While the rest of us were safe in our homes, DEA Special Agent Mike Fredericks was busting dopers around the world and preventing illicit drugs from hitting the streets in the US.
Written from his extensive diaries and court documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, the real-life adventures of Mike Fredericks read like fiction-and will either scare the pants off you or assure you that daring agents like Fredericks are on the job. From Portland to Pakistan, Colombia to the Caribbean, Fredericks was working hard and playing harder, ripping and running, buying drugs undercover, driving fast cars, arresting felons and fugitives, busting redneck meth labs in remote Oregon sites, raiding clandestine cocaine labs in dense Colombian jungles, training with US Army special forces, investigating heroin traffickers in Pakistan, and working internationally to dismantle worldwide drug distribution organizations. |
“Mike Fredericks is the real deal. Every successful career cop at one time or another plays with the notion that his or her investigative exploits are worthy of a book, TV series, or Hollywood movie. A lucky few will ever make it. That said, Mike Fredericks’s account of his DEA journey delivers. He walks you through his investigations and experiences individually with enough procedural detail to get the reader wrapped up in the often complicated processes involved in building a winnable federal case. Hollywood will love this book.
“Mike’s journey takes the reader with him on his assignments both in the US and abroad (often against a backdrop of corruption), involving undercover work, rural meth labs, magic mushrooms, cocaine labs in the Colombia jungle manned by insurgent guerrillas, and heroin smuggling out of Pakistan. The survival skills he acquired in those situations prepared him for the worst day of his life, when a routine family ferry ride in the Mediterranean erupted into life and death survival. “If you like Law & Order, you’ll love this book, it’s Law & Order international and it’s true.” Bob Nieves
DEA Chief of International Operations (ret.) |
Elaine Shannon
Veteran correspondent for Time and Newsweek and author of four books, among them, Desperados and Hunting LeRoux: The Inside Story of the DEA Takedown of a Criminal Genius and his Empire. |
“Mike takes you into the world of both domestic and international drug trafficking investigations that can only be told from the inside by someone who’s walked the walk. Mike takes you through the volatile and unpredictable maze in working in Third World countries and walking that fine line with confidential informants, who’ll play both ends for the biggest payday. A good read for those who want to understand the art of undercover and conducting and investigating international conspiracy cases.”
Richard Fiano
DEA Chief of Operations (ret.) “Mike Fredericks had an outstanding career as a DEA Special Agent. He excelled at his early domestic assignments in the Northwest of the United States and became a respected successful Senior Special Agent in the international drug law enforcement arena in the highly consequential narcotrafficking countries of Colombia and Pakistan during the 1980s. His mantra might have been ‘can do, will do’ because he was certainly a ‘could do, would do’ kind of agent. There is no greater accolade that a DEA Special Agent can receive. This book is an engrossing read that provides enlightenment into the world of narcotrafficking.
Harold “Doug” Wankel
DEA Chief of Operations (ret.), Chief of Intelligence, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Organized Crime and Drugs |
“Mike’s memoir realistically presents the life and death situations and challenges faced by many law enforcement personnel, both domestic and international, and helps the reader imagine the emotions and feelings this Special Agent was experiencing during different predicaments. With the details of Mike’s lifelong experiences as a federal agent, this book is so packed with the key fundamentals and proper procedures for conducting different types of investigations, developing and assembling evidence, documentation of events, handling informants, preparing testimony, and numerous tips and clues and investigative techniques, that it could well be a textbook in any reputable criminal justice curriculum.
Terrance W. Woodworth
Former Deputy Director, DEA Office of Diversion Control (ret.) Partner, The Drug and Chemical Advisory Group, LLC (Controlled Substance Consulting) |
“Mike’s book provides a tour inside the world of international drug trafficking, the politics of corruption, and the high stakes and often dangerous efforts made by good people to make a difference. The story shows that risking everything for a greater good is rewarding and special. Reading this book should cause the reader to pause and thank the protectors out there for the lives they save.
Joe Dombroski
Former Baltimore police detective DEA Supervisory Special Agent (ret.) “True crime aficionados will love Mike Fredericks’s exhilarating stories of his DEA career. Vividly detailed with plenty of dialogue, Mike’s real-life work reads like a script from the TV crime drama Narcos! From Pakistan to Colombia, Greece to the United States, his thrilling career provides a riveting read. You will not put this book down!
Mark Langan
Narcotics sergeant and award-winning author of Busting Bad Guys and More Busting Bad Guys |