0:15

Pushkin previously

0:23

on deep cover. During

0:25

the late spring of nineteen eighty five, FBI

0:28

agent Ned Timmins was deep undercover

0:30

in the Cayman Islands. His goal

0:33

was to spy on Lee Rich, the kingpin

0:35

of the drug syndicate. As he

0:37

got closer to Lee and deeper

0:39

into this world, he became increasingly

0:42

worried. The

0:45

stress is unbelievable. There's

0:47

no backup. You're not gonna really hit the radio

0:49

and call nine on one. You're nine. You're not

0:51

gonna be able to call for help because

0:54

nobody's coming. Meanwhile,

0:57

Lee had problems of his own. He

0:59

worried that the FEDS were watching him,

1:02

and to complicate matters, he says,

1:04

his go to bank in the Caymans was

1:06

no longer accepting his money for

1:16

Ned Timmins. Being undercover and the Caymans

1:18

meant hanging out with Lee Rich's guys.

1:21

He'd chill out on the beach or at

1:23

the club and listen for clues.

1:26

Well, I usually was given something to do, you

1:29

know, oversee the barbecues,

1:31

or make sure there was no trouble at

1:33

the bar with any of the guests. Not

1:36

exactly the stuff of Sherlock Holmes, but

1:38

ned couldn't ask questions really because

1:41

that would draw suspicions give him away as

1:43

a narc. So he just kept

1:45

on listening. And then one day Lee

1:48

made a cryptic reference to someone

1:50

apparently in the organization called

1:53

the general, and I just

1:55

okay, not knowing general

1:58

of what or general who or whatever, and

2:01

does your whole thing is don't ask questions

2:03

exactly. You start asking questions

2:05

and people get suspicious. But

2:08

what's your react action to that? Oh?

2:13

Actually, in

2:17

the middle of this, they realized that

2:19

I had never been to Advanced Undercover School

2:21

at Quantico, which is two week school. And

2:25

I got orders and they go, oh,

2:28

you haven't been to Advanced undercover school. You got to

2:30

go to that. It seemed like this

2:32

was the equivalent of a fireman getting called

2:34

out of a burning building to take a refresher

2:36

class on how to use a hose. But

2:39

this was part of a relatively new effort

2:41

by the FBI to rain in and standardize

2:44

it's undercover practices. So

2:47

I had to make up a story to Lee. I can't remember

2:49

whether made up something that I had to go someplace or two

2:51

weeks. So I go back to Quantico

2:54

and go through Advanced undercover school.

2:56

You know that's the rules. Whatever. What

2:59

did you learn an advanced undercover school? I

3:02

don't remember. You know what

3:05

to do and what not to do and whatever.

3:09

So not especially interested in his class

3:11

work, it seems, and perhaps

3:13

that's because his thoughts were still back

3:15

in the Caymans. That comment

3:18

about the General he got him

3:20

thinking. Was this just

3:22

some stupid nickname or

3:24

was Lee talking about an actual

3:27

general? Was it possible

3:29

that there was someone above Lee.

3:32

That's just the mindset of the FBI. We're going

3:34

to work this up right to the top, just

3:37

like the mafia. We're going to go after the dis We're

3:39

going to go to the top of the food

3:41

chain and crime. Our objective is

3:43

to work up and kill the head of

3:45

the snake. I'm

3:52

Jake Halpern and this is Deep Cover

3:56

Episode six. The silent

3:58

partner. Ned

4:26

didn't know it at the time, but the general

4:28

that Lee was talking about, and the revelation

4:31

of who he really was would

4:33

change everything in this investigation.

4:36

And the story of the General really

4:38

begins about two years earlier.

4:41

So we're going to turn back the clock

4:43

to September of nineteen eighty three.

4:48

At this point, Ned is still hanging out

4:50

in biker bars in Detroit. Lee

4:53

Rich, mister beach Club if you will,

4:55

is still living the high life in the Caymans,

4:58

and Stephen Kaylish, the gentleman smuggler,

5:01

has not yet been arrested. Everything's

5:04

going great for these guys except

5:06

for one thing, their money

5:09

laundering. Le's go to

5:11

bank in the Caymans, the Bank of Nova

5:13

Scotia wasn't an option, So

5:16

now Lee and Stephen were looking for

5:18

somewhere else to launder their money. At

5:21

the time, Stephen says, they were trying to move

5:23

a whole bunch of small bills about

5:25

fifteen million dollars worth. Just

5:27

to give you a sense of how much cash that was,

5:30

it weigh about sixteen hundred

5:32

pounds, so a lot

5:34

of money. And now they had nowhere

5:36

to put it. So Lee and Stephen

5:39

they start thinking about where else they

5:41

could take their money and bank it well.

5:47

The other only other solid

5:50

banking haven that I knew was secure

5:52

was Panama. In the early nineteen

5:55

seventies, Panama more or less deregulated

5:57

banking, very little oversight now

6:00

taxes on foreign income, and

6:02

by the time Stephen and Lee were in their bind,

6:05

lots of new banks had opened their doors in Panama,

6:08

which was enticing. Plus,

6:10

Stephen liked Panama. I don't

6:12

a book report in the third

6:14

grade about the Panama Canal,

6:16

so it had always held a special

6:19

place of my art. Stephen's

6:21

summary of its history in his third

6:23

grade book report, it's basically

6:26

right, the building of the canal and

6:28

the failures of the French I

6:30

mean, the whole way. Panama

6:32

was actually became a country, you know,

6:35

stolen from Columbia, basically by

6:37

the US. When Panama

6:39

broke away from Columbia in nineteen oh three,

6:41

the United States lent its support. Then

6:44

the US signed a treaty with Panama and took

6:46

control of a zone about ten miles

6:48

wide and fifty miles long. There

6:50

was a canal there, or the start of one. Anyhow,

6:53

the US completed it and then stuck

6:55

around to control that canal and you

6:57

know, cash in on it. So

7:02

anyway, Panama had a lot of allure

7:05

in Look, I've always been a risk taker,

7:07

right, and a guy with a good

7:09

rolodex. Stephen eventually connects

7:12

with a guy named Caesar Rodriguez.

7:15

He was a businessman done in Panama with

7:17

connections to the banking world. A

7:19

guy who could make things happen. So

7:22

Stephen plans a visit. He packs for the

7:24

trip, you know, the usual change of

7:26

clothes and about three million in cash

7:28

stuffed into some luggage. Then he flies

7:30

down to Panama in a private jet. He

7:35

lands at the airport in Panama and

7:37

his contact, Caesar, is there to

7:40

greet him in person. He's a young guy, good

7:42

looking, very friendly, speaks perfect English,

7:45

and he has not one but two

7:47

stretch limos waiting for them. They

7:49

all head downtown to the Bank of Boston

7:51

building where Caesar operated a club

7:53

and a big, sprawling penthouse. I

7:56

mean it's very posh, it's very

7:58

tricked out. There's a small

8:01

little nightclub or restaurant, and

8:03

Caesar tells Stephen, we

8:06

have a private club here but for

8:09

Hali businessmen and certain

8:12

military officials that come

8:14

here for dining and drinking and parting

8:17

in a discreet environment. Later

8:22

that night they sit down and have a meal. They're

8:25

joined by another guy named Enrique

8:27

Protelt. Casar introduces

8:29

Enrique as his partner, and

8:31

then very casually, Caesar starts

8:34

to explain what exactly he and

8:36

Enrique do down here in Panama.

8:38

In addition to running the club, their

8:40

financiers. Basically, they

8:43

loan out money. And they explain

8:45

to me that they're Bank

8:47

of Boston Penalves and all

8:50

their operations going on to Panama.

8:52

We're all run through their shell company

8:55

that was owned by three

8:58

people. Enrique saysar

9:00

in a silent third partner, and

9:03

I said really, I said okay, And

9:05

they said, well, what do you want to do in Panama?

9:09

It's a loaded question. Stephen

9:11

is still not one hundred percent sure whether

9:13

he can really trust these guys. All

9:15

I tell him is I have millions of dollars I need

9:17

to bank in Panama, and I need

9:20

to fly it in from the US, and

9:22

I need security at the airport and

9:24

secure banks. Caesar

9:27

died in the eighties, so I couldn't interview

9:29

him, but according to Stephen, Caesar

9:31

was very accommodating. He tells Stephen,

9:33

yes, we can definitely help you with that, and to

9:36

prove it, they take him to the Bank of

9:38

Credit and Commerce International, well

9:40

known then as BCCI to

9:43

make the necessary introductions. Stephen

9:45

wheels in his cash and makes his deposits

9:47

and there's no fee, no commission

9:50

or anything, just thank you for your business.

9:53

Afterwards, they do the same thing for him

9:55

at another bank. It's all

9:57

going splendidly so far. The question

9:59

is what does Caesar and Enrique want

10:02

from him? And the next day, back

10:04

at the Penthouse Club, Caesar makes

10:06

his pitch. He says he has a business

10:09

that loans money to the Panama Defense Forces.

10:12

In fact, the military needs financing for equipment

10:15

a two point two million dollars helicopter, it

10:17

turns out, and maybe

10:19

Stephen could front the money if

10:21

you're interested. You can make three hundred

10:24

thousand dollars for setting up the financing,

10:26

and then you can make ten percent interests

10:29

annually own that financing,

10:31

and it'll be backed up by a letter of credit

10:34

from the Panamanian Defense Forces. Well,

10:37

I said, well that sounds good. You're basically

10:39

loan sharking money to the Panamanian military

10:42

pretty much. They go on to

10:44

offer Stephen a twenty five percent stake

10:46

in their business, which includes the club

10:49

and the loan sharking business. Stephen

10:52

pauses a beat and then asks,

10:54

I go, okay, what's the buy in? And they go four

10:56

in a grand and

10:59

I go okay, well, what's four in a grand buy

11:01

me? They go, well, there's only one

11:03

catch. You got to meet our partner,

11:07

and I go, well, who's your ark And

11:10

they go, oh, it's General Noriega.

11:14

And I go, okay, well who is General

11:16

Noriega? And they

11:18

both look at each other like I'm stupid,

11:21

and I go, look, guys, you

11:24

know, excuse me. I don't know how

11:27

things work here, so you got to explain it

11:29

to me. So they explain.

11:32

Noriega is the strong man who currently

11:34

controls Panama, and his story

11:37

it goes like this. Manuel

11:40

Noriega was born in Panama City

11:43

in nineteen thirty four. Abandoned

11:45

by his parents, he was raised by a woman

11:47

called Mama Luisa, who we referred

11:49

to as his godmother. He was a smart

11:51

kid, gets into a really prestigious high

11:54

school. But he's not just smart. He's

11:56

an operator. As a teenager, he joins

11:58

Panama's socialist youth party, goes

12:01

to protests, and writes articles criticizing

12:03

Uncle Sam. Noriega

12:05

goes onto a military academy in Peru. He

12:08

returns and joins the National Guard. He

12:10

then rises through the ranks, eventually becoming

12:12

a general, and once he's at the top, he

12:15

maintains power brutally. All

12:17

this time, he's developing a close relationship

12:20

with the CIA. He quietly supports

12:22

the Contras, a right wing military group in

12:24

Nicaragua. He helps the d EA

12:26

and the drug wars. He's also close

12:28

with Fidale Castro in Cuba.

12:31

This is a guy who plays all sides

12:34

and all the while he lines his own pockets

12:36

and little business deals with the likes of

12:38

Caesar and Enrique. And

12:41

at the club and the penthouse overlooking

12:43

Panama City, Caesar and Enrique

12:46

tell Stephen, you two can be part

12:48

of our little partnership, but

12:52

you gotta meet Noriega first. And

12:55

he's got a site off only

12:57

being part of the company. So

13:01

I said, okay, well, let's go met Noriega.

13:04

So Caesa says,

13:06

well, he might

13:09

take him our present, and

13:12

I go, what do you mean take him at present? He

13:15

goes, well, you

13:17

know, as a sign of respect

13:19

and a sign that you're serious

13:21

about learning the stay

13:24

in Panama and dupists in Panama, you

13:27

might want to give him something of

13:29

value. So

13:31

he stuffs three hundred thousand dollars

13:33

in a briefcase and heads over to Noriega's

13:36

house. This would be just a three

13:38

hundred thousand dollars gift, separate

13:41

from the four hundred K he'd already put in.

13:43

It was like well a sweetener. Stephen

13:46

hoped that it would do the trick. When

13:49

we come back after the break, Stephen

13:52

meets the general. So

14:07

Stephen Kayleish, the gentleman smuggler,

14:10

you know, the hippie kid from Texas. He

14:13

gets a ride over to General Manuel Noriega's

14:15

house with his briefcase filled

14:17

with cash. Ah.

14:20

We's got high walls with ivory growing

14:22

in, lots of military personnel

14:24

walking patrolling the area.

14:27

It's a beautiful home. I'm escorted

14:30

in his office and I sit

14:32

down and I set the briefcase down next

14:34

to his desk. Noriega

14:37

is dressed in his military uniform.

14:39

His most unusual feature is the skin

14:42

on his face, which is badly pockmarked.

14:45

Some people even called him a pineapple face,

14:47

but always behind his back, never

14:50

ever to his face. To Stephen,

14:52

he's very friendly. They start chatting

14:55

small talk, and eventually Noriega

14:57

asked him why he's in Panama, and Stephen

15:00

kind of boldly says, he's looking

15:03

for a new home, place

15:05

that I can live in peace and quiet

15:08

out I under the prying

15:11

eyes at the US cover month, I

15:13

said, I earn a lot of money,

15:16

not interested in baying US taxes, and

15:19

I want to bank my money's in panamall. According

15:22

to Stephen, Riega quickly tells

15:24

him not to worry. He would personally

15:27

look after Steven's needs and that

15:29

was kind of it. Stephen says, thank you,

15:31

and he gets up to leave without

15:34

the briefcase. Noriega, noticing

15:36

this, calls after him. I turned

15:38

around and said, no, it's pot a team, but I said

15:41

it's for you, and he

15:43

goes looks at me, you

15:45

know, pretty serious faith,

15:48

and I just smile. The

15:54

gift goes over well. Stephen thought

15:56

he might make some money by joining this little partnership,

15:59

but he slowly realizes that what he'd

16:01

really get was an ally, a

16:04

very powerful ally.

16:07

Later on saysar it's a call from

16:09

Noriega. He wants Stephen to

16:11

join them at a private party that night at

16:14

the offices of the Panama Canal Company.

16:17

We go to the offices, I don't know, around

16:19

six six thirty and it's

16:22

like I'm Noriega's best friend. I

16:24

mean, when I show up, he

16:26

gives me an open embrace with both

16:29

arms and says that I'm

16:32

welcome in Panama. And he'll

16:34

make sure that everything goes away.

16:36

I wanted to go. The

16:42

party is mainly military people, a

16:45

dozen or so colonels, a few majors,

16:47

and a bunch of beautiful women. Lots

16:49

to eat and drink. It's a scene that Stephen

16:52

very much enjoys. At

16:55

some point, Noriega offers to show

16:57

him around. Noriega takes

16:59

me to his own office, and it's

17:01

this beautiful office that overlooks

17:04

with picture windows overlooking the Panama

17:06

Canal. Noriega

17:09

goes back to the party and closes the door

17:13

to his office and leads me sitting at his desk

17:15

watching ships go by

17:18

in the Bantama Canal, thinking

17:20

about that third grade report I wrote,

17:24

making out line to Cocaine no Noriega's

17:26

desk and

17:29

storming the lines right, thinking

17:31

okay, I think Panama is going to work

17:33

out just fine.

17:39

And it did. Steven soon returned

17:42

to Panama with another couple million dollars

17:44

and per Noriega's instructions, landed

17:47

at his air Force base and there was no

17:49

customs, there was no immigration, there

17:52

was no inspection of anything. Our

17:54

jet taxied over to the air Force base and

17:57

every day had literally climbed

17:59

out of the plane into the limousine they'd

18:03

off Were you with? In time, Stephen

18:05

manages to get multiple Panamanian

18:07

passports, including a diplomatic

18:09

passport. It was a money launderer's

18:12

dream, especially for Stephen, who

18:14

was still a fugitive for his entire

18:16

adult life. Stephen Kayliss had been running

18:19

from and evading the law, and

18:21

now he was protected by a man who

18:23

was seemingly above the law.

18:26

Stephen was untouchable.

18:29

For me, it was not enough. I mean I wanted

18:31

more, because,

18:33

if you know, the evolution

18:35

from having money becomes

18:38

having power, and

18:40

Panama was an opportunity

18:43

to have power, real

18:45

power. So I asked myself what

18:47

it would take, you

18:49

know, what's it going to take for Noriega

18:51

to really to trust me and

18:55

for me to solidify this relationship. So

18:58

next Stephen makes it his goal to get

19:00

closer to Noriega literally,

19:02

or I want to find home, you

19:05

know, in close proximity, you

19:07

know, and close proximity

19:10

to what I mean? Are you actively thinking I want

19:12

to become Noriega's neighbor, Well,

19:14

I want to live in the same area. Yeah,

19:17

And he does it. Within months of their

19:19

first meeting. Stephen finds a house just

19:21

three blocks away from Noriega,

19:23

and the relationship just grows from there.

19:26

Stephen introduces him to women, wrangles

19:28

an invitation to Noriega's ranch, even

19:31

gets the general to stations soldiers outside

19:33

of his house to stand guard, And

19:36

when Noriega gets invited to Washington,

19:38

DC in November of nineteen eighty three

19:40

for an official visit, Stephen loans

19:43

him his personal jet to use while

19:45

he's in the US. On

19:49

this visit, he met with a host of top level

19:51

US officials, including the Secretary

19:53

of Defense. He also met with William

19:56

Casey, the director of the CIA.

19:59

Noriega described their meeting as a

20:01

leisurely four hour lunch. In

20:03

his memoir, he wrote, I had been

20:06

the US contact person throughout the nineteen

20:08

seventies. I was well known to everyone

20:10

in the CIA. Now with Casey,

20:12

the relations would become tighter. After

20:15

his time in DC, Noriega took Stephen's

20:18

jet to Las Vegas, where he shopped,

20:20

drank, and played Roulette. Then

20:23

we came back to panamall well.

20:25

He insisted that ip it

20:28

is receiving line when he was returning

20:30

to panamall right, so

20:33

I'm waiting in line as he getting off

20:35

of my jap. Stephen

20:37

says that Noriega makes his way down the

20:39

receiving line and then stops. When he gets

20:41

to Stephen. They have a quick chat.

20:44

Noriega says, the US wants

20:46

him to do two things. One keep

20:48

helping the Contras, that right wing

20:50

militia in Nicaragua, and two

20:53

open up the banks in Panama for

20:55

inspection. Stephen was

20:57

hanging on Noriega's every word.

21:00

Inspections would mean trouble for him, but

21:03

Noriega puts his fears to rest. He

21:06

goes, I don't remind help him with a contras.

21:09

I'd never opened the banks.

21:12

Stephen let that sink in. The

21:15

top power brokers in the US wanted

21:17

to clean up Panama's banking sector, which

21:19

would ruin Stephen's money laundering scheme,

21:22

and Noriega says he rebuffed

21:24

them, told them no. This

21:27

is all according to Stephen. In Noriega's

21:29

memoir, he doesn't mention meeting Kaylish,

21:32

making this deal, or using his plane,

21:34

But then again, why would he. This

21:37

is not the kind of relationship you want to advertise.

21:39

In any case, Stephen was pleased.

21:43

I'm thinking this is what power

21:45

looks like. I've never felt safe in

21:48

my life. I have

21:50

this great home, I have great

21:52

staff, I got military

21:55

guards outside my house. You

21:58

know, I feel pretty untouchable at the moment.

22:01

Stephen soon began planning a four

22:03

hundred thousand pound load destined

22:05

for New York City, disguised

22:07

as a shipment of plantation hanes from Panama.

22:10

So it's full steam ahead.

22:14

As a token of his gratitude, Stephen started

22:16

lavishing Noriega with gifts. But

22:19

what exactly do you buy for the dictator who's

22:21

got everything? Stephen starts

22:23

by giving him two gold plated rifles

22:26

and some ivory handled pistols collector's

22:28

pieces worth in total about thirty

22:30

thousand dollars. But he

22:32

was just getting started. I

22:35

bought Noriega a presidential

22:37

plane. I actually paid the

22:40

millions of dollars for it and got a letter of

22:42

credit from the Panamanian government for it.

22:45

Just to be clear here, what Stephen really

22:47

did was provide the financing. Nonetheless,

22:50

it was a grand gesture, and naturally

22:53

he had an ulterior motive. Stephen

22:55

just wanted a small favor to occasionally

22:58

have his plane fly to Washington, d

23:00

C. Where Steven's guys would load it

23:02

up with some trunks of drug money marked

23:04

with diplomatic seals. The seals

23:07

would mean no one could open them. In

23:09

return, Noriega would get a cut. According

23:12

to Stephen, Noriega agreed. At

23:18

this point. You may be wondering what happened

23:20

to Lee Rich mister beach club.

23:23

Wasn't he the guy in charge. He

23:26

did make at least one trip to Panama

23:28

with Stephen, But this whole

23:30

Panama thing, it was Steven's baby,

23:32

and once Stephen was buddy buddy with Noriega,

23:35

everything began to change. Stephen

23:38

was now handling the smuggling and

23:40

the financing. Lee wasn't entirely

23:42

comfortable with this arrangement, but there

23:44

wasn't a lot he could do about it. They needed

23:46

Noriega now. As

23:49

for Stephen, who'd been a fugitive for years,

23:51

he finally felt like you could breathe a

23:53

bit easier. He didn't need

23:55

the Canons or the US for that matter.

23:58

He could just chill in Panama. But

24:02

he was still handling the logistics for his

24:04

massive op America's heartland.

24:06

There were a few things he still had to do,

24:08

like closing down his safe house in Tampa,

24:11

so he returned stateside, and that's

24:13

when the FEDS nabbed him. This

24:16

was the big arrest at the airport in Tampa

24:18

that we told you about an episode four. So

24:22

when I finally did get arrested, I figured, well,

24:25

maybe I'll figure this out somehow. And I had

24:28

millions of dollars stashed in panamall and

24:32

so they was from

24:34

that day four. Then I started working

24:36

on a way how to get up get myself

24:38

out of my problem.

24:42

Meanwhile, back on the Cayman Islands, Lee

24:44

Rich Mister Beach Club was left

24:46

to clean up the mess. He now had to

24:48

juggle it all, smuggling, money laundering

24:51

and just trying to stay out of jail all

24:54

the while Ned was just one step

24:56

behind him. When we come

24:58

back, Ned starts to connect

25:00

the dots, and so does the CIA.

25:19

It takes Ned a little while to piece it all

25:21

together because at first, when

25:23

Lee mentioned the general down and came

25:26

in, Ned was just confused. I

25:28

had no idea if that's talking about Columbia

25:30

or or you

25:32

know who where. But then Ned

25:35

recalled another clue that Lee had dropped

25:37

a couple days later. He referred

25:40

to him as old pineapple face. Pineapple

25:42

face, that's what did it. Eventually

25:45

Ned realizes who this must be. He

25:48

didn't know all the details or politics

25:50

surrounding Noriega, but he knew

25:52

enough. Noriega

25:55

was the CIA's boy into Castro

25:58

and into the Russians big

26:00

boys club. Okay. Ned

26:02

worried that his discovery would stir up

26:05

trouble in a big way.

26:09

And the CIA, in my mind, really didn't

26:11

give a shit about drugs

26:13

or what was going on. They're focused on their

26:16

mission, which was intelligence

26:18

and the big picture.

26:22

By exposing Noriega as a bad

26:24

guy, Ned would be interfering with the

26:26

CIA's mission, and that's not

26:28

something Ned wanted to do. He was

26:30

already pretty worn out. Remember, he had

26:32

just returned home from a stressful time

26:34

down in the Caymans, and now he

26:37

had a new potential enemy, the CIA.

26:40

He began imagining how this all might play

26:42

out. CIA always has

26:45

contract people that worked for them.

26:48

They'll kill you, and

26:51

I didn't trust them. I was constantly leary

26:54

of them. A bit

26:56

paranoid maybe, but

26:59

his worries about pissing off the CIA

27:01

were well founded. Over the years,

27:03

Noriega had worked hard to cultivate

27:05

an image as an ally in the US

27:07

War on drugs. These efforts

27:10

got him friends in Washington. Noriega

27:12

had a whole stack of letters from his US

27:14

admirers, like one from the

27:16

U. S. Attorney General written in nineteen

27:18

eighty four, which said, thank

27:21

you for your continued support and

27:23

our mutual efforts to suppress illicit

27:25

drug trafficking and to ensure a

27:27

safer and healthier environment

27:29

for all of our citizens. So

27:33

if this got out that Noriega

27:35

was in fact at the very top

27:37

of this massive drug smuggling operation,

27:40

well that'd be a huge embarrassment to

27:42

the American government at large.

27:45

The CIA did eventually get

27:47

wind of Ned's investigation. At

27:50

some point they contacted another FBI

27:53

agent who worked closely with NED. I

27:55

spoke with this agent. He's now retired,

27:57

but still, even all these years later,

28:00

he didn't want to go on the record. He told

28:02

me that two CIA agents invited

28:04

him to lunch and then very

28:07

casually started asking him questions.

28:09

It's about Noriega. He understood

28:11

immediately what was going on. They

28:14

wanted to suss out what the FBI knew

28:16

about Noriega. They were apparently

28:18

concerned because he was their asset.

28:21

The agent told me he managed to brush

28:23

off the CIA guys. But

28:26

soon enough all of this would

28:28

come to a head. After

28:36

two stints down in the Canens, Ned

28:38

eventually goes back home to Detroit to

28:40

his wife, Kathy Timmins. He was beat.

28:43

At this point. He'd been working on the case for about

28:45

three years. During that time,

28:47

he'd been living as two people, Ed

28:50

and Ned, switching back and forth

28:53

again and again until even

28:55

in his own mind, it all kind of got jumbled.

28:58

Cathy said. Ned sometimes confided

29:01

in her that he felt trapped stuck

29:03

in the role of undercover agent, but that

29:05

he also couldn't imagine returning the life

29:08

of a regular agent. And

29:10

he said, you know, I just I can't go back. I don't

29:12

think I can go back to just you know, working cases

29:15

in this man. I said, of course you can, and

29:17

He's like, no, I don't think I can. And you know, I

29:19

was looking at these pizza places. I was like, I don't

29:21

want to run pizza places. I'm an FBI

29:23

agent, you know. Cathy

29:25

says. Ned actually drove them over

29:27

to a pizza parlor that he had his eyes on. He

29:30

pulled into the parking lot and I mean I

29:32

never even got out of the car, I said Ned. I'm

29:35

not going to going to the pizza

29:37

business like stop. Strangely,

29:41

when I mentioned all of this to Ned, the

29:43

plan to open the pizza shop, the conversation

29:46

with Kathy, his desire to get out,

29:48

he didn't remember it, any

29:50

of it. I have no recollection

29:53

of a pizzeria or any

29:55

interest in a pizzeria.

29:57

I have no idea you have no

30:00

memory of that. No, Ned

30:03

did acknowledge that he knew Kathy felt frustrated

30:05

and concerned that his undercover life

30:07

was getting out of control. Role Kathleen,

30:10

may you know, I mean, she's

30:13

very smart, and she's very credible.

30:15

You know, he has been. And if that's

30:17

what she remembers, that's what she

30:20

remembers. And that's pretty much

30:22

all I got from him. If what Kathy

30:24

said was true, then it was almost

30:26

like he'd gone back and edited his own

30:28

memories, removed the moments

30:30

of doubt and frailty that didn't

30:33

fit into the hard boiled detective narrative,

30:36

almost like he and the ghostwriter had

30:38

done in the novel. In

30:41

many ways, Ned and Kathy seemed to exist

30:43

in two parallel but entirely

30:46

separate realities, and

30:48

perhaps the ultimate example of this involves

30:51

an incident that occurred a few months after

30:53

Ned got back from the Caymans, when

30:55

both of their lives came to a screeching

30:57

halt. For

31:00

Kathy, it all began at the firing range.

31:02

She was there doing some target practice

31:05

when she heard an announcement. They

31:07

called out from the tower for me, you

31:10

know, get off the firing

31:12

line, and they said, oh, come on, you got to go with

31:14

us, got

31:16

to take you home. And I said, oh my god,

31:18

what happened. Her colleagues who

31:20

came to get her, laid it all out that

31:26

Ned's undercover identity had

31:28

been compromised,

31:30

and that someone in that motorcycle

31:33

group had a meeting,

31:35

and that they had put

31:38

a hit on Ned and they were going to

31:40

lure him to a location and give

31:42

him a hot shot of drugs

31:45

and kill him,

31:47

and that they also knew where

31:50

we lived. They

31:53

escorted her home so she could pick up

31:55

some stuff. By the time

31:57

I arrived home, I mean, the swat team was

31:59

all, you know, hanging

32:01

out around the house and inside the house,

32:03

and Ned was in there packing and

32:06

then we just like I said, we packed

32:09

up. We got in the car and we

32:11

started heading up north. So

32:13

Ned and Cathy had to be exfiltrated,

32:16

whisked away immediately because they were

32:18

in grave danger. That was Kathy's

32:20

reality. Now. I also talked

32:22

to Ned about what happened. What

32:25

is going through your head as they stand

32:27

on your doorstep and say you've

32:29

got to leave your house. Well,

32:32

I had him in and had coffee with him. Ned

32:36

listens to the agents and realizes

32:39

he has to flee his home. He

32:41

said, okay, perfect me and all my one

32:44

of my best friends has got to lodge in northern Michigan

32:47

and the salmon fishing is hot, and

32:50

I'll go there. You seem

32:52

pretty like blase or kind of unruffled

32:55

by this. A lot of people have threatened

32:58

to kill me, so it's

33:00

part of the turf. Eventually

33:03

they get up to a little house way up in northern

33:05

Michigan. No one is around, and

33:07

all they can really do is hope the FBI

33:10

finds the biker guys who were out to

33:12

kill Ned. They just wait

33:14

for the call, the call that tells them

33:16

it's okay, we've got them. You can come home

33:18

now.

33:24

As Kathy recalls it, the time up

33:26

there was tense. Ned's initial

33:28

blase attitude apparently didn't

33:30

last he's left just to stew

33:33

in his own thoughts because everything

33:35

has finally stopped, and

33:38

in its absence, the anxiety

33:40

just pours in like a damn

33:42

had broken. He

33:45

was drinking

33:48

just so hard. He

33:51

was a nervous

33:53

like not nervous like oh I'm

33:55

scared, nervous like I could

33:57

see that. You know. He wasn't getting

34:00

enough sleep, he wasn't his nerves

34:02

run ends. Kathy

34:05

wasn't certain what to do, and

34:07

so I was always wary of

34:10

saying too much or pushing

34:13

too much back because I didn't want

34:15

anybody to know. I didn't want to go

34:18

to his supervisor and say, you

34:20

know, with the whole kind of oversight, is this you

34:22

know you need to pull him in just

34:24

for a second. Were you not doing that out of a sense of

34:26

loyalty to him? What was what? Why not?

34:28

Why didn't you go to the supervisor

34:30

and say, like, hey, well, because

34:32

he was my husband, Um,

34:35

you know I loved him.

34:37

I kept telling him you need

34:40

to stop, just that

34:42

that this has got to stop, that

34:46

all of this intrusion into our personal

34:48

lives has to stop. This is crazy.

34:51

Here we are up in northern Michigan

34:53

for weeks on end with nothing to do, waiting

34:56

for phone calls. You know this,

35:00

This is not any kind of a life

35:02

that I want to lead, And

35:05

this isn't what any

35:08

of us signed up for. Next

35:24

time and deep Cover, did

35:27

I sit down, I have lunch or dinner with him? No? Okay,

35:30

I just I was aware of him. I

35:33

was very aware of him. I remember

35:35

the day that that

35:38

timms I ever got

35:40

involved with me. I

35:42

wish I had never heard my name. Deep

36:01

Cover is produced by Jacob Smith and

36:03

edited by Karen Shakerge. Our

36:06

story editor is Jack hit. Original

36:08

music and our theme was composed by Luis

36:11

Gara and Flawn Williams is our engineer.

36:14

Fact checking by Amy Gaines. Mia

36:16

Lobell is Pushkin's executive

36:18

producer. Ned's novel is read

36:20

by Walton Goggins. Special

36:23

thanks to Julia Barton, Heather Faine,

36:25

Carly mcgliori, Leta Mullad,

36:28

Maya Caning, Eric Sandler,

36:30

Aggie Taylor, Kadija Holland,

36:32

Zoe Gwen and Jacob Weisberg

36:35

at Pushkin Industries. Special thanks

36:37

also to Jeff Singer at Stowaway Entertainment.

36:40

I'm Jake Albern