Hear from Pete GAGLIARDI as he breaks down the power of a shared WHY in gun crime investigations - because purpose drives action, and collaboration saves lives.

First things first though. 

We  have all seen photo’s in the media like the one shown above of uniformed officers unloading hundreds of kilos of drugs. A record seizure that was intercepted at sea and brought to shore.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

What’s wrong is that these cops haven’t arrested a drug smuggler, although they are real working cops they are also real “mules” moving the shipment of drugs for transport to their final destination!

Highly-paid mules of course, because of the added security they provide - and especially the protection they provide from the long arms of the law.

In this episode of “the Chill”, Carlos Canino tells an incredible story of his days working undercover across South Florida and Puerto Rico. 

It began when he was assigned to a task force in Puerto Rico and fellow task force officers from the Puerto Rico Police Department received information from an informant about corrupt police officers – involved in the drug trade.   

Carlos was selected to assume an undercover role and he set out to work the case. Hear him tell how he maintained his role and  the confidence of the suspects as he walks us through the events that transpired.

Undercover work is complicated, stressful, and dangerous work. You’re constantly managing a hundred tasks at the same time while face to face with street-savvy armed criminals - all the while trying to stay true to your cover story. 

But when those criminals are cops – who know how cops work and the methods they use – the levels of stress, difficulty and danger all rise exponentially.    

As working cops, they are all armed. Posing as a bad guy, Carlos is armed too.

Carlos wonders - how easy would it be for these guys to keep the drugs - worth millions - and kill him.

What if he needed help – who would he call – the cops?

Carlos did have a “Doomsday Plan” if things went sideways – but you’ll have to hear him tell it in his typical Carlos way.

As disturbing and unsettling as the story may be, you’ll surely break a smile as Carlos relates some of his ace undercover “Inspector Clouseau” moments.

Ken shares just enough of his story (check out the video preview here) to make you want to log right on to Amazon and order his book: Riding with Evil, which he wrote with Dave Wedge, a New York Times Bestselling Author. Ken’s story takes you into a world of bikes and bikers, crime and violence, and drugs and depravity, told through a series of vignettes occurring over a two-year period and artistically woven together. 

Wince, as you listen to Ken describe the “witching hour” the primary method used by the gang to maintain order within the club. Essentially it’s a beat down of the prospects to demonstrate the toughness of becoming a member. Ken will describe what it felt like when he thought his turn had come and some very unpredictable results. 

Listen as Ken speaks of the wide circle of people he lived amongst everyday – people with names like Roadblock and Hogman. Squirm in your seat, as Ken thinks that his cover is blown and he may not see his family again, how he’s kicked out then invited back in, how he panics for the first time when he realizes that he may have been deliberately lured away from his undercover partner. Lastly, hear him discuss the toll it takes on him and his real-life ATF agent wife and children.

Most importantly, come to learn a bit more about the types of work that the brave and dedicated men and women of law enforcement do every day to make our world a safer place in which to live.

Welcome to “In the Chill of the Night”,  Episode 17 with special guest Lou Valoze, former ATF Agent and long-term undercover agent. 

Join George and Ray as Lou takes them on a trip down memory lane, from his “lost in space” years in college, to a paper-pusher job that bored him, to the ah-ha moment when he knew where he was headed – toward a “runnin and gunnin” law enforcement career of outstanding public service and personal highs and lows.   

Lou provides a very candid look into how he went from “grasshopper” to “Master PO” in the undercover arena.  He shares some of the good, the sad, and the ugly – things that worked well along the way and some not so much. 

He’ll share some stories that are “pure gold” – literally – and some that are SNL funny – at least in its heyday. Like how he was selected to infiltrate his first “outlaw biker” gang and how his first run turned out – “hey man was that 1 down and 4 up”? Oh,  and how in a Cecil B. DeMille type takedown in a strip club - he unintentionally launched the beat-down of an undercover colleague as he was getting ready to call in the troops.

Lou did it all from, small buys to big buys, and small fries to large guys. As he matured in his roles, he perfected and embraced the Undercover Storefront Operation – he wrote a book about it: Storefront Sting: An ATF Agent's Life Undercover. 

Now imagine if you will, a cross between the storefront magnate extraordinaire Sam Walton and a young tough MMA Fighter of Italian heritage - that’s Lou Valoze when it comes to the storefront sting. 

He gravitated to the storefront operations for – pardon the pun – the bang for the buck. It was a place for buying more crime guns and kilos - check out on register 5. 

A way to get more guns and drugs and criminals off the street in the shortest time possible. Lou is candid about what worked and what didn’t and some of the very hard lessons learned along the way. Listen, understand, and learn.

A man who just could not say no to a new and more challenging assignment – even when he told his colleagues, his family, and his friends he would - after they pleaded with him to slow down.

He admits that he was a man possessed.  If he was searching for the Maltese Falcon for undercover operations, he found it in the many awards he received along the way – best gun case – best outlaw biker case - best drug case.

Spoiler alert: Lou is a guy who doesn’t hold back – he will tell you things about himself that will make you sad – it has to do with keeping one's priorities properly aligned – but you will have to tune in in order to learn the three Fs he feels are the keys to a life well lived – the ones he will tell you he learned too late.

Video Preview

Some may ask why should we care?  Because, kids should be learning from their mistakes, not dying  from them! Derek’s insights outlined here are critical toward understanding this problem, and advancing solutions to keep Americans safe. 

Listen to Officer Richard Norcross tell Ray and Pete how in a blink of the eye – he found himself trapped in a surreal fatal funnel of gunfire. How before it ended hours later, in that close-knit New Jersey neighborhood, the shooter would kill his partner Investigator John McLaughlin, and his brother, Officer John Norcross. How he himself, with five gunshot wounds, would technically die twice - and be brought back from the brink of death. Nothing would be the same, for Richard, and the many families impacted - including the neighbors whose homes were riddled with bullets. The months he spent recovering offered ample time to think about how to move on from what would be the worst day in so many lives including his. When you search for the bad things in life you’ll find them. What is equally true is that when you search for the good – you’ll find that too. Richard Norcross chose to look for the good – the many lessons learned, the courage and dedication to duty exhibited that day by so many. Rich would go on to share what he learned with law enforcement officers across the nation. In the nearly 25 years that have passed since that fateful day, his shared experiences have undoubtedly saved lives and it helped him heal too. May God Bless, Investigator McLaughlin, both Officers Norcross, and law enforcers everywhere. Thanks for the work that you do!