About this episode

The episode concludes Blake Boteler's story of his undercover infiltration of the Sons of Silence motorcycle gang, detailing the operation's final weeks and dangerous moments.

Blake Boteler is a retired ATF Special Agent and former petroleum geologist whose two-year undercover infiltration of the Sons of Silence outlaw motorcycle gang stands as one of the deepest and most successful operations in ATF history. His 1963 Harley Davidson and undercover jacket are preserved at the National Law Enforcement Museum. Craig Floyd, former head of the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Fund, named him Officer of the Month in July 2002. This is the conclusion of his story. Part 2 opens with Blake freshly out of an Iowa jail cell — bonded out by the club, carrying no weapon, and walking back into a world that was growing suspicious of how aggressively he and his partner were making buys. The episode follows his final weeks as a patch-wearing member through the operation's most dangerous moments: ordered by a national vice president at a biker rally to assault a stranger who had been photographing the club, Blake hits the man's whiskey bottle rather than his face and talks his way through the aftermath. He describes snorting gunpowder as a prospect hazing ritual. And he walks through the confrontation in a Colorado storage unit — national president J.R. Reed…

People in this episode

Guest: Blake Boteler

Topics covered

• undercover operations
• law enforcement
• motorcycle gangs
• drug trafficking
• personal stories

Keywords

• Blake Boteler
• ATF
• Sons of Silence
• undercover operation
• biker gang
• drug trafficking
• law enforcement

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ATF, National Law Enforcement Museum

Products: Harley Davidson

Places: Iowa, Colorado

More episodes of Heroes Behind the Badge

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