Product Description

The Hells Angels. The Bandidos. Asian triads. Russian mobsters and corrupt cops. Even the KKK. Just part of a day's work for Alex Caine, an undercover agent who has seen it all. After a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, Caine fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of a contracted agent. Thanks to his quick-wittedness and tough but unthreatening demeanor, Caine could fit into whatever unsavory situation he found himself. Over 25 years, his assignments ran the gamut from mean bikers to triad toughs. When a job was over, he'd slip away to a new part of the continent or world, where he would assume a new identity and then go back to work on another group of bad guys. "Befriend and Betray" offers an unflinching look at some familiar police operations and blows the lid off others that law enforcement would much prefer to keep hidden. It provides an unvarnished account of the toll such a life takes, one that often left Caine to wonder who he really was behind the myriad identities he had assumed and whether justice was ever truly served.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132019 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Alex Caine now acts as an adviser on biker investigations and speaks frequently at police conferences. He is a certified fifth-degree black belt martial artist, recognised by the World Kickboxing Association.

Customer Reviews

Feasting with panthers
Like 99% of us, I know very little about biker gangs or police undercover work (I don't know much about bikes either), so I'm not qualified to judge how true this book is. However, it's a fascinating, well-written read.

The story takes us from Caine's early life in French Quebec, through his voluntary enlistment in the US Army to serve in Vietnam, into his career as a contracted agent infiltrating motorcycle gangs.

Based purely on the two books I have read about the Angels - the obvious two, i.e. Hunter S Thompson and Sonny Barger - the depiction of the 1%er biker culture rings true. There is a lot of lucid explanation of the elaborate political relationships between the main gangs (and their satellites) and the constantly changing pattern of their struggle for supremacy in North America.

There are two features which suggest this story is more than just a fabrication:
-Caine's frequent concern that he is going native, and feeling more aligned with the gang he has infiltrated than with his police paymasters. (There are one or two handlers whom he would trust with his life, but several whom he would not trust further than he could throw them).
-His regret about his inability to form close, lasting personal relationships - both his marriages break up, partially due to his double life. Although he does not say it outright, there is a strong suspicion that he formed a hard shell around himself to get through a tough childhood, and this is hard to break through, for both him and others.
You will see the strong potential link between these two.

His success at getting inside one biker organisation after another was, he claims, helped rather than hindered by a profile very unusual for an Angel, Bandido, etc - he is a lifelong teetotaller, and he is 5' 6" and 130 pounds (in view of this, it's probably a good thing that he was a martial arts expert!)

As the first reviewer said, enjoy this book, but make your own mind up.

Read it in two days flat...
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it in record time. Worth the 5 stars for entertainment value...BUT, there were more than a few minor inaccuracies...(A Bren gun isn't belt fed, a Harley Sportster isn't more powerfull than a Norton Commando, that sort of thing) Read it and make your own mind up....

Taking Care of Business
If you enjoyed reading Jay Dobbins "No Angel" you will love "Befriend and Betray" as it is far superior in every way. The story line is extremely engaging and exciting. The book not only details the infiltration into various motorcycle clubs, such as the Hells Angels and Bandidos etc but also criminal groups such as the KKK and the Russian Mafia. A very enjoyable book that is a rollercoaster of set ups, and takedowns by the various law agencies that Alex has worked for over the years. If you want to know more about the criminal element in biker gangs, and what they get up to - This is definitely the book for you