Mike Detty - Operation Wide Receiver: An Informant?s Struggle to Expose the Corruption and Deceit That Led to Operation Fast and Furious

Disclaimer

The factual information presented herein is based on the experiences and recollections of the author.

However, the conversations reported within the text are written from memory and only represent the authors best recollection. These recollections are not intended to be statements of material facts, but rather the authors opinion of what was said and his interpretation of what those words meant.

Neither the author nor publisher claims that the words spoken during those conversations are accurately recorded herein. We apologize in advance for any omissions or errors in content or meaning.

All the people and events depicted are real. Some of the names have been changed for the protection of the individual.

Copyright 2013, 2015 by Mike Detty

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover Photograph by Alex Landeen

ISBN: 978-1-63220-350-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-946-7

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Foreword

Mike Detty: Where Fast and Furious Meets Wide Receiver

A FTER BREAKING THE story of the Justice Departments Operation Fast and Furious scandal nationally on CBS News, I had only scratched the surface. There were scores of leads to follow. Many were unverifiable or dead-ends, but one source who had an interesting story and, more importantly, provable evidence was Mike Detty. Through Detty, we were able to report early on that the secret gunwalking by federal agents dated at least as far back as the Bush Administration. Thats when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) began using Detty as a paid confidential informant. At the ATFs request, Detty sold a frightening arsenal of weapons from a makeshift showroom in his living room to traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. When I met Detty, the Justice Department was reviving the old Bush-era cases for prosecution, even as the Obama-era Fast and Furious scandal exploded. A foolhardy strategy that was tinkered with and apparently abandoned under Bush appeared to be resumed and expanded under Obama. But nobody was ready to own up to it yet. Besides Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver, there was Too Hot to Handle, Castaway, and an array of other cases spanning states including Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico. Like other gun dealers who assisted the ATF in this confidential effort, Detty felt betrayed and cast aside when he learned his efforts werent helping the ATF arrest bad guys after all. Instead, he had inadvertently assisted them, thanks to the ATF. From his photographs to the paper trail and even audio recordings, Dettys story describes a piece of the gunwalking saga from a personal perspective that only he can tell.

Sharyl Attkisson

Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter

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In 2012, Sharyl Attkisson was awarded the Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism as well as the Murrow Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting for her work on Fast and Furious.

Preface to the Paperback Edition

G UNFIRE ERUPTED JUST after 11 p.m. on December 14, 2010, in a remote desert location in southern Arizona. Peck Canyon, a worthless arroyo choked with mesquite, prickly pear cactus, and creosote just eleven miles from the Mexican border, would be the fateful meeting place for two groups of armed men.

A rip crew of armed Mexican bandits made their way through the desert in search of marijuana traffickers they intended to rob of their dope. From a nearby hilltop Border Patrolman Brian Terry and three teammates watched the smugglers as they moved into range.

As soon as one of the agents announced, Police! Policia! the firefight began. In the ensuing gun battle, Terry would be hit with a single shot that entered his back, severed his spine and decimated the main artery to his heart. Terry, a beloved son, brother, and uncle, would expire before he could be evacuated.

But this is a story much larger than that of a Border Patrol agent who gave his life in defense of his nation. Guns found at the scene of the shoot-out were traced back to an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

One ATF field agent would later tell me, Mike, we were still conducting our investigation of the shooting in the canyon when we got the call that morning informing us two of the guns recovered were from Fast & Furious.

Run out of the Phoenix ATF office, Operation Fast & Furious was an ill-conceived and poorly run investigation that allowed straw purchasers to buy guns in bulk and take them to waiting cartel members in Mexico.

Special Agent in Charge (SAC) William Newell had told his superiors and bosses at ATF and the Department of Justice that theyd be able to track the guns and take down drug cartels. For whatever reason, this unlikely scenario was allowed to continue until Terrys death put ATFs gunwalking practice under scrutiny.

Immediately following Terrys death, US Attorney General Eric Holder and other DOJ officials held fast that guns were never allowed to cross the border. In Phoenix, SAC Newell infamously answered, Hell no! when asked by a reporter if guns had ever been allowed to cross the border as part of any investigation.

It was then that I realized that there was a cover-up in progress. I could be complicit with my silence or I could tell my story. Before there was Fast & Furious, there was Operation Wide Receiver.

When I reported a suspicious customer to the Tucson ATF office in 2006, the resident agent in charge asked me to assist in the investigation. Mike, I think we have a real shot at taking out a powerful cartel. Will you help us?

Raised by two parents from the greatest generation, I was taught that every citizen had to earn their place in this country. Despite the obvious risks I made the commitment to help, in part, to fulfill my patriotic obligation. Told the investigation would last just a matter of months, my involvement with the ATF stretched on for an unbelievable three years.

During that time period, I sold guns to five different cartels from the living room of my home. These buys would usually happen at night with the bad guys bringing me bags of cash. I was alone with these thugs, outnumbered and equipped with a transmitter that worked, at best, sporadically. My closest help was an ATF agent sitting in a car more than eighty yards from my front door. At times I felt as though my luck was about to run outclose calls and adrenaline rushes became all too common occurrences.

It was a difficult balancing act. I had to appear relaxed and comfortable with those who came to buy guns. All were certainly armed and I had to be vigilant. My case agent told me one evening, Look, Mike, if you have a problem, the shooting will be over by the time we get to you. Just keep in mind we dont want to see your muzzle when we come through the door.