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.
[17] 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.
[2] 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.
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.
[35] 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 agents tried to block the street.
[3][38] During this investigation, Dobyns and his undercover partner, Vincent A. Cefalu, encountered Jeffrey Tenpenny, a lone wolf terrorist who orchestrated a conspiracy to detonate improvised explosive devices at three Las Vegas casinos—The Mirage, Treasure Island, and the Golden Nugget—and assassinate Carolyn Ellsworth, an attorney for the casino magnate Steve Wynn.
[39][40][41] As part of a sting operation, Dobyns and Cefalu, posing as sympathizers to the militia movement, held a discussion with Tenpenny in a car rigged with microphones and cameras on June 19, 1995, and agreed to provide him with C-4 explosives.
[44] Over a two decade period, Dobyns conducted over 500 undercover operations, developing expertise in violent crime investigations, weapons and narcotics trafficking, gang infiltrations, home invasion burglary and murder-for-hire cases.
He was repeatedly detailed to high-profile criminal and terrorism events including the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, and the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.
[49] On April 26, 2002, a deadly altercation broke out between the Hells Angels and their arch-rivals, the Mongols Motorcycle Club, in the middle of a Laughlin, Nevada casino filled with innocent bystanders, prompting federal law enforcement to open an undercover investigation called "Operation Black Biscuit", which included Dobyns.
[51][52] On night of April 26, 2002, Dobyns entered the Flamingo Hilton hotel where the Hells Angels were staying along with another ATF agent, Darrin Kozlowski, who posed as a gunrunner from California.
[54] Joining him at the bar was an undercover ATF agent, Jenna Maguire, described by Sher and Marsden as a "pretty, twenty-nine year old" with "long hair and a quick smile".
[55] The brawl at the Harrah's casino between the Hells Angels and the Mongols led to the ATF pulling out several undercover agents out of the fear that they might be killed or asked to commit a murder.
[61] Sher and Marsden wrote that Dobyns looked like an outlaw biker as he is a tall, lean man whose head is shaven bald and who wears golden earrings while his muscular body is covered with tattoos.
'"[76] As a married man, Dobyns asked his superiors to assign a female ATF agent to play his girlfriend as he knew that the Angels disliked dealing with men rumored to be gay.
[84] Dobyns complained that he often rode his motorcycle around with his handguns visible, which though legal in Arizona, should have been grounds for suspicion, but was never pulled over the police who regarded it as normal for outlaw bikers to ride around with guns in plain sight.
[100] On March 12, 2003, Dobyns and MacKay went to confront Eric Rutland, an undercover ATF agent who played the part of the "playboy" at a Waffle House restaurant in Tucson.
[101] Dobyns gave MacKay $200 for merely being present at the meeting, and in the following days found himself besieged by various Hells Angels who wanted to join him in his debt collection work.
[103] At the meeting, the man known as Lou played the part of an abrasive, loudmouth Vegas Mafia boss perfectly and discussed selling guns to the Hells Angels.
[108] Dobyns always refused offers to use methamphetamine, which most of the Hells Angels used regularly, and pointed to his tattoo of St. Michael slaying the dragon, which he explained represented the triumph of his willpower over evil.
Sher and Marsden wrote that the ATF managers were interested in "results that can be measured" such as arrests and convictions and as such disliked lengthy undercover operations which consumed both time and money while denying laying charges by years.
[120] On June 12, 2003, Dobyns was called in to start preparing for violence as the Hells Angels had heard a rumor that the Bandidos were planning to crash a biker meeting in Las Vegas that night.
[125] Dobyns had a bloodstained Mongols "cut" (leather biker vest with club patches) mailed to the Hells Angels from somewhere in Mexico, and provided a videotape and pictures of the "killing".
[52] Although awarded his Hells Angels vest by the leadership of the Skull Valley chapter, the club, including its leader, Sonny Barger, have vehemently denied that Dobyns was ever "patched-in".
[131] On July 8, 2003, Operation Black Biscuit came to an end with Hells Angels being arrested in Tucson, Phoenix, Prescott, Kingman and Bullhead on various drug, guns, and conspiracy charges.
[133] In 2004, following the exposure of his true identity during the "Black Biscuit" prosecutions, Dobyns and his family became the targets of death threats by various organizations, including members and associates of the Hells Angels, Aryan Brotherhood and MS-13.
According to official investigative reports by government watchdog agencies, ATF management failed to take reasonable measures to protect Dobyns and his family from numerous validated death and violence threats.
[148][149] On August 10, 2008, four months after ATF forced the location of his home into the public domain, his Tucson residence was the target of a late night arson attack while his wife and two children were asleep inside.
United States Court of Federal Claims Judge Francis Allegra 54-page verdict laid blame on ATF for retaliation and endangerment for the Bureau's failed attempts to frame Dobyns.
[162] Dobyns has been featured in television documentaries produced by The History Channel, including the Gangland episode "Behind Enemy Lines",[163] America's Book of Secrets,[164] the National Geographic Channel's "Inside: Outlaw Bikers – Hells Angels",[165] Fox Television's " America's Most Wanted",[166] and Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Devotions" detailing his involvement in an investigation of a murder committed by the Hells Angels.