Chain of Evidence: A True Story of Law Enforcement and One Woman's Bravery ANNOTATION
This is the true account of the incredible 1977 infiltration of the southern California Hell's Angels. Using the alias Victoria Seele, a woman from Orange County Sheriff's Office undertook a perilous eight-month assignment gathering evidence of the gang's many crimes, including drug sales, extortion and murder. The result--79 arrests and a 100% conviction rate.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Now, for the first time ever, Chain of Evidence tells the riveting, incredible but true story of the most dramatic undercover operation in California's law enforcement history. At the center is Victoria Seele, a special assignments detective for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. A stunningly beautiful woman who graduated at the top of her academy class - and who suffered a morbid terror of motorcycles - she spent eight dangerous months inside the Hell's Angels organization, riding with its members, partying with them, and meticulously gathering evidence. Her cover: posing as the wealthy and decadent girlfriend of a hard-riding biker. The Angel who posed as Seele's "old man" was Cliff Mowery, a tough guy's tough guy, a cop-hating convicted felon with a long history of drug abuse and violent crime, who nevertheless agreed to become a police informer in exchange for quick parole. Already bridling at his unwelcome role of police snitch, could he be trusted to protect Seele from the sexual depredations of his raw-mannered brother bikers - as well as from the frighteningly mercurial, often explosive swings in his own personality? The mastermind of Seele's and Mowery's volatile partnership was Detective Sergeant Wayne Carlander, a hulking career cop from the old school. The operation earned Carlander, Seele, and Mowery a wanted poster offering a $25,000 bounty by the Hell's Angels for their deaths. And, thanks to a chain of evidence painstakingly and perilously constructed, it also paid off with the largest series of arrests in California history, a year of court trials ending in an astounding one-hundred-percent conviction rate, and the permanent eradication of the Hell's Angels organization in Orange County.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Readers are expected to take on faith that events related here happened as the pseudonymous author reports; that the dialogue is accurate, even though spoken almost two decades ago; that the anonymous police officers were as brave as depicted. But no matter, for in the large play of history this yarn of an undercover action infiltrating biker groups in Orange County, Calif., is hardly of consequence. Detroit's re-creation, which reads shamelessly like a script for the film that is to be made, is strictly box-office. According to the author, this 1977 cop caper led to the largest series of arrests ever made in California, with 77 bikers imprisoned for drug dealing, theft, arson, prostitution and murder. The romanticized stars of Operation Hog are police officers Wayne Carlander, gruff and shrewd; Victoria Seele, classy and glamorous; and biker Clifford Mowery, a handsome thug who proves to have a conscience. The reason for the anonymity? The Hell's Angels of the day posted a $25,000 reward each for the killings of the two cops (whom Detroit interviewed) and the turncoat biker, who died in a motorcycle accident shortly after the trials. Photos not seen by PW . Film rights to Michael Dealey. (Sept.)
Library Journal
Cliff Mowery was a biker who cooperated with the Orange County Police Department in infiltrating the Hell's Angels in 1977. Posing as his rich girlfriend was a female undercover agent who spent eight months gathering the evidence that eventually resulted in 79 arrests for drug dealing, murder, and extortion. This account of the operation is sometimes plodding and sometimes skillfully crafted to convey the danger and tension in the various undercover situations. Without resorting to stereotype or caricature, the characters have been well developed against the various backdrops of home life, biker bars, and police routine. A good narrative of a dangerous and important operation that dramatically affected the strength of the Hell's Angels in Southern California.-Christine Moesch, Buffalo & Erie Cty. P.L., N.Y.
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