0:00

And if you are watching this video, either

0:03

I'm dead or I'm in a very, very, very

0:06

bad situation. She said, oh my god, I

0:08

can hear gunshots. I can hear

0:10

men outside. Where are they? What have

0:12

they done to them? There is one suspect,

0:15

her father, the Sheikh. A new

0:17

podcast from In the Dark and The New Yorker

0:19

asks a question. Why do the

0:21

women in Dubai's royal family keep

0:24

trying to run away? The Runaway

0:26

Princesses is available now. Follow In

0:28

the Dark wherever you get your

0:30

podcasts. From

0:36

the Center for Investigative Reporting and

0:38

PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

0:40

Al Letzen. On May 25, 2020,

0:42

the country seemed to shift. A

0:47

black man, George Floyd, was

0:49

killed in Minneapolis. And

0:52

like an earthquake that set off a tsunami,

0:55

a wave of racial justice protests

0:57

swept the nation. Of

1:02

all the demonstrations around the country

1:04

that year, Denver, Colorado, saw some

1:06

of the biggest, most intense protests.

1:08

We've been watching as defenses

1:10

are smashed, torn down, protesters

1:12

starting fires and building umbrella

1:14

barricades. Thousands demonstrated outside

1:17

the Colorado State Capitol, chanting a

1:19

phrase synonymous with black men dying

1:21

at the hands of police officers.

1:24

I can't breathe! I

1:27

can't breathe! I can't breathe!

1:29

Some of the Denver protests became

1:31

violent and destructive. Police

1:37

fired pepper spray and rubber

1:39

bullets into crowds, injuring dozens.

1:42

But the protesters just kept coming out,

1:45

undaunted. Day 10 of protests across

1:47

Denver, nearly a week after police

1:49

used tear gas and pepper balls

1:51

to disperse protesters outside. And then

1:53

one night, a new guy

1:56

showed up at the protest, driving a big

1:58

silver hearse. Straight

2:00

away, he began to establish himself

2:03

with the leaders and eventually he

2:05

would transform Denver's racial justice protests.

2:08

Today, we're revisiting a story we

2:11

first brought you last year. It's

2:13

a partnership with the podcast Alphabet

2:15

Boys from Western Sound and journalist

2:17

Trevor Aronson. Trevor got

2:19

a hold of secret recordings that reveal surprising

2:21

details about that guy in the Silver Hurst,

2:25

what he did at these protests, and who he

2:27

was working for. Trevor takes

2:29

the story from here. That

2:32

new guy who shows up at the protests

2:34

stands out. He's a white

2:36

guy wearing military fatigues with patches and

2:38

stripes that he claims to have earned

2:41

fighting the Islamic State or

2:43

ISIS and Iraq and Syria. He

2:45

has a cigar dangling from his lips. And

2:48

on the back window of a Silver Hurst is a

2:50

sticker reading, Pashmurga, the

2:53

Kurdish military force. And inside his hearse

2:55

was like a lot of guns, you know, like AR-15s and all other

2:57

kinds. This is Zep

2:59

Hall. He was a regular at the Denver

3:01

protests. Yeah, it was just

3:03

this dude, you know, talking about he worked

3:06

in the foreign military. He was

3:08

for the Black Lives Matter movement. He just

3:11

seemed like some authoritarian figure, you know,

3:13

this powerful figure that was there. He

3:16

was very convincing, but he did explain, you know,

3:18

he was part of like a bad biker gangs.

3:20

You know, he had committed a ton of violence,

3:22

you know, but, you know, he was for this

3:24

BLM movement. And

3:26

here's another regular at the Denver protests. Bryce

3:29

Shelby. He walked up with a body

3:31

cam on me. Bryce

3:33

says the Hearst dude was walking around with

3:36

a GoPro camera strapped to his chest. I

3:38

didn't think nothing about the body cam just

3:41

because I'm just I

3:43

don't know. There was just a

3:45

lot of things going on, I guess. And

3:48

straight away, Bryce says the guy starts bragging about

3:50

doing time in prison. Guess he

3:52

de-escalated any type

3:54

of suspicion because he would start

3:56

like flashing his prison badge. Yeah,

4:00

you know what I mean? Like, okay, he's not...

4:02

This guy ain't a fair. You walk around with

4:05

a prison badge. Yeah. Around

4:09

the time this mysterious character starts showing up,

4:12

the protests in Denver are stagnating. They're

4:14

becoming this cat and mouse game between

4:17

demonstrators and cops. People

4:19

coming out in mostly peaceful ways, cops

4:21

coming out with riot gear and overwhelming

4:25

force. Protesters like Bryce and Zeb, they're

4:27

getting frustrated. They want

4:29

change. Something more needs

4:31

to happen. Something new.

4:35

And then something new does

4:37

happen. Here's Zeb. I

4:39

was like, hey, this guy, you know, he wants to train

4:41

people how to, you know, defend themselves and use the weapons

4:44

and he just showed me how to do it as well.

4:47

A guy with real military experience is

4:49

here. He's a commanding presence.

4:52

He's going to take things to the next level.

4:59

This guy is known to the protesters simply as

5:01

Mickey. His full name is

5:04

Michael Adam Windecker II. Okay,

5:07

it is August 28, 2020

5:10

at approximately 4.02 p.m. Special

5:16

Agent Scott Dollstrom with Special Agent Byron

5:19

Mitchell, CHS for Meet

5:21

with Zebadias Hall. You

5:27

can hear the shots in my front pocket, right? Okay, I got

5:29

it. It's

5:32

late afternoon on a warm day in Denver, Colorado.

5:35

It's drizzling outside and Mickey is sitting

5:37

in the backseat of an FBI car. Two

5:40

federal agents are with him and one

5:42

of them, FBI Special Agent Scott

5:44

Dollstrom, has just handed Mickey

5:47

a small hidden camera. Mickey

5:49

turns the camera to his face, shooting from

5:52

an unflattering angle below his chin. You

5:54

can see Mickey's thin red mustache and scraggly

5:56

goatee that's turning gray. He's

5:59

propped his large sunglasses. on his forehead, and he's

6:01

looking straight down into the tiny camera lens. Mickey

6:05

is not ready for his close-up. Did

6:07

he look good? Yep. Yeah.

6:11

No cancel. Not as handsome as that

6:13

can. Mickey points to someone outside, walking

6:15

past the car, and

6:17

then he opens the car door to leave. Good

6:19

luck. Alright, see you guys shortly. The

6:23

FBI agents tell him to remember his instructions, which

6:25

were given to him before the camera started recording. Yep,

6:28

I got it. Thanks, Mom. Thanks,

6:31

Dad. Mickey

6:35

then walks to his car, the Silver Hearse,

6:38

and places the FBI's camera on the passenger seat.

6:51

Mickey looks down toward the camera and addresses

6:53

the FBI agents, who are watching the

6:55

live feed remotely. I

6:58

got a song for you guys. This

7:17

song is on a playlist Mickey's put together, inspired

7:19

by his work for the FBI. Mickey

7:22

is an informant, or in the

7:24

FBI's term of art, confidential human

7:26

source. Mickey is getting paid

7:29

thousands of dollars every few weeks. And

7:33

Mickey, he's got a very

7:35

specific assignment from his employers at the

7:38

FBI to infiltrate the

7:40

racial justice movement. As

7:42

the song ends, Mickey again looks down toward

7:44

the FBI camera. America.

7:51

Today the FBI has more than 15,000 registered

7:53

informants. The

7:56

public has no idea what most of these informants

7:58

are doing. Mickey's undercover

8:01

recordings provide us with a rare look

8:03

inside. FBI

8:05

reports about Mickey's work as an informant

8:08

refer to racial justice demonstrators as anti-government

8:11

extremists, which is one

8:13

of the ideologies the FBI classifies as

8:15

domestic terrorism. During

8:18

the Trump administration, the FBI and the

8:20

Justice Department came up with a

8:22

new catch-all category to define a type

8:24

of domestic terrorism from Black Americans. They

8:27

called it Black Identity Extremism,

8:30

a new and rising form, in

8:33

the FBI's view, of anti-government extremism.

8:37

In 2017, the FBI's Counterterrorism

8:39

Division released a 12-page intelligence

8:41

report that claimed Black Identity

8:44

Extremists were motivated by police

8:46

brutality to target law enforcement

8:48

officers with violence and even

8:50

murder. The FBI's evidence

8:52

for this theory of rising Black political

8:55

violence was pretty thin. Resting

8:57

on a series of a half dozen crimes

8:59

committed by Black Americans over a three-year period

9:02

that had no apparent connection with one another

9:05

and no unifying political ideology. The

9:10

revelation that the FBI had come up

9:12

with a Black Identity Extremism category for

9:14

domestic terrorism was met with widespread

9:16

criticism in the news media and on

9:18

Capitol Hill. Director Ray, thanks so much for

9:20

being here. I'd like to go into a subject

9:23

matter you and I have discussed before individually

9:25

and with the Congressional Black Caucus and others. In

9:28

2019, Senator Cory Booker of New

9:31

Jersey questioned FBI Director

9:33

Christopher Ray about why

9:35

the Bureau was so focused on

9:37

so-called Black Identity Extremism. Given

9:40

that Americans at the time were

9:42

seeing increasing violence from white supremacists

9:44

and other far-right groups. That's

9:47

what I want to drill down on. You

9:49

know, we know from a

9:51

declassified joint intelligence briefing from 2000

9:53

to 2016 that white supremacist extremists

9:55

were responsible for more homicides than

9:57

any other domestic extremist group. Ray

10:01

answers that the Bureau doesn't target people

10:03

based on identity or ideology.

10:05

We only investigate violence. We

10:08

don't investigate extremism. We don't investigate

10:10

ideology. We don't investigate rhetoric. It

10:12

doesn't matter how repugnant, how abhorrent,

10:14

or whatever it is. It's

10:17

about the violence, not about

10:19

the ideology. Director

10:21

Ray then disclosed for the first time that

10:24

the FBI had abandoned the term black

10:27

identity extremism. And forgive me,

10:29

this is news to me. So you no longer use the

10:32

black identity extremism. That's no more. That's

10:34

great news. So nobody's

10:36

being surveilled or investigated on the black

10:39

identity extremism. We don't use that terminology

10:42

anymore. We

10:45

don't use that terminology anymore, Ray

10:47

said. But he didn't answer

10:49

the other part of Senator Booker's question. Were

10:52

people still being surveilled and investigated?

10:55

Is suspected of being black

10:57

identity extremists? And

11:00

the answer to that question was, and

11:02

is, yes. When

11:07

we come back, undercover FBI

11:10

informant Mickey Windecker starts dropping

11:12

not so subtle hints about

11:15

how protesters can transition from

11:17

ideology to violence. You

11:19

know, and

11:22

Bryce is planning on like, okay, I want to

11:24

blow out the courthouse. I need to know

11:27

what the gay players are. I'm going to shoot up an

11:29

attorney general so I can tell him, like, dude, this is

11:31

what's up. That's coming up after

11:33

the break. You're listening to

11:35

Reveal. From

11:53

the Center for Investigative Reporting in

11:55

PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

11:58

Al Ledson. Today, We're

12:00

revisiting a show we first brought you last

12:02

year. It's a partnership with

12:05

the podcast, Alphabet Boys and reporter

12:07

Trevor Aronson, investigating how

12:09

the FBI infiltrated racial justice

12:11

demonstrations in 2020. Earlier,

12:14

we told you about Mickey

12:16

Windecker, who showed up at

12:18

Denver's protests, driving a silver

12:20

hearse, which demonstrators say was

12:22

filled with weapons. Mickey

12:25

was working as a confidential informant for

12:27

the FBI, and he was about

12:29

to take the operation to the next level. Here's

12:32

Trevor. I've obtained

12:34

more than 300 pages of internal FBI

12:36

reports about Mickey Windecker's work in Denver,

12:39

as well as hours and hours

12:41

of undercover recordings of Mickey goading

12:43

protesters into violence. I've

12:45

also interviewed dozens of activists who encountered Mickey

12:48

while he was secretly working for the FBI. The

12:51

FBI documents and recordings reveal, for the

12:53

first time, how federal law

12:55

enforcement attempted to infiltrate and undermine

12:57

the racial justice movement during the

12:59

summer of 2020. FBI

13:02

agents described Mickey in internal records as

13:04

something of a good Samaritan, a

13:06

kind of volunteer Captain America. But

13:09

other bureau documents detail Mickey's criminal

13:11

history. He's been

13:14

arrested in Colorado, Nevada, Texas,

13:16

and Florida for various alleged

13:18

crimes, and he's been convicted of

13:20

misdemeanor sexual assault and menacing with a weapon,

13:23

a felony. His court records also

13:25

reveal a pattern of pretending to be a police

13:27

officer. While being paid

13:29

by the FBI during the summer of 2020, Mickey

13:32

posed as an activist. He

13:34

accused real activist leaders of being informants.

13:38

And amid the chaos he created, Mickey

13:40

became a kind of leader of the Denver racial

13:42

justice movement. He earned a nickname, the

13:45

Drill Sergeant. Come on, Drill Sergeant!

13:47

I can't hear you! Drill

13:50

Sergeant! In

13:54

the last week of August 2020, Mickey

13:56

led protests that became full-on assaults against

13:58

police buildings, resulting in a in dozens

14:00

of injuries to protesters and police officers,

14:03

but his undercover work with the FBI was expanding

14:05

further to target specific

14:07

activists. One

14:09

afternoon, Mickey meets with Zeb Hall and

14:12

Bryce Shelby at Famous Dave's, a

14:14

chain barbecue restaurant. Mickey's

14:25

asked for a table for three, and of

14:27

course, since he's secretly recording this for

14:29

the FBI, he's also requested the

14:31

restaurant's music to be turned down. About

14:34

15 minutes later, the activist Bryce Shelby

14:36

shows up. Mickey's

14:42

arranged this lunch to bring Bryce and Zeb

14:44

together, trying to find a way to

14:46

set them up on federal criminal charges. Neither

14:49

Zeb nor Bryce has been involved in violence

14:51

at the protest. Mickey

14:54

and the FBI know this. The

14:56

FBI is targeting them for things they've said. Zeb

14:59

has talked vaguely about combat training and

15:01

revolution, and Bryce has a reputation

15:04

for giving inflammatory speeches, with

15:06

a rifle slung over his shoulder. Mickey

15:08

tells both men over lunch that he's got a guy

15:10

coming to town, an outlaw biker

15:13

who will help them with whatever they need.

15:22

He's on board.

15:25

What he's going to do, he's coming in Tuesday, so

15:28

much further where we'll meet at, nowhere

15:30

like this on Tuesday. He'll

15:32

walk you through what the

15:36

game plan is. Mickey

15:38

then starts to encourage Zeb and Bryce to come up

15:40

with a plan. But, he

15:42

warns, they can't bring anybody

15:45

else in. It's got

15:47

to remain super secret. Don't

15:49

tell anyone what we're talking about. And

15:51

a warning, these guys swear a lot in these

15:53

recordings. or

16:00

point of view. When you bring two people

16:03

in, somebody's going to talk. The

16:06

waiter comes to the table and Mickey, Bryce,

16:08

and Zeb stop their tough guy talk and

16:10

order food, as if nothing's going on. Mickey

16:14

says he's buying. Ready to get some food

16:16

going? Yeah. Mickey orders ribs with beans and

16:18

mashed potatoes. I want to do ribs. Zeb

16:20

orders the same. And

16:22

Bryce says he'll take a chicken sandwich.

16:24

Anything else, guys? And garlic toast for

16:27

me. Okay. Instead of muffins? No,

16:29

I don't like muffins. I hate muffins. All

16:31

right. Thank you very much. All right,

16:33

guys. I'll be eating things. Cool, cool.

16:36

Once the waiter leaves, the talk picks back up. Why

16:39

can't I build up over time with

16:41

an anger and resentment, and then just

16:43

throw up some bits, and we go

16:45

to a rich neighborhood, and I cannot

16:47

control what the pieces do? Why

16:50

can't I grow anger over time, Zeb says,

16:53

and then create a demonstration in a rich neighborhood?

16:56

If people get violent, well, I

16:59

can't control people. That

17:01

appears to be the extent of Zeb's recipe

17:04

for revolution. And

17:06

that's not good enough for Mickey. But

17:08

which rich neighborhood are you thinking of? Think

17:10

of it over time. You've got six months,

17:13

right? Yeah, but you've got to remember, my

17:15

guy doesn't have six months. How long

17:17

do you have to teach me? I don't know,

17:19

man. You don't have to talk to him. But

17:22

the thing I'm telling you is, this guy's an old

17:24

type of cat. I mean, if you're all trying to do, he's going to

17:26

help you with this. But you understand, this guy's

17:29

an old type of dude. You know what I mean?

17:31

And it's like, you know, I

17:33

mean, you look at Bryce's point, Bryce is

17:35

talking about immediate action, you

17:38

know, loose splashing them, you know? I

17:42

mean, what do you think, Bryce? He was going

17:44

to say he was never safe. Bryce

17:46

says he feels like they're running out of time. The

17:49

cops are kicking their butts. Something

17:51

more needs to be done. And

17:54

soon. And Mickey

17:56

encourages a more specific plan. Blow

17:58

up a courthouse, maybe. Or shoot

18:02

the Attorney General You

18:04

know, I'll put you like this. Let me just be

18:06

real with you for a second At

18:09

the end of the day, it's cool. Wherever your game plan is I

18:11

mean, I'm not gonna sit there and tell you you should do this

18:13

and you should do that I'm not gonna say that okay But

18:18

you need to have an objective what you need to do.

18:20

I mean You know Like

18:24

if rice is planning on like okay. I want

18:26

to burn up a poor house I need to

18:28

know what the game plans are. I'm gonna shoot up in the

18:30

Attorney General So I could tell my dude

18:32

this is what's up because if I

18:35

tell my dude like yeah, they're gonna come out and

18:37

hang out for nine months and They

18:39

don't do some training. I don't think we got that

18:41

one You Mickey says he needs to

18:43

give his contact the outlaw biker guy

18:46

some sort of action plan Otherwise

18:48

this is all just talk going nowhere That

18:52

won't commit to anything concrete so

18:54

Mickey describes how Bryce has a scheme in mind that

18:56

they could all get behind Bryce

18:58

has the home address of an important elected

19:01

official and well What

19:03

if that politician winds up dead shot

19:05

as he's getting out of his car for leaving the house

19:09

So question is are you cool? With

19:11

price doing what he needs to do if people

19:13

do it do it That's

19:16

good. I'm a senior I

19:18

got the DA's address Bryce says referring

19:21

to the district attorney While

19:23

the evening that 20 general not the DA

19:25

nothing about it Yeah

19:29

It's clear from this conversation that Bryce doesn't

19:31

know that the district attorney and

19:33

the Attorney General are two different people

19:36

two different elected positions Over

19:40

Lunch at famous days Mickey tries to

19:42

steer Bryce toward a specific plot in

19:44

a specific person an

19:46

assassination of Colorado's Attorney General

19:49

So you're thinking for sure that the AG Right

19:57

then the discussion takes a very weird

19:59

turn Zeb, listening to everything

20:01

and wanting to be part of the conversation,

20:04

begins to suggest that they should figure out a way to

20:06

use Denver's sewer systems to

20:09

move around the city. As if

20:11

they're, I don't know,

20:13

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

20:16

Yeah, but where's the sewer at? I

20:18

mean, Denver's where? We're all under it.

20:22

Let's use the sewers, Zeb says.

20:26

But where are the sewers, Mickey asks?

20:29

They're all under us, Zeb replies. Well,

20:31

whose sewers are you talking about? The

20:35

governor, the police chief, the mayor? I

20:39

don't even know where the key is. The

20:42

conversation continues like this, an

20:45

absurd discussion of sewers, and

20:47

the three men finish eating and walk outside of

20:49

the restaurant and into the parking lot. Mickey

20:54

is clearly annoyed and wants to steer

20:57

his targets away from Zeb's ludicrous idea

20:59

to launch the revolution from Denver's sewer

21:01

system and toward Bryce's nascent

21:03

plan to kill an elected official. Mickey

21:07

says he's got to let his contact know what's up. And

21:09

soon. So I'm going to let him

21:11

know what he want to do. Attorney General. All right,

21:14

I'll make it home. All right. Go. I

21:16

appreciate you're up. All right. All

21:19

right. All right. Are you ready to get

21:21

back? Yeah, I'm good. Yeah. All

21:24

right. All right. Mickey

21:28

gets in his silver hearse and

21:31

sums up his meeting with Zeb and

21:33

Bryce. Mickey's

21:53

playing Fleetwood Mac on the car stereo. After

21:56

a short drive, he gets out of the hearse and

21:59

walks over to meet with the other guy. FBI agents who

22:01

are sitting in their black sedan. Mickey

22:05

taps on the car window. FBI

22:07

agent Scott Dalstrom opens the door

22:10

and Mickey hands him the recording device. Attorney

22:13

General is your target. Mickey

22:18

tells the agents. The

22:20

FBI now appears to

22:22

have a serious investigation in Denver.

22:25

A plot to assassinate statewide

22:27

elected official. A

22:35

few days later Mickey's supposed outlaw

22:37

biker buddy pulls into town.

22:41

Mickey's friend is wearing a hidden camera. Denver,

22:48

Colorado. Today is August

22:50

25th. At approximately

22:52

2.50 p.m. This

22:57

guy isn't really Mickey's friend. He's

22:59

an FBI special agent and

23:02

he goes by the nickname, Red. What

23:05

happened? Mickey walks up

23:07

to the car. Red rolls down

23:09

his window and he notices Mickey's

23:11

broken finger. What did you do to that thing?

23:14

I went to stir just a drunk driver

23:16

hit me on his white. Just

23:18

put my handle parts on my wrist. I was there. Mickey

23:22

then walks over to his car and

23:24

Red seems to think Mickey

23:26

looks ridiculous as he gets behind the wheel of

23:28

a silver hearse. A

23:35

few minutes later, Red pulls into the

23:37

parking lot of a TGI Friday's. Mickey

23:40

walks up to him again. He's

23:42

pretty weak, man.

23:45

He's kind of mental. He's

23:52

kind of mental in some ways. Mickey

23:54

means Bryce Shelby, the activist with the

23:56

vague plot to assassinate Colorado's Attorney General.

24:00

Mickey, the FBI's informant, and

24:02

Red, the FBI's undercover agent,

24:05

walk into a TGI Friday. What's

24:07

up? What are you up to? Fine.

24:11

I have a drink. No, great for

24:13

me. You want more? Right on. More?

24:16

What's up, man? Another day, man. And

24:18

Bryce is much more red than this

24:20

rice. Juice, man. They call me

24:22

Juice Juice. That's one right in there. That's one right in

24:25

there. Yeah. Bryce

24:27

tells the FBI undercover agent his nickname is... Juice. They

24:30

call me Juice, he says. Yeah,

24:32

let me get a strawberry lemonade. Strawberry

24:35

lemonade? Yeah, I'll buy you a

24:38

cold cold. Mickey

24:40

then starts telling Bryce about his friend Red and how

24:42

his fellow members of the Special

24:45

Forces community vouch for him. That's

24:47

my voice. I'm just going to help

24:49

with your drinks. I

24:53

don't even know what we're

24:55

fighting. I just

24:58

know that these people that

25:00

run are not

25:02

for us. I'm

25:05

some regular Joe civilian, but

25:09

if I'd need to see this coming, I'm not going to stand by

25:11

this. This is my family. This is going

25:13

to be next. I

25:15

got the District Attorney's address. Okay. This

25:18

is the Attorney's address. I keep voicing the

25:20

District Attorney's address. I don't even know. Bryce

25:25

is still confusing the two positions, the

25:27

two different elected officials, the District

25:30

Attorney and the Attorney General. Nobody

25:34

knows that we're here besides me and him. None

25:36

of my people from my circle, none of my people

25:38

from his circle that I know of, you know somebody,

25:40

I didn't know. I haven't seen none of

25:42

my stuff. I gangbanged, so this is another

25:45

mission. Red

25:47

suggested Bryce that they take a

25:49

drive to scout out the

25:52

Attorney General's house. Alright, well,

25:54

I think

25:56

we ought to roll by then. Okay.

25:59

I got the information. I'm good

26:01

with it. You're good with it.

26:03

I'm good with it. You're called,

26:05

but I don't see what the options are at that point, right?

26:09

I since asked Bryce about this

26:11

supposed assassination plot. He

26:13

told me he didn't even know who the attorney

26:15

general was. He was really

26:17

basically asking me like, what would be my plan? How

26:20

would I do it? I was really just saying like

26:22

movie, cut his lights off, kicking the

26:24

door. I'm not, I don't got

26:26

no real plan to do this. So I think a

26:29

listener would say like, well, why did you

26:31

talk about it? I

26:36

guess. I don't know. That's

26:40

just how you feel at a moment. Like I'm gonna

26:42

kill that. You've said that

26:45

about a lot of people that pissed you off in life. Listeners,

26:47

you ain't never killed them for real, have you? This

26:51

assassination plot, though, ends up being a little

26:53

more than talk. Bryce

26:56

had the attorney general's home address. He

26:58

said he got it from another demonstrator who,

27:00

trying to be provocative, had read off

27:03

a bunch of elected officials' home addresses during a speech. So

27:06

Red, the undercover agent, suggests

27:09

they drive out to the house, maybe come

27:11

up with a more concrete plan. Bryce

27:14

agrees to go. On the

27:16

ride over, they keep talking. And

27:19

Bryce is acting like a tough guy. What

27:22

are you thinking? I guess. I

27:27

mean, let's just put it this way. If you could have

27:30

it any way you wanted. Just

27:33

catch that **** popping out of his car. Because

27:37

originally I was thinking, shut

27:39

the power off and come through the window or something like that.

27:42

Well, you're talking about Rambo. Yeah, but then I

27:44

got to thinking that's too much. I

27:46

got a big rifle. I got a hold.

27:48

I got to, you know what I mean?

27:50

That's for, I'm thinking, I think about that.

27:52

In fact, forensics tracing versus not

27:55

none of that on you at all. How

27:58

about the car? You

28:00

know what I mean? Poppin' bam. You're

28:03

still talking about forensics right there. Yeah,

28:05

but that's a lot less forensic, so...

28:08

That's too easy to say, huh? The

28:11

FBI agent is being generous here for

28:13

the sake of the undercover sting. Bryce

28:15

is talking a bunch of nonsense.

28:19

Bryce then begins to describe to Red how

28:21

he wasn't interested in any sort of violence

28:23

when he first started protesting. Mickey,

28:26

he says, pushed

28:28

him in that direction. And when

28:30

I met Mickey, yeah, that was like... That was really like the

28:32

first thing he said. He was like, he was like, we're at

28:34

an impasse. A

28:37

lot of people thought he was a cop, and me and him

28:39

started talking. Then he pulled out his prison ID.

28:44

I was like, yeah, this ain't no cop, for sure. Red

28:47

then asks Bryce what he knows about the guy whose

28:49

house they're driving to. What

28:51

do you know about this guy? Attorney

28:54

General. How do you know this

28:56

man? I think

28:58

he has... I

29:01

think he has one kid... and

29:05

a wife. But

29:09

that might be his... Those might just be relatives. You

29:12

know, like on voter registration, it doesn't say

29:14

who's what. Yeah. I think he has one

29:17

kid and a wife. I

29:19

don't know how old his kid is, either. How

29:23

old is he? men

29:28

to early 40s. Early

29:30

to men 40s, I guess I'd say. How

29:33

long you been in office? It's

29:38

about four years. I

29:40

want to say about four years. Four

29:43

or five. Okay,

29:45

I want to pause for a minute. Because

29:48

Bryce, he gets almost everything

29:50

wrong about Colorado's Attorney General. I'm

29:53

Phil Weiser. Phil

29:55

Weiser is married. That much is true. But

29:58

he has two children, not one. At

30:01

the time Bryce and Red are having this conversation,

30:03

Weiser is 52 years old, not in

30:05

his early to mid 40s. And

30:08

he was elected in 2018 and, as this

30:10

conversation is happening, has been in office for

30:12

less than two years. Not

30:15

as Bryce says, four or five years. Anyway,

30:18

back to the car ride. So

30:22

the question I asked earlier, in

30:24

a perfect situation, what

30:26

happened? He

30:29

hops out the car. I'd

30:33

say maybe about a hundred

30:36

yards away. If that we

30:39

could park somewhere close to that grade. If

30:41

not, I ain't worried about you

30:43

could do a nice little sprint before anybody

30:46

ever sees anything. Got

30:50

to figure everybody's got cameras. Yeah. Yeah.

30:55

But I say in a perfect situation, I'd hop out

30:57

the car. He's

30:59

getting his briefcase in the back seat or whatever. Light

31:03

him up a couple of times. Aim

31:05

for the head, God damn it. Jesus,

31:09

Rice. This

31:12

is about when they pull into the neighborhood. We

31:14

pulled in front of it. We pulled in front of the school, actually. It

31:17

sat in the park a lot. I don't

31:19

know, 150 yards away from the house.

31:22

Rice and Red are looking at the house. I

31:26

don't know. What do

31:28

you think? Figure out a schedule. I'm

31:35

going to

31:37

have to come by here

31:40

with my homegirl. See,

31:45

if I think if you think you're going to sit outside here,

31:49

catch them leaving, I don't

31:51

know, bro. About coming

31:54

home. You got to figure. Comes

31:58

home. He does this. goes

32:00

up, he drives inside,

32:02

he does this, the garage door goes down. I

32:09

mean, I think there's a

32:12

better chance of

32:16

accomplishing your goal

32:18

than something else, right?

32:22

Mick told me and maybe he's

32:24

wrong. He told me that one

32:26

of your big concerns was making sure you

32:28

didn't get caught. Yeah, of course. So,

32:33

live to fight another day. I want

32:35

to see the results of if this worked or not,

32:38

of course. Yeah. I'm

32:41

going to have to figure out which car, what his

32:44

car drives. And

32:47

just see where he, you know what I mean, where he goes

32:49

from a day to day basis. You

32:52

know what I mean? Trail him. I'm going to have to trail

32:54

him. I wasn't going to start doing none of this until I

32:56

got back in town from Kentucky. At

32:59

this point, while he's talking like some

33:01

hitman, Bryce is backing

33:03

out ever so subtly. He

33:06

says he can't do anything soon because

33:08

he'll be traveling. So

33:10

Red suggests another possibility. He's

33:13

got connections. They could hire

33:15

someone to kill the attorney general. You

33:18

know, it's going to cost them to put it together. That's

33:20

all I'm saying. What

33:22

are we looking at figure wise? Five,

33:27

six hundred bucks. Yeah. Should

33:31

be that. Somewhere in there.

33:36

Red and Bryce then drive back to the

33:38

TGI Fridays where Bryce's car is parked. On

33:41

the way back, Bryce confuses again the attorney general

33:43

with the district attorney. Dude, do it

33:45

to yourself. I

33:49

mean, do attorney generals have security? I'm

33:53

sure it's at the building. I don't know

33:55

if they got them. My person won't protect the

33:57

details or anything. What

34:01

Red didn't know at this point is, Bryce

34:04

is onto him. Bryce

34:07

doesn't know a lot of things, that's for sure. He

34:10

certainly doesn't know much about his elected officials. But

34:13

Bryce knows this. Five

34:15

or six hundred bucks. No

34:17

way you can find a hitman to

34:19

kill an elected official for five

34:22

or six hundred bucks. And

34:24

I just kind of like, okay, like, yeah, I'll let

34:26

you know. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah,

34:28

I'll get right on it. I got you. Yep, I'm

34:30

gonna call you. Yup. Yup. Ha,

34:33

you stupid, bro. I'm gonna hit you though. What

34:38

am I calling you, bro? Bryce?

34:42

He knows. Something

34:44

is very off. When

34:48

we come back, Trevor goes looking for

34:51

Mickey. Yeah, this is Michael

34:53

VanDekker. I do not work for the FBI.

34:55

I've never worked for the FBI. If

34:57

he's approved for me, working for the FBI, then

34:59

I'll say otherwise. That's

35:02

next on Reveal. From

35:17

the Center for Investigative Reporting and

35:19

PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

35:21

Al Letzen. Today, we're

35:23

partnering with the podcast Alphabet Boys

35:25

to tell you about how the

35:27

FBI conducted an

35:29

undercover investigation in 2020 to

35:32

target racial justice protesters in

35:34

Denver, including Bryce

35:36

Shelby. When we left

35:38

off, Bryce was growing suspicious that maybe

35:41

Red and Mickey aren't who they say

35:43

they are. Reporter Trevor

35:45

Aronson picks up the story with what

35:47

happens next. So

35:49

Bryce, as you're probably figuring, doesn't

35:52

assassinate Colorado's Attorney General or

35:55

even try to. But

35:57

his rhetoric, it's troubling.

36:00

He did talk about killing a politician.

36:04

Right said, just shoot him as he gets out of

36:06

his car. It's on tape,

36:08

secretly recorded by the FBI. I've

36:12

seen this kind of behavior a lot in undercover stings.

36:15

The targets of the investigation, talking

36:18

and acting like the undercovers, who are,

36:20

in turn, acting like

36:22

bad guys, terrorists, drug

36:24

dealers, money launderers, con men,

36:27

whatever. Humans have

36:29

a tendency to mimic the behavior of people in their

36:31

social groups. We all do this, some

36:34

more than others. But in

36:36

undercover stings, there tends to be an amplifying effect.

36:39

The targets of the sting either want to impress the

36:41

undercovers, or they're

36:43

scared of the undercover agents. And

36:46

so they talk and act more like bad

36:48

guys. Bryce

36:51

is doing this. For example,

36:53

when Mickey and Red talked to Bryce about guns,

36:55

he told him that his guns were illegal. But

36:57

that isn't true. So

37:27

you're playing the part. So

37:46

you deal with suspicious randomly just because the price was still out

37:48

of line. That's

37:55

some M's to

37:59

be real. By M's,

38:01

Bryce means millions. A murder

38:04

like this would cost millions, not

38:06

$500. After

38:11

they drive over to the Attorney General's house and discuss

38:13

how they might kill him, Bryce

38:15

says he never talks to Mickey or Red again. A

38:18

claim that is supported by court records. All

38:21

of the evidence against Bryce stops here. They

38:24

tried to call me and s*** like that, but...

38:28

You know what I mean? He recognized the number.

38:30

You just ghosted him at that point? I

38:34

wasn't... I'm not doing this.

38:39

I know it's not going to end the way I want it to end. Okay,

38:43

alright, you killed a couple of our people,

38:45

alright. We're going to change all laws, give

38:47

you all reparations. Yeah, that's not going to

38:50

change anything. Let's just go piss them off

38:52

more. We're really going to

38:54

start killing black people more. Yeah.

39:02

The racial justice protests in Denver were prompted

39:04

not only by the murder of George Floyd

39:06

in Minneapolis that year, but also

39:08

by the death of Elijah McClain, a

39:11

young black man in a suburb of Denver

39:13

who was injected with a lethal dose of

39:15

ketamine after being stopped by police the year

39:17

before. Bryce

39:19

Shelby and other activists in Denver tell

39:21

me that they saw the summer of 2020 as

39:23

a potential turning point and

39:25

the protests as deeply American, rooted

39:28

in the country's founding principles. I

39:31

feel like America wants us to

39:33

just be quiet and let it happen, but

39:38

that's so un-American. Like

39:40

this country was started by who

39:43

didn't want to pay 10 cents

39:46

or 13 cents or whatever on some tea.

39:49

They started a whole war,

39:52

separated from their country, their motherland,

39:56

over some tea. I'm

40:02

wrong for wanting, I

40:04

guess, as the government will put

40:06

it, I'm wrong for wanting to go to

40:08

war because you were killing us for small

40:10

egregious reasons. I

40:13

think I'm more American than you son of a bitch, Dan.

40:22

Several months after he first introduced himself to activists

40:24

in Denver, Mickey Windecker's undercover

40:26

operation comes to a close. He's

40:30

recorded dozens of activists. He's

40:32

goaded some of them into violence at protests. And

40:36

he's even convinced one activist, Zeb Hall,

40:38

to buy him a gun using money

40:40

secretly provided by the FBI. Mickey

40:44

is a convicted felon, so Zeb buying

40:46

him a gun is a serious crime.

40:50

And the feds, with the

40:52

help of local officials, go after

40:54

Bryce. Well,

40:56

they showed up at my house. They showed

40:58

up at the park that I was at

41:00

with my girlfriend and her daughter, and

41:03

they showed up at my best friend's

41:05

house. They said I

41:07

was under investigation for pretty

41:09

much saying I was going to murder

41:12

the attorney general. This

41:14

was on November 3rd, 2020, the same

41:16

day of the presidential election. And

41:19

Bryce says the cops seemed on edge.

41:22

So they patted me down, and it was really

41:24

light. First off, like,

41:26

for your listeners. I'm not trying to be amusement

41:28

or poke fun or no shit like that, but

41:30

it was almost like they were still scared in

41:34

whatever way. It was like they were still afraid.

41:36

Like, something still, you

41:39

know what I mean? It was weird. They

41:42

take Bryce's assault rifle from his home, but

41:44

they don't arrest him. Bryce isn't

41:46

being charged with a crime. Instead,

41:49

local prosecutors use the evidence the FBI

41:51

collected to ask a court to take

41:53

away Bryce's gun for a year under

41:56

Colorado's so-called red flag law. potential

42:00

threat to the community, prosecutors argue.

42:03

Local media run with a story. His

42:06

name is Bryce Jordan Shelby, and

42:09

this is his mugshot from 2011. Law

42:12

enforcement officials present Bryce's case as if

42:14

the assassination plot was something a

42:16

lot more than it was. This

42:19

is from the local Fox affiliate,

42:21

KDVR. ...accuses Bryce Jordan Sidney Shelby

42:23

on surveilling Attorney General Phil Weiser's

42:25

home. The 29-year-old is now accused

42:27

of plotting to shoot Attorney General

42:30

Phil Weiser in the head. ...planning

42:32

to shoot the state's top law enforcement official in

42:35

the head and, quote, does not care if AG

42:37

Weiser's wife, dog, or children have to die in

42:39

the process. To

42:43

be sure, what Bryce talked about doing was bad,

42:45

really bad. But talk

42:47

is all it was. Confused

42:50

talk about the district attorney, I mean, the

42:52

attorney general. Cluster and

42:55

little semblance of a plan. A plan

42:57

after all that Mickey, the undercover

43:00

FBI informant, was the first

43:02

to suggest. In

43:04

a court hearing, a Denver police detective testifies

43:06

that the FBI had reached what he called

43:08

an impasse and had not been

43:10

able to build a prosecutable criminal case against Bryce.

43:13

But a judge agrees to confiscate Bryce's firearms

43:15

for a year. ...probably

43:17

gets a little blurred because I

43:20

did say certain things. So that's whatever

43:23

they're in some way to put it

43:25

for intent, you know what I mean? But

43:28

yeah, not going through with any kind

43:30

of plan, payments, like that. Yeah, no.

43:34

You know what I mean? No.

43:38

Is Mickey still working for the FBI? I've

43:42

been trying to answer that question. The

43:44

FBI press office declined to make anyone available for

43:47

an interview and refused to provide written

43:49

responses to a list of questions I sent. While

43:52

reporting the story, I met with a lot of people who knew

43:54

Mickey. Most were terrified of

43:56

him, and many didn't want to be

43:58

recorded or have their names written. revealed. Several

44:01

of these people told me the same thing. Mickey

44:04

isn't in Denver any longer. But

44:07

then I got this one tip. My

44:09

best chance of finding him go

44:12

to his old apartment. The

44:14

guy who lives there was told this

44:17

Mickey's close friend. I

44:31

can see inside through the closed screen

44:33

door. The apartment is a mess.

44:36

Piles of stuff everywhere. With

44:38

strangely several vacuum cleaners lined

44:40

up against the wall. One

44:43

of the bedroom doors is closed and

44:45

no one's responding. So

44:48

I write a note to leave along with my business

44:50

card and say, I'm

44:52

interested in speaking with Mickey, but

44:55

it's work for the FBI. And

45:05

later that evening, I get a surprise

45:08

when Mickey actually

45:10

calls me. But

45:14

I missed the call and it goes to voicemail.

45:17

Yeah, this is Michael Vin Decker. This

45:19

is the voicemail in its entirety.

45:22

Lynn, you know, right now that address,

45:24

you went to a post in that piece of paper, saying that

45:26

I worked for the FBI. I

45:29

don't live there. I haven't lived there in months.

45:31

But if you post something a story about me

45:33

saying, suppose I worked for the FBI, I will

45:35

sue the out of you. I will take you

45:37

to court and I will break you off in

45:39

court for defamation character slander. I've already notified my

45:41

attorney about this. My previous landlord

45:43

notified me and send me these papers

45:46

that you put on the old door I used to

45:48

live out stating that I worked for the FBI. I

45:51

do not work for the FBI. I've never worked for the

45:53

FBI. If you did proof

45:55

for me working for the FBI, then I'll say

45:57

otherwise. But there's no proof because I

45:59

didn't work. for them. Don't be posting stuff on

46:01

my old apartment where my neighbors, my old

46:04

neighbors are thinking that I'm an FBI consultant

46:06

or whatever the hell it is, okay? If

46:09

you do that again, I promise

46:11

you, I will sue you. That's

46:13

a guarantee. Don't do

46:15

that again. Don't come to my old house.

46:17

Don't be posting stuff that's not true. Mickey

46:22

didn't call from a blocked number, so

46:24

I call him back. And he

46:27

answers. Hello.

46:30

Hi, this is Trevor. I'm sorry, Mr. Call. Yeah,

46:33

Trevor. This is Michael Bindek. I got a call

46:35

from my landlord. He posted a note on my

46:37

old apartment. They used to wear that, saying that

46:40

I was an FBI consultant or something like that.

46:42

Yeah, so I'm a journalist and I'm doing a

46:45

story on your work with the FBI during the

46:47

summer of 2020. And I've

46:49

been trying to reach you. I

46:51

worked with the FBI here in 2020. You

46:54

did. I have records and video and

46:56

audio proving this. Records and video

46:58

and audio of me working with the FBI. That

47:00

seems kind of weird because I didn't work with

47:02

the FBI. You were paid $5,000 every

47:06

two weeks during your work with

47:08

them? That's not true. Well,

47:10

that's what the records say. But I would love

47:12

to talk to you about this. I'd like to

47:14

interview you about your work during the summer of

47:16

2020. No.

47:20

The thing I don't do is I don't talk to the

47:22

press. I don't talk to politicians and I don't talk to

47:24

police. Mickey then threatens

47:26

again to sue me for defamation if

47:28

I report that he worked for the FBI. And

47:32

he hangs up. Mickey

47:37

Windecker's undercover work yielded few results

47:39

for the FBI. Bryce

47:41

Shelby was never charged with a crime.

47:44

The other protester, Zeb Hall, pleaded

47:46

guilty to transferring a firearm to

47:48

a felon after buying that gun

47:50

for Mickey. But based

47:52

on information revealed in Alphabet Boys, a

47:54

federal judge has since appointed a new

47:56

lawyer for Zeb, who's now asking to

47:59

withdraw his plea. In

48:01

short, the FBI did not find

48:03

racial justice activists in Denver who

48:05

were willing to cross the line

48:08

into terrorism. But

48:10

as the FBI investigated protesters on the

48:12

left, far-right extremists were

48:14

growing in power. Within

48:17

months, groups like the Proud Boys

48:19

would help lead the insurrection on

48:21

the U.S. Capitol, a staggering intelligence

48:23

failure for the FBI. After

48:27

the release of the Alphabet Boys

48:29

podcast, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden called

48:31

the FBI operation a clear abuse

48:34

of authority, and the ACLU

48:36

of Colorado filed a lawsuit in federal

48:38

court alleging that some of

48:40

the surveillance and police searches revealed

48:43

in the podcast were a violation

48:45

of constitutional protections. Also,

48:48

since we first brought you this story, there

48:50

have been updates related to the case

48:53

involving Elijah McClain, who died after being

48:55

injected with ketamine in Aurora,

48:57

Colorado. Late last

48:59

year, two paramedics and one police

49:01

officer were convicted of criminally negligent

49:04

homicide in Elijah's death. The

49:06

young black man's killing helped galvanize

49:08

Denver's protests. What

49:14

you heard today is just a taste of Alphabet

49:16

Boys. I listen to all 10

49:18

episodes of season one. There is so much

49:20

more than what you heard today. I absolutely

49:22

recommend it. Season two is

49:24

out now. Search Alphabet Boys wherever

49:26

you get your podcasts. Today's

49:37

show was written and reported by Trevor Aronson.

49:40

Alphabet Boys is a production of Western

49:42

Sound, which, by the way, provided to

49:44

reveal that phone recording and voicemail you

49:46

heard earlier. The Western Sound

49:48

team includes executive producer Ben Adair,

49:51

editor Colin McNulty, and producer Nicole

49:53

McNulty. Brett Myers

49:55

also edited today's show with help from Cate

49:57

Howard, the production assistant Checker

50:00

for today's episode is Eleanor Knight.

50:02

Our digital producer is Nicky Frick.

50:05

Victoria Baranetsky is Reveals General Counsel.

50:08

Our production managers are Steven Rascone

50:11

and Zulema Cobb. Original

50:13

music for today's episode is by

50:15

Alex McGinnis, sound design by Alex

50:17

and Dan Leon, with help from

50:19

the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr.

50:21

Jim Briggs, and Fernando Mamanjo Arruda.

50:24

Our CEO is Robert Rosenthal. Our

50:26

COO is Maria Feldman. Our interim

50:28

executive producers are Taki Telenides and

50:30

Brett Myers. Our theme music is

50:32

by Kamalato, Lightning. Support for Reveal

50:34

is provided by the Riva and

50:36

David Logan Foundation, the Ford Foundation,

50:38

the John D. and Catherine T.

50:41

MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family

50:43

Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,

50:45

the Park Foundation, and the Hellman

50:47

Foundation. Reveal is a co-production of

50:49

the Center for Investigative Reporting and

50:51

PRX. I'm Al Ledson, and

50:53

remember, there is always more to the

50:55

story. From

51:13

PRX.