Jay Dobyns Nils Johnson Shelton Popular Books

Jay Dobyns Nils Johnson Shelton Biography & Facts

Jay Anthony "Jaybird" Dobyns (born July 24, 1961) is a retired Special Agent and veteran undercover operative with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), author, public speaker, high school football coach, and University of Arizona adjunct professor. Dobyns joined the ATF in 1987 and was involved in more than 500 undercover operations during his 27-year career as a Special Agent. Most notably, he infiltrated the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Arizona between 2001 and 2003 as part of Operation Black Biscuit. In 2009, Dobyns became a New York Times Best-Selling author with his memoir, No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels. He retired from the ATF in 2014. Early life Born in Hammond, Indiana, Dobyns was raised in a middle-class family in Tucson, Arizona, where his father had moved the family looking for work as a carpenter. He was a standout athlete in several sports at Sahuaro High School before receiving a football scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas in 1980. In 1982, Dobyns transferred to the University of Arizona, where he became an All-Pacific-10 conference wide receiver and college football All-American candidate. He is still ranked as one of the best receivers in the history of the Arizona Wildcats. Dobyns was named to the Wildcats "All-Century" football team by the Arizona Daily Star in 1999, and was named the "#1 Badass Arizona football player in history" by the Tucson Citizen in 2011. He is also a member of the Sahuaro High School and Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. Dobyns graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in public administration. Dobyns was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine before he was drafted in the 1985 USFL territorial draft by the Arizona Outlaws of the United States Football League, where he played for one season. He later had unsuccessful tryouts with the Chicago Bears and the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. Describing the end of his football career, Dobyns told the author Mike Detty in 2020: "I'm a person who never had a Plan B... My Plan A was to play football and through college I became pretty full of myself. It turned out I wasn't as good as I thought I was. When football fell apart for me I was like, 'What now?'." He then decided on a career in federal law enforcement, initially considering joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or Secret Service. Dobyns stated he did not wish to work in an office as he wanted "action", but ruled out a military career under the grounds that he did not wish to wear a uniform. In an interview in 2006 with the Canadian journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden, Dobyns stated that he joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "because of their reputation for street work. The ATF historically had an understanding of street work and what it's like to be a street officer or a highway patrolman. And I think that's the beauty of the ATF: the ATF never fully embraced that federal stereotype of showing up with a suit and tie and a notepad and reporting to a crime scene after the fact. It's as close to being a street cop as you can be and be a fed". Federal law enforcement career Dobyns became a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in 1987. On November 19, 1987, less than a week after beginning operational duty, he was taken hostage at gunpoint in a trailer park near Tucson Airport while serving an arrest warrant on Brent Provestgaard, a convicted felon who had recently been released from prison. Provestgaard forced Dobyns into the driver seat of the officers' undercover car, which was immediately surrounded by the other agents with guns drawn. During a brief standoff, the agitated gunman repeatedly screamed at Dobyns to drive away. Dobyns told Sher and Marsden for their book Angels of Death that he was thinking at the time: "This guy is probably going to shoot me one way or the other. I'd rather have him shoot me with my people around me versus driving me twenty miles out into the desert and killing me there". When Dobyns intentionally pulled the car keys from the ignition and dropped them to the floor, Provestgaard fired a single .38 caliber pistol bullet into Dobyns' lung, which exited his upper chest. The other ATF agents instantly opened fire from both sides of the car, killing the gunman. As Dobyns lay bleeding on the floor of the car, he recalled: "I was lying in the desert thinking, I got shot before I even got my first paycheque! You know what, I'm going to fuckin' die. I have been on the job a week and I'm going to die in this fuckin' trailer park". Critically wounded, Dobyns was rushed to Kino Community Hospital in Tucson, where Dr. Richard Carmona, who later became the 17th United States Surgeon General, performed emergency trauma surgery that saved Dobyns' life. The shooting ended Dobyns' marriage. His 21-year-old wife told him: "I don't want you to do this anymore". Dobyns replied: "This is what I'm supposed to do. This is what I want to do". Shortly afterwards, Dobyns' wife filed for divorce. Despite the severity of his wounds, Dobyns refused disability retirement and returned to duty within months of the shooting. The publicity generated by the incident was felt to make Dobyns unsuitable for undercover work, which he insisted on continuing as he told his supervisor about his offer of a desk job: "Absolutely not. I didn't freaking come here to sit behind a desk and sit on a phone and make my case by using a fax machine and a computer". In the spring of 1988, Dobyns attended the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. While at the training center, he was offered a professional football contract with the Dallas Cowboys due to an NFL players' strike but declined the offer, explaining: "I knew the strike wasn't going to last forever. Did I want to trade a couple weeks or months or a season of my dream to play professional football for a life and a career of what I really enjoyed doing? I was like 'Thank you, I'm going to stay where I'm at. I'm content with where I'm at.' I'd found a new home and a new Plan A." After graduating from the FLETC, Dobyns was transferred to Chicago. One ATF agent who worked with Dobyns in Chicago, Chris Bayless, told Sher and Marsden: "Jay is probably one of the best undercover guys, bar none. What makes you good is being able to keep your shit together when everything around you is just spiraling out of control". Dobyns and Bayless worked undercover on the South Side of Chicago, posing as gunrunners to various gang members. In Chicago, Dobyns married a second time, this time to the graphic artist Gwen, whom he had met in Tucson. During a botched bust in Joliet, Illinois in August 1989 when Dobyns and Bayless attempted to arrest a group of Vice Lord gangsters for trying to buy an illegal machine gun, the suspects fled in their automobile while the two ATF a.... Discover the Jay Dobyns Nils Johnson Shelton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jay Dobyns Nils Johnson Shelton books.