With Gerard Butler.
His character in
Den of Thieves was
inspired by Dobyns’
career.
Jay Dobyns with
O’Shea Jackson on the
set of Den of Thieves.
JAY “JAYBIRD” DOBYNS
On July 17, the men and women of the Georgia
Gang Investigators Association will convene
in Savannah to hear from a living legend in the
undercover field: Jay Dobyns, the first ATF
undercover agent to successfully infiltrate the
Hells Angels. His long and storied career has made
Dobyns a household name, his legend built on his
bestselling memoirs “No Angel, My Harrowing
Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the
Hells Angels” and “Catching Hell, A True Story of
Abandonment and Betrayal.”
His harrowing bravery during “Operation Black
Biscuit” alone would be enough to catapult him
to fame in certain circles. But with every public
speaking engagement, every film appearance and
every spot on the New York Times bestsellers list,
his fame has grown.
And if you ask him, it’s all fake.
“If you see the movies or you read the books,
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June | July 2019
there’s almost this mythical
urban legend vibe about it.
And that is counterfeit. That
is a hoax. That is a fraud
that is created through our
sources of entertainment,”
he said. “The truth is, I’m
not a hero. I look at myself
as a common man who
was placed in uncommon
situations.”
Those uncommon
situations placed him in
the trenches with some of
the most violent criminals
the world has ever known,
forcing him to walk among
them as one of their own.
He and his partners posed
as debt collectors, heavily
tattooed hustlers who might
be willing to perform some
murder for hire on the
side, using that backstop
Randal Beach's unorthodox approach
to ingratiate themselves
to undercover work helped him
into the inner circle. When
infiltrate criminal networks.
he infiltrated the Aryan
Brotherhood, he was able
to purchase 100 improvised
bombs that would have otherwise flooded the
That all changed with Operation Black Biscuit.
streets.
Fifteen years into his career, a massive brawl
Later, he worked his way into the paramilitary
between members of the Hells Angels and the
groups of Nevada following the Oklahoma City
Mongols broke out at a Laughlin, Nevada casino
bombing, following several high-value targets
among a throng of innocent bystanders. ATF
including Bo Gritz, a highly decorated Special
management decided the time had come to put a
Forces vet from Vietnam and Vice-Presidential
man inside, and they tapped Dobyns.
candidate running mate of Ku Klux Klan Grand
“When the case agent asked me to lead the
Wizard David Duke. But when they happened
operation, I told him, ‘I can name 10-15 agents
on a lone wolf named Jeffrey Tenpenny, they
who will probably serve you better in the role
discovered a scheme that would have led to the
you want,” said Dobyns. “I’m not a biker, I’m a
bombing of three Las Vegas casinos: The Mirage,
white trash pecker head quasi-hitman. That’s lot
Treasure Island and The Gold Nugget.
different than being a biker.”
“He had plans to do it with C4 bombs disguised
This actually worked to his advantage, with
as common items left in hotels – briefcases,
Dobyns staying close to the truth of his cover
picnic baskets… I remember telling (Tenpenny),
character as he infiltrated the club. When he was
‘Do you understand what you’re going to do? Do
offered a spot, he pushed back, telling them it
you understand the size and scope of what you’re
didn’t help his business to advertise that he was
“The truth is, I’m not a hero. I
look at myself as a common man
who was placed in uncommon
situations.” - Jay Dobyns
planning? Babies, grandmas and kids are going to
die in this.’ He just pulled up his shirt and showed
us a tattoo of a heart colored in black. He said, ‘See
this? I have a black heart. I don’t care.’”
For obvious tourism-related reasons, the Las
Vegas media never revealed how close the city had
come to disaster. The story of how Jay Dobyns
saved the city went untold. But that’s just part of
the job. “Most of us don't receive any accolades,
any acclaim,” said Dobyns. “What we’ve done is
never publicized.”
a member of a crime syndicate. That only made
them want him more. “I ended up playing the
prom queen with these guys. I wasn’t trying to
win them over,” he said. “In their world, when
an opportunity is made, people jump.... When
someone says, ‘I need to think about this. I have it
pretty good.’ It flat out threw them off.”
Eventually, following an ingenious ruse in
which he faked the murder of a rival Mongol
by photographing a fellow ATF agent covered
in blood and draped in a Mongol jacket, he was