Reddit mentions: The best law enforcement biographies

Autogenerated.

I am former FBI Special Agent Marc Ruskin, with 20 years’ experience in Undercover Operations. I've infiltrated a New York Mafia crime family, a Chinese Malaysian heroin organization, a Wall Street trading exchange, right-wing terrorist groups, and I’ve worked on espionage cases. AMA!

+MarcRuskin:

My short bio: Hi Reddit! I'm Marc Ruskin. I am a former FBI Special Agent, and I spent 20 years in Undercover Operations. I've juggled a dozen different aliases and have been awarded five commendations from the Director of the FBI. I've worked at US Embassies in Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asuncion, the latter where I was given a Letter of Recognition from the Minister of the Interior for the rescue of a kidnapped former Miss Paraguay (Mariangela Martinez).

Since retiring, I've divided my time between a law practice in New York and extended sojourns in Liaoning Province, China where I've been studying Mandarin. My new book, The Pretender: My Life Undercover in the FBI, is [now on sale] (https://www.amazon.com/Pretender-My-Life-Undercover-FBI/dp/1250068630).

Proof: http://imgur.com/a/smz3f

Thanks to All of You For Stopping By.

Had a Great Time!

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Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+coryrenton](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_spe

cial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdw2gf/): What is the best way for a criminal

to secure and leverage the best deal in exchange for assistance in an

investigation? What's the highest level of crime you've seen essentially

forgiven in exchange for such help?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdys73/): In SUNBLOCK, a UC op targeting a

Malaysian Chinese global heroin importation and distribution investigation, I

was posing as the nephew of Gil Sandoval (not his true name, of course), the

head of a Mexican cocaine cartel in the eighties, serving "natural life" with

no hope of parole. One the most interesting and challenging cases of my

career. At the end, I testified on his behalf at the re-sentencing hearing.

Altogether he must have served about 18 years. For a long time, our lives

were in each others hands. A slip up by me, and a shiv in the back for Gil. A

slip up by him, and I'd be going to a UC meet with a melancholy end.

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Concise_AMA_Bot :



[+Naranjas1](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_spec

ial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdqbqt/): What's your theory on DB Cooper?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdrjow/): He died when parachuting out of

the 727.

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Concise_AMA_Bot :



[+orionsgreatsky](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi

_special_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dme3fdt/): Best advice to prospective

agents?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dme4l3p/): Get a law or accounting degree,

work out regularly, and don't post anything online that can come back to

haunt you.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Concise_AMA_Bot :



[+coryrenton](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_spe

cial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdw4ii/): What is the typical budget for an

investigation, and what is the largest budget you've seen?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdz6ja/): There is not typical budget,

really. The case agent, the agent running the show, drafts a Proposal, which

includes a budget (I drafted one once, for a case that I later was the UC in,

and my RUN DMV case agents then handled that part of the op)s. It's a

comprehensive undertaking. Big cases have to be approved at FBIHQ, with DOJ

input, and if approved, so is the budget. Whatever it take to get the job

done.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Concise_AMA_Bot :



[+IAmShinobI](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_spe

cial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dme21lg/): What are the requirements for

becoming and undercover agent?Were family or relationships allowed?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dme3lcq/): To quote from the surveillance

agents in Reservoir Dogs, you have to "have rocks in your head" to be a UC.

Seriously though, you need five+ years agent time, and if you have a family,

they will need to have lots of patience to accommodate an unusual career.

Most agents don't do UC work, and of those who do, most don't do it often.

There are about 100 full-time UCs in the FBI at any given time - for a

country of 300+ million people. I was privileged to be one of them.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Concise_AMA_Bot :



[+picnic-boy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_spe

cial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdqcbx/): What are some of the differences

between real life FBI agent work and what you see in movies?

Concise_AMA_Bot :

[+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi_s

pecial_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdqzfj/): FBI Agents have, or used to

have, a great sense of humor. In the films, like Die Hard, they're all black

suits and grim faces: "We're taking over now." That never happens. We'd kid

around with the locals, cops and trooper, and work together all the time.

: Concise_AMA_Bot :

:

: [+picnic-boy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_fbi

: _special_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdtk7g/): What kind of clothing would

: you regularly wear? The stereotype is the black suit. Is there any truth to

: that?

:

:: Concise_AMA_Bot :

::

:: [+MarcRuskin](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6x7mnu/i_am_former_f

:: bi_special_agent_marc_ruskin_with_20/dmdv2uq/): The stereotype is just

:: that. For the movies. An agent going out on an interview, particularly in

:: a white collar case, will wear business attire. I would dress to fit the

:: role I was playing, from street hustler with lots of gold chains

:: (courtesy of FBI Seized Property) to refined European jewel thief in

:: elegant suit and $30,000 watch.

::


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IamAbot_v01. Alpha version. Under care of /u/oppon.
Comment 1 of 10
Updated at 2017-09-02 19:51:39.002256

This is the final update to this thread

>"I know these officers personally. I have worked around them. They are excellent officers and incredible people and they really have served the public well. They are some of the most dedicated and committed people you will ever want to meet."

I mean, I'm not saying that he should shit on them publicly without knowing the facts, but this is something that can blow up in his face pretty easily.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a pretty regular thing amongst the Calgary police force. If you're interested, there's a book called The Wolf and the Sheepdog that describes their conduct, from the perspective of an officer that thinks he's a warrior of some kind.

Also has lovely tidbits on things like "cultivating witnesses".

This episode didn't recommend any additional reading for Pablo Escobar.

Over on /r/books, I saw "Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw" highly recommended by /u/lobotomyjones

Original comment:

> Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden. This is the best book about tracking and eventually killing Pablo Escobar. And as Walter Jr. pointed out to Walter White, it focuses on the good guys, not the bad ones. Good companion book to Pablo Escobar: My Father written by Escobar’s son.

Awesome picture and welcome to the profession from a brother across the lake! I'd recommend you read this book written by a Kalamazoo cop. Lots of great tips and tactics for rookie officers. Work hard and be safe!

Ahora, malparido, escucha el patrón.

This really depends on a) how much you're looking to spend; b) how much you like her; and c) how grand a gesture you think you should make. Since that is up to you to decide, pendejo, I'm gonna throw the most over-the-top, exaggerated, overwhelming idea and you can turn it down a couple of notches if you want.


You ready, puto?


My idea is: make her a very own Narcos care-package.

First: find a nice, sturdy container. It has to look like something a drug dealer could use to smuggle coke/money in order to add to the character of it. You can use a small suitcase or a duffel bag, but the shadier it looks, the better.

Second: there is an infinity of books writter on Pablo Escobar. Arguably the most famous is Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo" (Find it on Amazon), and that might be a good starting point. Another choice is "Pablo Escobar: My Father" (Find it on Amazon), written by Pablo's own son. Buy her one of those.

Third, you can buy her something from Escobar Henao, a line of clothing owned by Pablo's son. They have stores in NY and LA if you're in the US (oddly enough, they don't have any stores in Colombia).

Fourth, you can probably find a Narcos poster for sale. The best bet would probably be an online store.

Fifth, you can buy her a Medellín/Colombia travel guide. It should mention a couple of spots relevant to Escobar's history or places that show up at the series (such as the government palace, La Catedral, and probably the house where Pablo was killed), and I've heard Colombia is a beautiful country. The more it relates to the show or to Pablo himself, the better - if it gives you the address of Escobar's death house and/or mentions the neighbourhood he created, that's the one you get.

Sixth, try to find actual photos of news articles from Pablo's death (or any major events in Escobar history, such as the Avianca bombing, or anything related to the Medellín cartel) and print them out. Sort of like this one.

Seven, add a note. Something simple, possibly in Spanish (if you're not in a Spanish-speaking country, obviously), maybe "espero que te guste el regalo" ("I hope you like the gift"). Bonus points if you can fit in a famous quote from the series or a Spanish curse word in it.

Finally, grab some EDIT: (actual) sugar and put in a transparent plastic bag. It's the metaphorical icing on the cake. Throw that in just to make it look more authentic, even though it's fake. If you want to, you can put some wads of fake cash as well, but I think the sugar, a.k.a. fake cocaine, is the most important.

It's a lot of work (and probably a lot of money), but if you find it worthy, it might be a good idea to look at the whole package. Worst case scenario, you can use some of these individual items as suggestions.

Disclaimer: I borrowed the poster suggestion from u/wildwriting in a comment below. Additionally, I feel obligated to link you to u/Makensil1's post on Pablo-related content. Even though I was gonna link a couple of things from there, Escobar Henao hadn't crossed my mind. If that works, you have them both to thank.

EDIT: Added 6 & 7; added the fake cash idea; clarification on the fake sugar.

EDIT 2: holy crap, I've been gilded! Thank you so much u/danywanted for popping my gold cherry. I greatly appreciate it!

Hijacking my comment to let everyone know about a new subreddit we've launched. r/RedditCrimeCommunity is a hub for all the case specific subs and a forum for high quality self posts on crime. I'd love it if you'd join me there and help us build it.

---


Mark has been verified by the mods and we've added a Verified flair.

Here's a link to his Amazon Author page

The new book, The Killer Across the Table on Amazon

Mindhunter on Amazon

Edit: The AMA is now concluded. Thanks again to everyone who came to the thread and either asked a question or lurked and read.

I hope you guys got as much out of this as I did. Thank you again to u/Mark_Olshaker for agreeing to do this. I've extended an open invitation to him to join us in the future if he so chooses.

Edit2:

Archive of the AMA - Archive.is

Archive of the AMA - Archive.org

Picked up Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube as a Daily Deal from Audible.

There's a lot of wilderness survival, but there are also a lot of amazing relationships cultivated by the author throughout the book as well. I really loved it.

Excellent movie. Probably my favorite Pacino flick after Dog Day Afternoon.

The biography of Serpico by Peter Maas is also very good.

My understanding is that he is playing a different character. According to the wiki, the movie is based off of a book by Robert Mazur. So that would mean that this story is more of an "undercover" movie than Narcos was, which was more of a "FBI hunt" show. So like two takes on Pablo Escobar. Sounds promising honestly.

I highly recommend this book for some entertaining stories of judo being used in real altercations.

https://www.amazon.com/Bouncer-Stories-mans-behind-velvet-ebook/dp/B07CWXWLXB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526206279&sr=8-1&keywords=bouncer+stories

The author is a cool guy as well. 😜

Be nice and send her a link to this helpful material that will be very useful to her and her brother.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Joseph Wambaugh wrote several excellent police-centric true crime books:

The Onion Field

Lines and Shadows

The Blooding


His fiction is also fantastic.

it seems like you already know more about it than probably 99% of the people on this subreddit ;-)

the problem with theories of conspiracy (like so many "tin foil hat" theories), is that people really like to see things where it sometimes is just a matter of incompetence, flaws in the system/procedures, miscommunication of government officials, rivalry between police departments, .. (this is not only true for belgium by the way, but our bilingual nature and different government styles between flanders/brussels/wallonia surely does not help)

IF Dutroux was some real life pedofile network equivalent of Breaking Bad's Mike, WHY would he ever open his mouth ?? (why would ANY organised crime dude open his mouth? it's not like he can be tortured or anything and the belgian justice sytem has very little "deal" options like they throw around in them US shows about organised crime)

even more so, WHY would anyone in such network risk leaving a tosser like Dutroux run free/stay alive ?

there surely were moments along the way when it should not have been that hard for him to "accidently" come in contact with other inmates (although pedofiles and rapist are usually kept separated from the general inmate population) or that he made "a slip" on some stairs somewhere ... (and they probably could have motivated it)

the consensus these days is that there probably was some kind of small network/gang operated by Dutroux, but most likely not in the large cover up kind of scale.

the case does still ring some bells with age 30+ people and when the time came for the release on probation of Dutroux's wife (who always came across as a really weak figure that was manipulated by him), there was some public outrage a few years ago


what the families think has always been quite diverse.

on one hand you have father Marchal who has /was always been quite prominently in the media (to a point where he started to annoy people) and on the other hand you had father Jacobs who has always been rather silent but still wants to keep searching for the truth

the surviving victims (Laetitia and Sabine) have been in the news these past years as Sabine wrote (let someone write) a book and also Laetitita appeared on some talk shows over the years

the case still lives in the minds and hearts of people but not in the magnitude that it used to imo

() in theory Belgium is trilingual but let's face it, as "De ideale Wereld" pointed out very well that the German community is kinda a joke

Fantastic in depth write up. If anyone wants to read up further, respected Irish journalist Nell McCafferty wrote a book on the subject.

http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Blame-Kerry-Babies-Case/dp/1855942135/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Educational, Profilers. I'm majoring in psych hoping to get involved into either forensic or criminal psychology.

It's really good and interesting though!

Still one of my heroes. Read the book, it's worthwhile.
http://www.amazon.com/Serpico-Peter-Maas/dp/0060738189/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1414372230&sr=8-3&keywords=SERPICO

Watch this too, if you haven't. Very important and relevant.

Conspiracy of Silence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY-F5JoHoho&t=2s

And this one about systematic pedophilia in Hollywood, it came out last year
An Open Secret https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eeGX4SlF1s&t=5s

Edit: Also this one:

60 MINUTES ON UK'S POLITICAL "ELITE" CHILD SEXUAL PREDATOR RING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANv8nT7vDFA

Edit: Here's a new book about Jeffrey Epstein
Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy - The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein Hardcover – October 10, 2016
https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Rich-Powerful-Billionaire-Shocking/dp/0316274054/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481497068&sr=8-1&keywords=jeffrey+epstein

You should probably start with Killing Pablo. It's not a Mexican cartel, but Pablo was probably the most influential cartel leader ever.

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw

This was a great book. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1930051123/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Somewhat of a Pablo Escobar? This could be the next season of Nacros😂

(Philippines Edition) Pablo Escobar book

Out Of The Darkness And Into The Blue. I just finished this one up and it’s a great explanation of the mistakes you’ll want to avoid. It reads really easy because it’s a memoir with tactics added in.

Ahh, sorry. Misunderstood and got confused for a moment there :)

There is a good book called Killing Pablo, there is also a movie version (I believe you can find it on youtube as well)

Agreed. At least not regular army troops. A far more likely scenario is that, as in the case of Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar --convincingly documented for all but the most determined skeptic in Mark Bowden's excellent book, "Killing Pablo"-- the US will start sending Delta hit squads after the various cartel leaders. I don't think that will stop the violence --only a massive change in US drugs policy can do that-- but it might slow things down a bit and create some room for a rational discussion.

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0871137836

Before you go indulging in that fantasy, read about the career of Frank Serpico.

Counterpoint

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0802123783

Same story, 40 years ago:

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/frank-serpico

Then, they tried to kill him.

The book about him is amazing. Should be required reading in school.

http://www.amazon.com/Serpico-Peter-Maas/dp/0060738189

Los Pepes went after his family and associates, and that's what finally forced him to start making mistakes and he got spooked. Yes he was shot, but he committed several "unforced errors" because he was jumpy.

http://xpatnation.com/los-pepes-the-paramilitary-group-that-took-on-pablo-escobar-and-won/

Also, check out: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0802123783