Friday 27 September 2013

Jay Dobyns -"Jaybird"

Jay Dobyns is a well known former undercover officer with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms - ATF - whom has worked on high intensity investigations into every aspect of the criminal underworld.  He has worked against the Aryan Brotherhood, the Mob, and most famously, against the Hells Angels.  But his huge efforts eventually led nowhere as he fell out with his superiors over protection for himself and his family, saying that they had left them vulnerable.  Dobyns has since launched a civil lawsuit against his former employers.

    Jay Anthony Dobyns was born on 24th July 1961, in Hammond, Indiana, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona.  He attended Sahuaro High School and then University of Arizona where he became a football star, and excelled in numerous sports.  He graduated in 1985 with a BS in Public Administration, and then played in the Canadian Football League and then in the US Football League.  He decided to go for Law Enforcement and managed to gain entry to the prestigious ATF.  Just after graduating from the Academy, he had to serve a warrant on a criminal who had just been released from prison, but the felon was armed and forced Dobyns into the drivers seat, screaming at him to drive.  Officers surrounded the car with guns drawn.  Dobyns pulled the key from the ignition and dropped it, so the felon shot him in the back with the bullet exiting from his chest area.  The officers shot the gunman dead, then the stricken Dobyns was rushed to hospital, where a skilled surgeon saved his life.

    Dobyns refused to accept a disability payoff and gradually worked his way back into the front line.  He then took part in dozens and dozens of undercover operations, some of them very dangerous and high profile.  He was undercover in Los Angeles during the rioting following the infamous Rodney King assault by LAPD officers, he was at Waco, Columbine and the Oklahoma bombing.  His dedication to duty led to him receiving many awards for valor, bravery and excellence.  His biggest job was soon to come.

    In 2002, a deadly brawl broke out in a casino in Laughlin, Nevada, between the Hells Angels and their deadly rivals, the Mongols.  Three were left dead, and many injured, so a decision was made to make a move on the Hells Angels.  He then became "Jaybird" and for two years, he slowly made inroads with the Skull Valley chapter of the Angels, eventually saying he was "patched in" as a full patch member, something Sonny Barger and the Skull Valley chapter deny.  Numerous arrests followed, including the killers of Cynthia Garcia, a woman whom had been persuaded to go to a "party" at an Angels clubhouse.  Dobyns staged a "murder" of a Mongol, in reality a cop in "colours" of the Mongols, and had photos of the body presented to the Angels.  However, internal disputes within the ATF resulted in a number of defendants facing severely reduced and even dismissed, charges.  Now Dobyns had to receive protection as he and his family received death threats from organisations he had worked against.

    Soon, all protection had been removed and in 2008, his house burned down with his family barely escaping.  Dobyns fought to have his protection re-instated but his former bosses refused to budge.  Dobyns decided to become a federal whistleblower and told of the total lack of protection and help the government agencies refused to give undercover operatives, and launched a lawsuit against the government.  He now runs his own business but has to be vigilant at all times.  In a documentary, Angels tell of how they were never fooled by him and his officers, but you must think that rival clubs must have laughed at the photo of Barger with other bikers.  All were undercover cops!  Jay Dobyns, in an email response to a question of mine, said that it amused him as to how they were never fooled, LONG AFTER the event.  Of course they cannot say that yes, we were taken in, can they?

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