On one occasion, he flew to California to track down a defector (he later learned, to his immense relief, that the man, a psychology professor, had not been assassinated). In the coming days, over drinks, Malone told the guy he was on the lam for burglary in Philadelphia. I wanted to really hate the people and the country and I couldn't bring myself to hate them. From the USSR we have Armie Hammers Ilya Kuryakin, a towering, angrier version of the character once filled by heartthrob David McCallum. That got Malone invitations to play poker and trade gossip with the gang, then dinner at their hangout, the New Florence, and then to attend the birthday party Capone planned for Frank Nitti at the Lexington. Mata Hari (1931) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But inside he was panicking that he would be sent to jail and that his American family, which he had been trying to hold together, would be broken up. Jack Barsky died in September 1955, at the age of 10, and was buried in the Mount Lebanon Cemetery in the suburbs of Washington DC. Which I think, in hindsight, was pretty stupid. He spent much of his free time zig-zagging across New York on counter-surveillance missions designed to flush out any enemy agents who might be following him. With their black suits and matching glasses, Agents K (Tommy Lee Jones) and reluctant partner J (Will Smith) bicker their way through the most obscure jobs on the planet: keeping an eye on the activities of extraterrestrials walking our planet, without alerting the general public to their presence. In 2005, DePalma planned to honor Falcone by rendering him made within the Gambino family. 16. But Nitti skipped town. He was, after all, a university professor in his former life. Virginia Hall, perhaps the most famous of all the OSS female spies, was trained by the SOE because she originally worked for that organization, as an undercover agent in France before America entered the war. This "idiotic adventure," as he now calls it, had "a lot of appeal to an arrogant young man, a smart young man" intoxicated by the idea of foreign travel and living "above the law". The lead interrogator was the crooked head of the secret police in Guadalajara, Sergio Espino Verdin. Hes working class, not upper crust; he wears glasses and relatively casual clothes, enjoys cooking, and his dry humor clearly irks his more refined superiors. In Alfred Hitchcocks classic thriller,Notorious, Alicas the daughter of a convicted German spy who is herself pressed into service as an agent for the Americans. Dobyns has authored two books, one on his undercover experiences, another on his travails with the ATF. Pistone went so deep that even other federal agents and the NYPD believed him to . The museum also worked with the FBI and three famous undercover agents who fought the Mob, including Joe Pistone, made famous by the movie "Donnie Brasco." The museum was accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 2017. Playing at the back of his mind was always the question of whether his past would catch up with him. He wore a wire to record conversations, and committed to memory names and license plates since taking notes would obviously raise red flags. Assigned to the DEA office in the narco paradise of Guadalajara in 1980, Camarena was a convincing undercover officer with his appearance and ability to speak Spanish and barrio street language to fit in with the drug underworld. The FBI used an informant to quell their suspicions. He told people he had had a "tough start in life" in New Jersey and had dropped out of high school. They thought he was doing top secret but very well-paid work at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The agency assigned agent Joseph Joe Pistone to go undercover for six months to find out where the Mob-connected thieves took the stolen cargo. The ATF named the setup Operation Black Biscuit. As a convincer, Dobyns and his fellow agent feigned an execution of a Mongol member, tying up an agent, placing cows brains and bloody Mongol clothing on him and taking a photo. A federal court in Chicago convicted Guzik, who got a five-year sentence. "I am glad it didn't work out because I could have done some damage. President Herbert Hoover entered office in March 1929, a few weeks following the infamous St. Valentines Day Massacre in Chicago, where seven men associated with Capones bitter rival in bootlegging, George Bugs Moran, died in gunfire. U.S. officials are still seeking Quintero to face federal charges. In the 1920s, he went to the Soviet Union and soon began working as an intelligence agent. One morning, on a subway platform a resident agent delivered a chilling message: "You have got to come home or else you're dead. "Yet I was able to observe and listen and become more familiar with American customs. What's he waiting for? While undercover as Jack Falcone with the Gambinos familys chapter in Westchester County, New York, for two years, he flashed cash, Rolex watches, diamond rings, flat-screen TVs and other supposed stolen property (items seized in other FBI cases). And when it did, it felt good.". When Capones jury trial commenced, and the Treasury Department removed Malone from his undercover job, the agent gained a bit of respect from the embarrassed gang chief himself. On the other hand, the KGB's original plan for him might actually have worked, he says. Caught stealing sensitive documents from the FBI, Mason is incarcerated for 33 years and eventually dug out for a new mission, older but still cool under fire and always ready with a witty retort. Notably lacking in zinging one-liners though she is, Mallorys a convincingly tough character in a story full of betrayal and would-be assassins. Most great undercover agent movies are based on true stories, but Johnny Utah is strictly Hollywood. He gradually let his guard down and settled into the life of a typical middle-class American in a comfortable new home in upstate New York. Pistone endured the rigorous course alongside recruits in their 20s. An old school hood who in 2003 finished serving 70 months for racketeering, DePalma right away threatened violence and extorted owners of Westchester-area construction firms, strip joints, restaurants and other businesses. His adopted name was Donnie Brasco. He was so effective as a wiseguy that the FBI let him keep it up. The ATF brass soon redirected him to penetrate the dangerous Hells Angels club. His mission was so secret that only a handful in the FBI knew about it. He already knew about their anti-Semitism and their fear of Ronald Reagan, who they saw as an unpredictable religious zealot who might launch a nuclear strike to "accelerate" the Biblical "end times". In fact, Britains national security agency doesnt even call them agents theyre covert human intelligence sources, or simply officers.Whatever we choose to call them, secret agents lead necessarily furtive and obscure lives so obscure, in fact, that most of what we know about them is defined by what weve seen and read in books and movies. The teams persistence paid off within two years, with the capture (and conviction) of suspect Bruno Hauptman, who still had some of the marked currency the agents convinced Lindbergh to use as ransom money. Barsky says he has no regrets. Best known for the famous final scene, which taught kids of all ages that guns and gasoline . The remarkable double life of undercover agent Jack Barsky who lived the American dream at the KGB's expense. Within a year the American couple had been executed on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage. In James Camerons True Lies (a remake of Frances La Totale! While recovering from an injury sustained on the Western Front during World War I, he became a passionate communist. I would just disappear and try to get healthy.". There, he engages in moonlit reconnaissance missions, uncovers a huge drug operation, and engages the cat-stroking Han (Shih Kien) in mortal combat. Watch Kingsman: The Secret Service on Amazon. During his funeral a week later, Camarenas family interred his ashes in Calexico. Individuals caught on tape in the FBI's ABSCAM . Barsky's handlers were delighted with his progress except for one thing - he could not get hold of an American passport. And they knew how to do that. Pistones 1988 book on his undercover experiences, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, was a bestseller. "The idea was for me to get genuine American documentation and move to Europe, say to a German-speaking country, where the Russians were going to set me up with a flourishing business. The decision to put Pistone into this undercover role was made by the FBI's office in New York City, home of the five main Mafia familiesBonanno, Gambino, Colombo, Genovese, and Lucchese. Some have trained for the life of a spy, but many of them have the world of espionage and imminent death thrust upon them. He had to tell lieslots of liesconvincingly, about who he was and what he was up to. The passport is not a fake. In the Chicago courthouse, Malone happened to enter an elevator where Capone stood with his defense lawyers. Grace's search for the truth is further complicated by her forbidden relationship with Jimmy, the crime boss who may have played a hand in the crime. And another child. Now, obviously, there is anti-Semitism in there, but secondly, the stupidity of that statement is that they sent me to New York. And it became a staple of the Bureau's intelligence tradecraft, a crucial arrow in the quiver used to protect the American people. The Departed (2006) R | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller 8.5 Rate 85 Metascore Spies and secret agents are necessarily closed-off, elusive sorts, so making them into interesting characters is a difficult task for any writer or actor. Barsky later found out that he was part of a "third wave" of Soviet illegals in the US - the first two waves having failed. His work decimated the Bonannos, one of New Yorks five major crime families. From the U.S. we have the vain, calculating Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn in the U.N.C.L.E. He also had a "legend" to explain why he did not have a social security number. In New York City during the mid-1970s, the FBI investigated a rash of truck hijackings happening each day. In a recorded conversation, Garcia as Falcone replied to DePalma, Im honored for that, he said, in the tape later used in court. His experience would eventually prompt the mobsters in New York to put out a $500,000 contract for his murder, but it never happened. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. At the time, the Reagan administration was secretly training and supplying Central American guerilla fighters, known as the Contras, against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The metamorphosis is complete.". Coburn gives Flint an easy charm, and hes highly effective in his combat scenes. The most prominent of his performances was Jack Falcone, a supposed Sicilian thief and drug dealer. Other undercover roles of his ended in the arrests of a Mexican drug boss and members of the Aryan Brotherhood gang. But, he adds, "what eventually softened my attitude" was the "normal, nice people" he met in his daily life. While Malone kept up the charade, he delivered information that proved incriminating not only for Capone, but for his top enforcer, Frank Nitti (aka Nitto). An official website of the United States government. He communicated using the street smarts he absorbed growing up as a working-class Italian-American kid in Paterson, New Jersey, where he went to Italian social clubs and encountered local hoods. A three-year long Internal Affairs investigation proved this to be only the tip of the iceberg. Michael Malone had all the makings of an undercover agent who would successfully infiltrate Al Capones Chicago gang for nearly two years. It wasnt easy, to be sure. He discreetly phoned Wilson about what hed overheard within the gang. He devised a nighttime sting operation. The man who exposed him was a KGB archivist, Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, who defected to the West in 1992 - after the fall of communism - with a vast trove of Soviet secrets, including the true identity of Jack Barsky. In the early 2000s, the FBI chose Garcia for what would be the most fruitful infiltration of an organized crime family since Joe Pistones in the 1970s. A trained officer knows how to strategize, win the confidence of their targets and get them to reveal whats needed to build a case to take to trial. Watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on Amazon, Michael Caine brings a brilliantly brash, abrasive edge to Harry Palmer, the hero he first played in The Ipcress File. The only thing that fooled me was your looks, Capone is said as to have remarked to Malone. 1 Vancito Gumbs. But he also remembered their "morally superior" attitude to the Aids epidemic - their belief that it "served the Americans right" and their determination to protect the motherland from infection. A federal court in Los Angeles charged 22 defendants in the murders of Camarena and Zavala. Sharing Bonds cheerful disregard for his own safety, Ethan Hunt of Mission: Impossible is the grinning daredevil of modern action cinema. The agent in question, Anthony Blunt, was a Cambridge-educated scholar with Marxist allegiances who had started working at Windsor Castle during World War Two. Mike Lepito was there at the Lexington when Al Capone arrived back, triumphant about his release on $50,000 bail. Once, Irey enlisted Malone to smash a West Coast version of Rum Row, rumrunners selling contraband Canadian liquor from ships off the coast of San Francisco. Deservingly, Oldman was nominated for an Academy Award for his outstanding turn here. Pistone had fooled them all with a masterful acting job that had begun in 1976 and lasted six long years. As embodied by Matt Damon, Jason Bourne felt like a breath of fresh air when he first appeared in 2002. 10 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The bust cost cartel figure Rafael Caro Quintero about $50 million. Gielgud plays a wonderfully British, reserved sort of spya striking counterpoint to the increasingly tough agents wed see in the later thrillers of the 20th century. Two Angels and one Mongol died and dozens of people were injured. His name is on the passport of the man sitting before me now - a youthful 67-year-old East German, born Albert Dittrich. It began in the mid-70s, when Dittrich, destined at the time to become a chemistry professor at an East German university, was talent-spotted by the KGB and sent to Moscow for training in how to behave like an American. Like Pistone, Garcias undercover career is chronicled in a memoir, Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family. His mission was to live under a false identity in the heart of the capitalist enemy, as one of an elite band of undercover Soviet agents known as "illegals". Fury of the Gods Brings Back the "Shazamily": Inside DC's New Superhero Adventure, Scream 6's Brutal NYC Trip: "You Can't Trust Anyone" This Time, Cocaine Bear Is Not Just About a Killer "Coked-Up" Bear, It's Also an "Underdog Story", How Marvel's Wastelanders Podcast Created an Exciting Story with No Visual Safety Net, The Top 25 Secret Agents in Movie History. A jury Capone could not fix found the boss guilty on 22 criminal counts. But the KGB was losing patience. After finessing his way into Capones inner circle in 1929, Malone proved invaluable to his superiors in the Treasury Department pursuing a tax evasion case against the Chicago crime boss. But with characteristic bravado he asked the FBI man: "What took you so long?". On February 7, 1985, Quintero and Gallardo directed their henchmen to kidnap Camarena off a street in Guadalajara. Top 5 undercover agents who infiltrated the Mob. Vera Atkins: The Most Powerful Woman in the History of Espionage Vera Atkins was a young Romanian working in Bucharest when she met the dashing Canadian William Stephenson, according to William. This was for Barsky was to study for a degree and gradually work his way up the social order to the point where he could gather useful intelligence - a mission he describes as "nearly impossible". After Garcia witnessed a Gambino soldier beat another member with a crystal candlestick, the FBI shut down the undercover operation. But without qualifications in Barsky's name, or any employment history, his career options were limited. Meanwhile, a group of wealthy business executives in Chicago, called the Secret Six, donated large sums of money for expenses to assist the feds in getting Capone. Born in Cuba in the early 1950s, the imposing 6'4 Garcia successfully played dozens of underworld roles in over 100 different operations, with many of his stings being orchestrated simultaneously. With Kingsman: The Golden Circle in theaters right now, here's our pick of the sneakiest secret agents on film. The FBI watched him for more than three years, even buying the house next door to his as they tried to figure out whether he really was a KGB agent and, if so, whether he was still active. He moved his family members out of state for their protection. "My loyalties to communism and the homeland and Russia, they were still pretty strong. 60s TV series and played by the four-square Henry Cavill in Guy Ritchies movie revival. Pistones journey while undercover, impersonating a mobbed-up jewel thief, would last an incredible five years, from 1976 to 1981, during which he penetrated the upper levels of the Bonnano organization. Jackie Chan affectionately sent up the spy genre with The Tuxedo, in which he plays an ordinary taxi driver whos transformed by a feat of technological magic into a suave secret agent in the James Bond mold. "I also told the Russians in the same letter that I would not defect, I would not give up any secrets. The agenda was to kidnap Camarena and get him to reveal his informants and other information. He gained 80 pounds over the two years. He took advantage of his fluency in Spanish and Italian, being careful not to mix things up when the phone rang. Caro Quintero believed his operation had the protection of the Mexican army, and the CIA, since he owned a farm used to train the U.S.-backed Contras. Feedback or questions? He mailed letters to friends in Philadelphia, who wrote back. Altogether, he served in more than 500 undercover operations disguised as a hitman and Mob debt collector. He posed in everyman roles such as garbage man and shoe shiner. Indeed Alicia is one of the earliestand still most interestingsecret agents in film. It would be easy to claim that. He spoke in an Italian accent, introduced himself as Mike Lepito, met Capone men playing craps and played the part of a mobster. In 2016, Georgia police officer Vancito Gumbs came under investigation when he was spotted by fellow officers doing lines of cocaine in a sports bar with an alleged drug kingpin. But the rewards can be huge, with wire recordings and eyewitness testimony that can result in arrests and convictions. He knows how fortunate he has been. The KGB had not done anything.". Not even dislike them.". Caine is perfect for this early attempt to capture the grittier, more prosaic side of life as a spy, and the allure of the character was such that he played the character four more times in the sequels Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, and in the 1990s thrillers Bullet To Beijing and Midnight In Saint Petersburg. Perhaps because of the gravity of the investigations, and the financial resources required, all of these undercover officers worked for agencies of the U.S. government. But given his skills, it didnt happen. Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty Votes: 187,582 | Gross: $43.22M 10. The Bureau learned firsthand who the players were, what kinds of rackets they were running, and what rules they played by. During an appeal, the judge voided the monetary judgment, but recommended discipline for ATF personnel and barred seven Justice Department attorneys from the case. Known as the "Limping Lady" because she had lost one leg in a hunting accident, Hall's accomplishments were extraordinary. The FBI Wall of Honor remembers Special Agent Charles Leo Reed, who died on March 22, 1996 from gunshot wounds received in connection with an undercover drug investigation. I just read books! In a film pregnant with paranoia and the constant threat of danger, Redfords on career-best form here. As an example of just how important Damons incarnation of Bourne is to the series, look no further than 2012s The Bourne Legacy. Undercover Agent Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco Special Agent Pistone (left) sits with Sonny Black (Dominick Napolitano) of the Bonanno family and unidentified woman in the 1970s during an. In 1933, Irey assigned him to find fugitive New York gangster Waxey Gordon, wanted for tax evasion. DeSantis won't say he's running. 2023 BBC. While playing his part, Pistone could have been seen with the wrong person or been recognized by someone he knew. So in the kitchen I told her, 'By the way, this is what I did. Joaqun "Jack" Garca (born 1952) is a Cuban-American retired FBI agent, best known for his undercover work infiltrating the Gambino crime family in New York City. The FBI pulled him out of the sting. "I was sent to the United States to establish myself as a citizen and then make contact, to the extent possible, at the highest levels possible of decision makers - particularly political decision makers," he says. You look like a million dollars.. Long before Top Secret! Tasker isnt the most subtle of secret agents, but hes probably one of the most creative when it comes to moments of crisis. Courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Initially a drug-addled drop-out, Nikita (Anne Parilaud) is given a stark choice: either train to become an operative or die in prison. Capones trial, after a judge refused to plea bargain with the Mob boss, started in October 1931. Like any spy worth his salt, Bond has survived by taking on different forms: the imposing, rugged Connery, the urbane, laidback Roger Moore, the introspective, street-tough Daniel Craig. Moscow was in a panic, believing the FBI was on to him. What makes Nikita so watchable is its lead characters reluctance to become an agent and undercover state assassin. The investigation revealed the CIA connection, leading to bitter clashes between CIA and DEA agents. In his last undercover operation before his death, the Intelligence Unit gave Malone a large amount of cash and a Cadillac to use in Miami Beach, disguised as a rich syndicate man. Where Ian Flemings spy novels were about the glamor and fantasy of the spy game, John Le Carrs books are closer to the mundane, downbeat reality. Played by a range of actors, from Jack Lord, Cec Linder, and Rik Van Nutter in the 60s to Jeffrey Wright in the 2000s, Felix Leiter is best known as James Bonds contact with the CIA and one of his closest allies. MMA fighter Gina Carano turned action hero in Steven Soderberghs Haywire. Camarenas is featured as a character, played by actor Michael Pena, in a chapter of the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, about on his actions with the DEA. He is scathing about his KGB handlers, who were "very smart" and the "cream of the crop" but who seemed chiefly concerned with making his mission appear a success to please their bosses. Zuno Arce gave the order. Secret agents go by many names. Terrified that his cover might be blown, he scooped up any documents with his name on them and marched out of the office in a feigned temper at all this red tape. Garcia said he witnessed DePalma commit a crime almost every day. Pistone had to think, talk, and act like a crook (he spent two full weeks, for example, studying the jewelry industry). As far as anyone can tell, it is all true. Based on the book, actor Johnny Depp portrayed Pistone in the 1997 feature film Donnie Brasco, with Al Pacino as Ruggerio. Tragically, the star died on July 20, 1973 just six days before Enter The Dragon appeared in theaters. The FBI had not knocked on the door. The story of how this came to be is, by Barsky's own admission, "implausible" and "ridiculous", even by the standards of Cold War espionage. I have had some issues with alcohol that I have overcome and I got another chance to have a good family life. Played by no fewer than four actors across five films, Jack Ryan is arguably author Tom Clancys most famous creation. Sometimes, he had to run several undercover roles at once. His fascinating story began after his service in World War I. Later, an Angels member would apply tattoos covering his upper arms. ", The colour drained from Barsky's face. Malone set about infiltrating Capones underworld at its core the Lexington Hotel, where the boss and his men lived. and Austin Powers, there was Our Man Flint, a send-up of the whole swinging 60s craze for spy movies. Dobyns had hit on his best clandestine ruse yet while in Arizona in 2001, after 15 years of service as an undercover special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Gallardo also believed he had CIA and Mexican official protection. Famous illegals include Rudolf Abel, unmasked as a Soviet spy in the US in 1957 . Set in the midst of World War I, Secret Agent sees Gielguds army captain Edgar Brodie despatched to covertly track down a German agent en route to Arabia. Theyre from opposing sides of the Iron Curtain and forced to work together for the greater good. This list leaves out many other famous undercover officers, whom we would like to recognize in the future. He won a $373,000 settlement in 2007. '", Deep Undercover - My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America, by Jack Barsky and Cindy Coloma, is published next month. Instead of bringing her over to my side, she said: 'What does that mean for me if they ever catch you?'". By 1976, hed won the trust of important Bonnano members, notably family soldier Benjamin Lefty Guns Ruggiero, said to have killed 26 people, and capo Dominick Sonny Black Napolitano. In years past, the Bureau had some success in gathering intelligence on the mob, but typically only around the edges. Elmer Irey, chief of the Intelligence Unit, had worked with undercover agent Malone on Prohibition cases. Another adaptation of a John Le Carr spy novel, this one with an all-star cast which includes Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, and Benedict Cumberbatch. "I was trying to repair a marriage that was slowly falling apart. Ostensibly a CIA analyst, Ryan inevitably ends up in the thick of the action, whether hes on the trail of a stolen soviet submarine, saving members of the British royal family from assassins or foiling terrorist plots. A young John Gielgud is magnificent in this 1930s thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1930s thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, How Agents of SHIELD Season 2 is Going Back to the Comics For Inspiration, Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Camarenas wife reported him missing and Washington launched what would be the largest manhunt in the history of the DEA. What follows here is a list of five remarkable individuals whose undercover operations, despite real dangers, resulted in the convictions of leaders and associates of organized crime, over almost a century. Starting in 1982, Pistones testimony over the next several years in racketeering cases sent more than 100 mobsters to long prison terms. But Hunt (Tom Cruise) is also a master of disguise and a cunning tactician how else can he so reliably get into high-tech, impossibly fortified buildings? That indicated very old thinking.". Sent to Brazil to infiltrate a group of Nazis, Alicias soon caught between the affections of Devlin (Cary Grant), an ice-cold U.S. agent, and Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of the Nazis shes ordered to seduce. There have been many popular portrayals of the character Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle's books including HBO's 4 part series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Dobyns teamed with another ATF agent, two other undercover officers and a pair of paid informants. And I am now a grandfather. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Missing and Washington launched what would be the largest manhunt in the murders of and..., two other undercover officers, whom we would like to recognize the... Books, one on his undercover experiences, another on his undercover experiences, Donnie Brasco, with wire and. // means you 've safely connected to the series, look no further than 2012s Bourne! 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