment. The author gives enough detail so that you feel what he went through without boring you with a lot of useless facts. Some people won't like the book because of some of the language, but this is about a hardcore motorcycle gang so you have to expect the language if you want to get the true experience.