RatSnakes: Cheating Death by Living a Lie; Inside the Explosive World of ATF’s Undercover Agents and How We Changed the Game

Get ready to infiltrate the dangerous, secret world of criminals and cover identities by way of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), where the world’s greatest undercover agents are known as RatSnakes.

RatSnakes are rarely, if ever, visible to the public that they move among and risk their lives to protect. In fact, thanks to their cover personas, they are often assumed to be members of the clandestine criminal world that they investigate. Real-life undercover work is a far cry from the sexy, candy-colored world seen in Hollywood movies. Only those who are strong and clever enough will get inside and survive.

Vincent A. Cefalu would know. He spent thirty years as an ATF undercover operative, in assignments ranging from the Symbionese Liberation Army to Asian organized crime. He has infiltrated notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs as well as splinter groups of the Ku Klux Klan. In RatSnakes, he provides a transparent look at the organization and the operatives with whom he risked his life.

Part field guide, part heart-pounding thrill ride, RatSnakes takes listeners on a tour of what it’s like to confront death on a daily basis. En route, Cefalu gives us a look at the on-the-job techniques of kicking in doors, orchestrating “street theater” to ensnare criminals, and making high-stakes gun buys. His irreverent, explicit stories from the inside are a mix of danger and unexpected hilarity that will have listeners laughing one minute and then biting their nails when things break bad.

Immersive and brutal, RatSnakes offers an in-depth and eye-opening look into the lives of an elite group of men and women who volunteer to do things most couldn’t and wouldn’t stomach. Civilians with common sense and good judgment run from danger, while RatSnakes sprint toward it—smiling.