Robert Knuckle - A Master of Deception. Working Undercover for the RCMP

The Master of Deception

Working Undercover for the RCMP

ROBERT KNUCKLE

GENERAL STORE PUBLISHING HOUSE INC.

499 OBrien Road, Renfrew, Ontario, Canada K7V 3Z3

Telephone 1.613.599.2064 or 1.800.465.6072

http://www.gsph.com

ISBN 978-1-897113-66-0 (PRINT)

978-1-77123-830-4 (EPUB)

978-1-77123-831-1 (MOBI)

978-1-77123-832-8 (PDF)

Copyright Robert Knuckle 2014

Design: Derek McEwen

Published in Canada

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

A master of deception : working undercover for the RCMP / Robert Knuckle.

ISBN 978-1-897113-66-0

1. MacLeod, Carl. 2. Undercover operationsCanada. 3. Drug trafficInvestigationCanada. 4. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Biography. I. Title. HV7911.M325K58 2007 363.2092. C2007-901970-6

Lakota

McKinley

Geneva

Alexander

Samuel

Joseph

Andrews, Alan and Lois - Charlottetown, PEI

Archives of Ontario - Toronto, ON

Armstrong, Staff Sgt. (ret.) William - Dundas, ON

Bergin, Mary - Vancouver, BC

Boucher, Staff Sgt. J.P. - Lacolle, PQ

Campbell, Don - Brampton, ON

Campbell, Georgie - Malpeque, PEI

Campbell, Monty - Mississauga, ON

Campbell, Pamela - Park Corner, PEI

Campobasso, Cpl. Mike - Hamilton, ON

Canadian Press

Carleton, Harry - Peterborough, ON

Carruth, Gord - Hull, PQ

CBC Television

Cedilot, Andr - Montreal, PQ

Chaters, Sgt. (ret.) Gary - Toronto, ON

Chichakian, Lynn - Toronto, ON

Conway, Ann, General Store Publishing House - Renfrew, ON

CTV Television

Desjardins, Patricia, The Gazette - Montreal, PQ

De Stefano, Helen - Toronto, ON

Dixon, Staff Sgt. (ret.) Barry - Oakville, ON

Downey, Jill - Ancaster, ON

Drouillard, Phil and Roberta - Ottawa, ON

Eaton, Staff Sgt. (ret.) Kerry - Burlington, ON

Ferguson, Deirdra - Niagara, ON

Forgie, Ann, General Store Publishing House - Renfrew, ON

Fillman, Peter - Toronto, ON

Ginther, Superintendent (ret.) Sefrin - Burlington, ON

The Globe and Mail

Grimshaw, Inspector Jim - Toronto, ON

Guiry, James - Lindsay, ON

Gunning, Beverley - Summerside, PEI

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald

The Hamilton Public Library

The Hamilton Spectator

Johnson, Ken - Port Elgin, ON

Justice Canada - Ottawa, ON

Knuckle, Elizabeth, editor - Dundas, ON

La Presse - Montreal, PQ

Lazich, Stella, Gilberts Big and Tall - Hamilton, ON

MacDougall, Staff Sgt. (ret.) Joe and Elaine - Winnipeg, MB

MacDougall, Cpl. Ron - Selkirk, MB

MacLean, Billy - Summerside, PEI

MacLeod, Cpl. Blake - Vancouver, BC

MacLeod, Bruce - Summerside, PEI

MacLeod, Staff Sgt. (ret.) Carl - Burlington, ON

MacLeod, Georgie - Summerside, PEI

MacLeod, Sybil - Burlington, ON

Mahar, Don and Carol Ann - Ottawa, ON

Martin, Inspector Steve - Toronto, ON

Mathers, Cpl. (ret.) Chris - Unionville, ON

McMaster University Library

National Archives of Canada - Ottawa, ON

National Post - Toronto, ON

Nicholson, Sergeant Ron - Newmarket, ON

Noble-White, Vesper - Hamilton, ON

Oake, Staff Sgt. (ret.) Ross - Haliburton, ON

Ontario Office of the Attorney-General - Toronto, ON

Palmer, Insp. Candace - Markham, ON

Pascall (Campbell), Cassie - Calgary, AB

Peters, Superintendent Greg - Ottawa, ON

Plunkett, John and Lorna - Ennismore, ON

Province of Manitoba

Radio Canada - Montreal, PQ

The Regina Leader-Post

Regina Public Library

Roach, Staff Sergeant Brian - Winnipeg, MN

The RCMP Quarterly - Ottawa, ON

Reuters News Agency

Sark, Charlie - Lennox Island, PEI

Stefureak, Superindendent Will - Caledonia, ON

Stewart, Detective Sgt. (ret.), Ed - Newmarket, ON

The Toronto Star

The Toronto Sun

University of Toronto Library

White, Chief Superintendent (ret.) John W. Jack - Kamloops, BC

Wright, Glenn, National Archives of Canada - Ottawa, ON

Wynne, Eugene - Charlottetown, PEI

Special thanks to Tim Gordon, my publisher and to Jane Karchmar, my editor.

Carl MacLeod was an accomplished international undercover operator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

During a thirty-two year career, his covert investigations took him across North America and to many countries in Europe, Asia, and the Islands of the Caribbean. While working on these clandestine assignments, he infiltrated criminal organizations ranging from the Mafia to the Colombian cartels to Asian drug triads.

Throughout MacLeods storied career, he kept extensive notes on his experiences and saved newspaper clippings about his most publicized cases. After retiring from the Mounties, he compiled a 454-page document that detailed his exciting adventures.

From February to December in 2006, I interviewed Carl on a weekly basis, probing his memory with a myriad of questions and eliciting from him a legion of references family, friends, and police colleagues with whom I could confer.

In July 2006, I spent two weeks on Prince Edward Island, observing Carl in his favourite environment and meeting his family and boyhood friends.

The substance of this book is based on these sources.

Robert Knuckle

February 2007

July 1971.

DEEP IN A DARK ALLEY in the tough north end of Hamilton, Carl MacLeod, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is alone with a bearded, swarthy-looking man named Jack Piercea fictitious name used here to insure that this real person has no grounds for a lawsuit.

MacLeod has isolated Pierce in the alley to make sure there are no witnesses.

He grabs him by the front of his jacket and thrusts him against the brick wall of a factory. Then Carl draws Jacks face close to his own.

I always knew you were a low-life scumbag but youve made this personal.

With difficulty, Jack grunts, What are you talking about? I dont know what youre...

Stick a sock in your mouth and dont even breathe while Im talking to you.

Jack blinks and listens.

I know about the hit, Jack.

I dont know what youre talking about.

That is really stupid... even for a no-class asshole like you. Hey, you got the wrong guy here, because I never did anything to...

Youre taking in valuable oxygen, Jack. Shut up and listen to me.

But...

We know the guy you hired to do the job. Jack stops squirming.

We know the contract you offered him is worth twenty-five grand. Jack becomes very still.

Twelve up front and thirteen more when Im dead. I swear to God, Carl...

Dont call me Carl. My friends call me Carl. I am not your friend.