The Jordan Harbinger Show
1137: Jay Dobyns | Undercover with the Hells Angels Part Three
08 Apr 2025
By popular demand, former ATF agent Jay Dobyns returns to take us deeper into the logistics of infiltrating the Hells Angels and living to tell the tale! [Pt. 3 of 3 — find 1 here and 2 here!]Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1137What We Discuss with Jay Dobyns:ATF agent Jay Dobyns first infiltrated the Solo Angels gang in Tijuana simply to gain credibility with the Hells Angels in Arizona — an infiltration within an infiltration to establish presence in a culture notorious for extreme scrutiny.The psychological toll of living a double life while undercover was severe. Taking handfuls of Hydroxycut to keep pace, Jay would cry himself to sleep from exhaustion and once signed a check with his undercover name, showing how blurred the lines became.At the Mesa clubhouse, when his hand moved toward his concealed weapon, a Hells Angel asked, "Jaybird, let me ask you something. Can you outdraw my trigger squeeze?" — one of many moments where Jay's survival hung by a thread, with only his wits as a safety net.Despite evidence gathered over two years, prosecutors reduced charges and sought plea deals with criminals in the Hells Angels organization rather than pursuing full prosecution — a profoundly frustrating outcome for Jay after years of risking his life to put these predators behind bars for good.Despite having his home burned down and contract killers sent after him, Jay made a life-changing decision: "I live with concern. I choose not to live in fear because if I live in fear, they own me." This powerful mindset shows that even after facing extreme adversity, we all have the ability to reclaim our power by refusing to let fear dictate our choices.And much more...And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/dealsSign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom!Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Episode
Coming up next on the Jordan Harbinger Show. I'm at the Mesa, Arizona clubhouse. Beautiful clubhouse, like a Hell's Angels museum. And there's dudes standing around with guns out and pointing guns, asking these questions. Why are these guys talking shit about you? So I had a shoulder holster that held a pistol on each side.
And this one member notices, like, my hand is starting to make its way towards the pistol. And he said, Jaybird, let me ask you something. Can you outdraw my trigger squeeze? And I was like...
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Today, Jay Dobbins back on the show. He joined the ATF, that's the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and went undercover in the Hells Angels.
Last time we had him on, we talked about undercover operations, prepping for those in general, a few details here and there, but we didn't really get into the weeds on what it's like to go undercover in the Hells Angels, the most notorious biker gang in the world. In this episode, we're going to do a deep dive on that. I won't spoil it. Here we go with Jay Dobbins.
Hey, man, thanks for coming back on the show. I know we just had you on, but we had such a good audience response from it. We had a really good, long conversation about your work at the ATF and how you started the undercover operation, but we never actually got into the Hell's Angels stuff. We basically just dipped our toes in it and then bounced off of it.
If people haven't heard the first couple episodes I did with you, I recommend they do go back and listen to those just so they get a little bit of a basis for some of this, your work in the ATF, outlaw biker gangs. how some of them operate and your undercover work in general. How did you get started doing undercover work?
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