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)

Now to read about the hell’s angels

Great book it was all so well done it kept me listening very well done.

Why Cycle Gangs Are Bad For You

I am from Greensboro, the author's hometown and I heard Mel Gibson bought the movie rights... It is a great nonfiction story. Real undercover work, as related in the book, is not pretty or even attractive to the hero wannabees in all of us.

There are many tragic tales within this book, but one I can't seem to get over is the monumental sacrifices an undercover agent makes to protect us. If this was a work of fiction, I'd rate it a 3- because while it is an heroic tale, it is disturbing to read about.

Excellent

This book is well written and really grabs you and holds on. The narrator did a fantastic job and is able to transistion between the characters so well that it's like they are sitting with you telling you the story.

If you listen while commuting you find yourself not wanting to get out of the car.

Couldn't Put Down!

William Queen took me right there with him and I could actually feel his anxiety as his undercover role as Billy St. John. I truly admire and appreciate the lengths this man went through for justice. This experience changed his life and compromised his closests relationships. My only objection to this story was that it seemed very coincidental that every time he was put in a situation where he would come close to either being made by the Mongols, or was nearly forced to give up his identity in the name of his oath, he somehow was able to avoid the situation. There was a lot of that happening in the story. The follow up in the end was detailed and satisfying to me as the reader. I highly recommend this book.

Amazing

Loved it. The story telling was breath taking. Such an amazing interesting story listen or read it!!

great read

riveting from beginning to end. Will not be able to walk away. Don Leslie was the perfect reader for this book.

A great view into one of the most notorious gangs

The book was well written and the narrator definitely didn't make it weird which is good. I would re listen to the book!

Great book

I really enjoyed the book. it had you sitting on the edge of your seat the whole time.

amazing read

From the time I started this book I couldn't stop it is a true story of someone who lived the undercover life and not a fabrication like some of the other books wrote by undercover agents

Amazing true story!

Infiltrating an organization like Mongols MC is just short of insane. Amazingly Billy survived without being found out.