By now, most have heard about the government’s War on the Mongols, the biker gang out in California that’s been accused of doing so many bad things that a federal judge has approved a pre-emptive strike on clothing bearing the word “Mongol.”  But have you wondered how the feds managed to nail 79 members of the motorcycle club?

Infiltration.  Apparently, four ATF agents were forced to drink, carouse and ride motorcycles for weeks (weeks?) to become “one of the gang.”  But it’s not that easy.  Not by a long shot, as the Mongols are a suspicious people by nature, plus they were burned before by “new members” turning out to be law enforcement.  So, the vetting process, according to this Daily Sentinel article, was “to test their “prospects,” including running background checks and having a private investigator administer the polygraph tests.”

The Mongols ratcheted up pressure by standing directly behind the agents while they were hooked up to the polygraph, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Brunwin said.

“Is it scarier to see the threat that is facing you, or … taking a lie detector test while someone is standing behind you with a weapon?” the prosecutor said. “They could be getting ready to shoot.”

Each agent had been given all they needed to assume a new life — an apartment away from their family, a new Social Security number and a cover story. They had also been trained to pass the lie detector.

If it were me, just having a bunch of Mongols standing behind me with weapons would be enough to make my palms sweat, not to mention other parts of my anatomy damper than normal.  But then, I haven’t received the proper training.

John Torres, the ATF agent in charge in Los Angeles, declined to discuss how the three beat the polygraph, but said undercover agents generally compile cover stories that echo their own lives so they can tell them more believably.

“Our guys are highly trained and they were pretty much hand selected to do this mission and for their ability to think fast under pressure and beat the box,” Torres said, referring to the polygraph machine.

Thinking fast and beating the “box”, especially when your life hangs in the balance, seem like necessary characteristics of agents going undercover.  But going undercover has some risks/rewards of its own.

Torres said not all agents can handle undercover work. Those that do it feed off the thrill of maintaining a facade.

“It is the adrenaline, it’s being able to get one over on the bad guy,” Torres said.

Torres said the agents in the Mongols investigation never committed a crime during the investigation, he said, and were still subject to random drug tests.

Four women colleagues posed as girlfriends to help in the ruse, providing backup and an excuse that allowed the male agents to avoid having sex with women who hung out with Mongols, Brunwin said.

According to the indictment, the Mongols awarded each other special clothing patches, or “wings,” after they engaged in extreme sex acts, like having sex with a woman with a venereal disease.

This, of course, is the sanitized version, as Hunter Thompson fan will tell you.  There’s more to being an outlaw biker than riding a chopped hog.  But the point is that these federal agents passed the test of fire, did what they had to do to convince a paranoid group of bikers that they were one of them, and beat the box.

That a polygraph isn’t all its cracked up to be would seem rather clear.  That these agents could lie their way past any judge or juror, and likely any defense lawyer, without breaking a sweat seems obvious.  Being a very effective liar is a good trait for an undercover.  It’s a troubling trait for a law enforcement officer.  Our government is basically saying that they can lie their way past anything, and there isn’t a darn thing we can do about it.

But before we let go of this backstory to the Mongols indictment, there’s naturally a bit of irony to be had:

Though the ATF is able to train its agents to pass a polygraph test, the agency still uses lie detectors as part of its screening of potential new hires. ATF spokesman Mike Hoffman said the polygraph is just one of a slew of tests of a candidate’s background.

No need to wonder how they keep those violent, vicious, power-hungry sociopaths out of law enforcement anymore.  They use a “slew” plus the good old poly.  Now you can sleep better at night.

H/T to J-dog, who regularly monitors all outlaw biker gangs as part of his doctoral thesis project.