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Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang
By
William Queen
In 1998, William Queen was a veteran law enforcement agent, with a love of motorcycles and a lack of patience with paperwork. When he was offered the chance to work undercover inside the San Fernando chapter of the Mongols - one of the most dangerous gangs in America - Queen jumped at it, not realising that he was kick-starting the most extensive undercover operation inside an criminal motorcycle gang in the history of US law enforcement. Queen penetrated the gang so successfully that he became a fully fledged member, eventually rising through their ranks to the office of treasurer, where he had unprecedented access to evidence of their illegal activities. During his initial 'prospecting' phase, Queen was at the mercy of psychopaths who sought to have him prove his fealty by any means necessary, from selling and doing drugs to arms trafficking, driving getaway cars and, in one shocking instance, stitching up the face of a Mongol 'ol' lady' after a brutal beating at the hands of her boyfriend. Yet, despite the constant criminality, Queen also came to see the genuine camaraderie the gang shared. When his lengthy undercover work totally isolated him from his relatives and friends, the Mongols felt like the only family he had left. After 28 months as 'Billy St John', the bearded, beer-swilling, Harley-riding gang-banger, the truth of Queen's identity became blurry, even to himself. "Under and Alone" is a breathless, adrenalin-charged read that puts you on the street with some of the most dangerous men in America.
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