No Angel--#19 finished

This is the true story of an undercover ATF agent that infiltrated the Hells Angels. It was pretty amazing stuff and throughout I kept thinking about how much time away from his family he was giving up in this investigation. In the end while he says he would absolutely do it again to gain the knowledge of life he has learned, I have a hard time believing that. The dedication he gave to his job and the others on the team is really amazing and shows people some of what makes this a great country--dedicated people like this.

The other thing that struck me throughout the book is how small time the Hells Angels really seemed. Most of the leadership seemed old and passive--certainly not the threat they are often made out to be. I am sure each chapter is different but the overall leadership and direction seem really lacking in basic things like smarts, intensity and just overall capable members. It seems like most of the main HA characters had a very bad past but were during this time more of shells of their former selves. They still did drugs and ran guns and did intimidation things but no big bad operations really. Maybe it is because I just finished reading the Kings of Cocaine and after reading about the Columbians, the HA seem really small time.

There were some interesting observations in the book about the above also by Bird. At a couple of points he recognizes the members are really just loners or society misfits that have joined together and are now just a part of an organization not much different from people outside of HA. The have a complicated set of rules they have to run their clubs by and a set of leadership in place. It is funny how these anti-establishment types and made such an establishment type club.

I will be posting it on PBS but might wait a little while so I can send it off with others. I think there are still 13 WL for it so should move once posted. I am still reading John 3:16 and just started The End of Mr Y. Might start a 3rd book this weekend at some point.