![]() ![]() “I salute you for helping my country,” he shouted. “This was my first time buying something that could have been radioactive, leaving me vulnerable to leukaemia or bone cancer,” he said.Īfter trading cash for goods, followed by 30 minutes of incriminating chitchat, Ruskin wrapped things up. Portraying Jean-Marc, a French intelligence officer, Ruskin negotiated a $200,000 deal.Īt the transaction, Ruskin feared for his life - but not for the usual reasons. One high-profile buy-and-bust focused on a rogue weapons consultant, Roy Lynn Oakley, offering rods used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. Post-9/11, Ruskin found himself sidling up to traitorous Americans selling classified information - including dirty-bomb recipes - to foreign governments. It happened to be one of the rare occasions on which Ruskin was not wearing one. “We were having a good time,” Ruskin said. One potentially close call came during dinner at a mobbed-up restaurant in Queens. Ruskin confessed to being scared on much of that job. Ruskin provided hot diamonds to be moved on 47th Street and cash to be laundered by a restaurateur with Mafia ties. Playing a small role in a 2004 rousting of Genovese crime family members, he was “Daniel Martinez”, an international jewel thief who favoured stylish suits. Charges included fraud, counterfeiting and bribery of public officials.Īs Ruskin’s career progressed, so did the level of criminal he portrayed. Soon after, Mahmoud and 49 others were arrested. “I told to wait outside, turned to Mahmoud and said, ‘Let’s charge this asshole top price’. ![]() He turned angry and barked orders in Arabic. Mahmoud, backed by bodyguards, got suspicious. But during one with Mahmoud, a neophyte FBI agent forgot Ruskin’s undercover name. Soon after, a bust went down on East Houston Street. As Alex, Ruskin met other false-document sellers. They played at being drug lords and killers, paying thousands of dollars for new identities and piling up evidence. He brought various undercover agents to Mahmoud’s travel agency - actually a front - in The Bronx. As he recalled, “I hung out with made guys who kill undercovers”.Īmong the scary dudes he buddied up with - Mahmoud, a violent Middle Easterner who, during the early 1990s, dealt in drivers licenses, Social Security cards and licence plates obtained through crooked clerks working out of government offices in Manhattan, Yonkers and The Bronx.Īfter cold-calling on Mahmoud as Alex Perez, a midlevel gangster with a ponytail and a shady past in Miami, Ruskin registered a hot car, gained trust and infiltrated deep. Double- and triple- lives unfold in his memoir The Pretender.Ĭurrently practising criminal law, the wiry Ruskin, now 63, retains at least one trapping from his FBI past - the New York Post reports on a recent afternoon in Manhattan, he had a gun discreetly holstered beneath the waistband of his pants.īut who can blame him? During his 27 years as a fed, Ruskin was often concerned for his life. It's quite the tightrope, but many have managed to pull it off.MARC Ruskin trafficked in heroin, pedalled stolen jewels, laundered money - and he worked for the good guys.Īs an FBI undercover agent, Ruskin maintained about 12 different identities, routinely juggling three at a time. Acting is important in these movies too, as the character in the lead role is generally asked to play a character that is also playing a character. On the other hand, making the antagonist too one-dimensional results in a main character with no moral quandary to toil with. Humanize the "bad guys," too much and they risk glorifying the violence and crime they commit. RELATED: Fast & Furious: Every Death In The Series Ranked From Least To Most Tragicįrom a filmmaking perspective, these movies can be difficult to pull off. The danger and intrigue of entering the belly of the beast can take many forms, whether it's real-life stories of cops that got in a little too deep or an action-packed thriller about surfing bank robbers. Providing some of the rawest and most honest looks into the criminal underworld, movies about going undercover in a criminal organization are often filled with complicated characters and dripping with tension. The story of the undercover agent has long been a popular one. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |