Deep Cover: The Nameless Man

Marijuana, motorcycles, and mayhem. Deep Cover is the true story of an FBI agent in Detroit who goes undercover in an outlaw motorcycle gang and makes a series of bizarre discoveries that inadvertently lead to the US invasion of foreign country. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jake Halpern. Launching July 13th.

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Jake delves into one piece of the puzzle that he didn’t quite get into in season one but has continued to intrigue him: the source. In this episode, you’ll meet Tommy Powell, a former smuggler who guides us through the import side of the marijuana industry. Starting out as a small time dealer in Michigan, Tommy winds up in Colombia inspecting marijuana crops and working as a liaison between farmers and other smugglers...

The launch of Deep Cover Season 2 is just a month away. Until then, we bring you a conversation between host Jake Halpern and screenwriter/author James Coyne about the genesis of Ned’s novel and the role it played in Jake’s writing of season one. Also, in this episode–a sneak peek of Deep Cover season 2: Mob Land.

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Detroit FBI agent Ned Timmons busts Toby Anderson, a violent criminal who also fancies himself a budding country music star. Ned flips Toby and goes undercover as a biker, but Toby quickly goes out of control. He uses the newfound protection of the FBI to commit robberies and perhaps far worse. Most agents would give up, and send Toby to jail, but Ned has a feeling Toby might be his key to the criminal underworld...

As Ned goes deeper undercover with Toby, making busts and infiltrating biker gangs, his wife Kathy begins to worry that things are going too far. But Ned is hooked, hearing chatter about a smuggling syndicate, a massive drug warehouse, and a source nicknamed Shine, who might have intel on the whole operation. Meanwhile, down in Louisiana, an abandoned smuggling barge turns up, and local authorities find a single clue: the name Shine, etched into a notepad belonging to the smugglers...

Ned makes his move on Shine by baiting him into a chili cook-off. It turns out Shine is also looking for an out, as he’s come under suspicion from his boss, a massive drug distributor named Mike Vogel. Shine runs security for Vogel’s operation, but Vogel comes to suspect that Shine is a traitor. After Shine gets shot, he’s willing to cooperate with Ned.

The first version of Ned’s unpublished novel was written by James Coyne and edited by Andrea McLaughlin...

Shine takes Ned to Beaufort, North Carolina, where an abandoned boat full of marijuana had been discovered years prior. Locally, that case had gone cold, but Shine knows all about it. It was the work of an activist turned marijuana importer named Steven Kalish AKA Skip AKA the Gentleman Smuggler, a nickname earned because of his charismatic personality and distaste for violence.

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The kingpin of the smuggling syndicate – Leigh Ritch – is safely out of reach in the Cayman Islands. But he’s worried. One of his partners, the Gentleman Smuggler, is in custody. Leigh’s network may soon be exposed. He grows more paranoid, thinking his house is bugged. The syndicate's security guy, Shine, says he knows a guy who can sweep Leigh’s house. His name is Ed Thomas. (Yep, that’s Ned)...

As Ned is in Grand Cayman working undercover to investigate Leigh Ritch, he hears talk about a “general” sometimes called “Pineapple Face.” That can only be the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who, it turns out, has effectively become the syndicate's launderer and protector. The FBI realizes it’s on to something serious, especially when the CIA comes knocking and starts asking all kinds of suspicious questions...

This is the story of Leigh Ritch’s escape. It begins with his friends, Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear, visiting the Cayman Islands on their honeymoon. They start fighting, make a ruckus, and Leigh eventually takes them to Jamaica. From there, Leigh hopes to flee to Portugal, but the FBI has something else in mind. Meanwhile, back in Detroit, Ned helps lead a raid on Mike Vogel’s mansion.

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