"Armed and Dangerous"

[Mr310]

I picked up the book "Armed and Dangerous" by Wiliam Queen, a former ATF agent who arrested Mark Stephens in 1985. He claims to have been kind of a one-man crime fighting machine, which kind of had me raising my eyebrows, but days he worked with LASD, LAPD, OPD, and SBSD. I was just wondering if anyone here was/is familiar with him or the Mark Stephens case. From the way he makes it sound, all the SoCal LEO agencies were stumped by this guy for drug dealing and building Class 3 weapons until he came along, but I would love to hear the other side.

[Ron-Solo]

I spent 32 years with LASD and never heard of him.

[Mr310]

That's what I kind of figured. He claims to have singlehandedy taken down the Mongols in SFV and that this Stevens guy was building Mac-10s from mail order parts and because of that, and constantly shooting at people in LA, Riverside, and SB Counties, was the no. 1 wanted man by the agencies in all those areas and that no one could even get close to him until this guy and his crack unit of ATF agents got to him.


I'm no detective, but I googled Mark Stephens and found nothing. I'd think that even though this wasn't a national case and it's from the '80s, I would have gotten a hit..


And Ron, I thought it was 32 + years!

[mej16489]

Generally when books are written like this (true or not) the names are generally all changed...

There is a Wikipedia entry on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Queen

According to that 'source' he was active in the LA Area in the late 90's early 00's

[retired]

I only spent 27yrs. (no +) and I never heard of him either.

Sorry Ron, I had to do it buddy.

[Spec]

The Mongols burned themselves out. The author did ride with them but they were falling apart ( at least in SFV sunland/tujunga area) prior to him getting in there and riding with them.

[Ron-Solo]

Ok guys, it was 32 years, 7 months according to the retirement board. Plus 11 months with Glendora PD before that.

[P5Ret]

I read his other book a few years ago "under and alone" that is about his time with the mongols. I think it was all late 90's, I can't remember if he was still with them at the casino shoot out in Laughlin. It was interesting but like most "war stories" probably mixed with a tad extra to make it more interesting.

[TrailerparkTrash]

You wanna know the truth about BATFE???? I'll tell you. ANYONE and I mean ANYONE that worked with ATF knows they are a Federal entity that does NOTHING!

I was on a Federal task force and ATF did nothing. Our bomb squad laughs at them. I know that the individual ATF agent in general is probably an "allright" person, but their employer is a total joke. BATFE loves to get their picture in the local news media coverage and that's about it. They really do NOT take the lead on ANY investigation! It's always the locals, or the FBI, Period!

As far as the guy you mentioned............... NEEEEEEEVER Heard of him. (...and I work for one of the agencies you mentioned.)

[Armed24-7]

Originally Posted by Mr310

I picked up the book "Armed and Dangerous" by Wiliam Queen, a former ATF agent who arrested Mark Stephens in 1985. He claims to have been kind of a one-man crime fighting machine, which kind of had me raising my eyebrows, but days he worked with LASD, LAPD, OPD, and SBSD. I was just wondering if anyone here was/is familiar with him or the Mark Stephens case. From the way he makes it sound, all the SoCal LEO agencies were stumped by this guy for drug dealing and building Class 3 weapons until he came along, but I would love to hear the other side.

I have only been with LASD for 23 years and counting....but my father was with the LASD for 35 years and retired in 1998. He was a detective for 20 years of that time. He told me he has never heard of the guy either.

After looking online, I did see some stuff about how he went under cover and infiltrated the Mongols biker gang.

You have to remember, he is trying to sell books. So, you have to wonder how much of it was sensationalized and exaggerated.

26 years and 2 months..I don't know him, either.