Somewhere in the world, there's probably a criminal who's like "Isn't that Johnson?"

Plot twist: He's actually still undercover as an Ex-Undercover cop to find out what's really going on INSIDE INSIDER

This man has the quietest confidence I have ever seen

Somewhere, someone is watching this and saying “I KNEW THAT GUY WAS A COP!”

TFW you realize Fast and Furious was a more accurate undercover cop movie than a car movie.

I like that instead of just bashing some of the more unrealistic films, he actually acknowledged the reasons why those decisions were made for that particular medium

As a German speaker, The first time I watched the in inglorious Bastard scene, I knew Michael Fassenbender was going to be toast. That sign thing was very authentic.

I HIGHLY recommend his book 'Good Cop Bad War', especially if you're interested in what fighting the war on drugs does to an emphatic human being. Still need to read his second book! As a former drug addict Niel Woods is my hero - a cop that understands drug addicts are people who hate their life but without the drugs have extreme & life-consuming trauma & mental illness and don't have the money or resources to get them treated. And that criminalising instead of treating addicts is just pushing them further and further from ever having a normal life. Everyone is telling you it's your fault you're addicted when you yourself HATE it, your life is constant danger, violence, betrayal, death & poverty and you've tried to get clean hundreds of times but it never lasts because there's always a deep psychological problem that causes you to become a heroin addict in the first place - no one, ever, has said when I grow up I want to be a heroin addict. There's no heroin addict doesn't hate their life, no heroin addict that doesn't desperately want to quit. Most heroin addicts don't even enjoy taking heroin, it's not a pleasant drug, especially compared to others, but it's the ultimate pain reliever, moreso mentally than physically, it just makes you feel blank, removes the emptiness, depression & PTSD symptoms. I got very lucky and got psychiatrically detained (for about the 7th time) but that time got put in a private psychiatric hospital with weekly therapy, something I'd never had access to before even after probably 18 months of time in psychiatric hospitals behind me. Without that I could never have got clean. Not a chance. I've been clean 14 months now and I'm happy for the first time in my life. I still have PTSD flashbacks and nightmares every day, a lot of them from the experiences I had while addicted to drugs (it's a brutal and violent life where you know you're going to die soon, and friends are dying constantly, sometimes in front of your eyes, from overdose & murder but you don't care because death is better than being trapped in the life you have now). But I made it to age 30 and I'm still alive! Which is something that for 17 years I lived in absolute certainty that that could never happen. Niel Woods in his book talks about finding out while undercover in Brighton that addicts were being murdered for introducing undercover police to dealers (thinking the were just another junky who was from out-of-town and going through withdrawals). He informs the local police chief of this and he doesn't care at all about junkies dying, even when it's murder. I lost a lot of friends to overdose but nearly as many to murder and oftentimes we knew exactly who'd done it (nearly always county-lines drugs dealers from London) and the police had everything they needed for a successful prosecution but they never, not once, investigated it properly and never once charged anyone. Of course because of that the dealers felt like they could kill people at will with no risk so they did it a lot. Often over very minor things like a £20 debt or one time someone they were forcing to move the drugs for them between the flat they were in and the alley they were sending customers to coming back just £5 short because he'd not counted the money properly ("busting the shots" ie selling the bags to people is a very high-risk, high-stress thing and addicts regularly manage to confuse the dealer or the person the dealer is forcing to "run" the drugs to the "spot"). They even killed his dog too. But the way the police didn't regard the murder of our friends and what was essentially our community as human lives worthy of having any care about very much deeply sums up how you're looked at as an addict and how much you're trapped by your addiction, cos it feels like no one but your drug and other junkies will ever care about you, or treat you as a human being. If you've read to here then thank you. If you want to help a human being then next time you get asked for money on the street don't give them money, give them love & respect; sit with a beggar and talk to them, find out about them, treat them as a human being with their own interests, personality, hopes, fears, humour and problems. And please don't try to sympathise with how hard their life must be, they want someone to treat them normally; if you do they will probably act like you can't understand how hard their life is or what they've been through and that's because cos you probably can't. You probably wouldn't expect to be able to relate to the suffering a child soldier has been through so why should you be able to relate to someone whose life had also been death violence, death and abuse in it from a young age. Please also remember they might be withdrawing and don't have time to talk to you because they need to make money as quickly as possible. Please don't be offended by this because withdrawals are like a parasite that controls your brain; you can't think of anything other than getting well again. But most of the time that person is going to be so so glad to talk to someone who doesn't look down on them, or preach to them, or focus on their addiction and how hard their life must be, but instead just talks to them like another human being with aspirations and interests and stories, who gives them a name and a face and a personality rather than just seeing them as another faceless beggar they walk past every day but never even acknowledge. This is what will help them. If you get to know some addicts and find out they're actually decent people who are suffering and want to help even more then you can find your local substance abuse/misuse services and volunteer your money or time. Studies have shown addiction is formed from a lack of care from other humans (especially at a young age), so the person bonds with a drug to alleviate the lack of bonds with other humans. Just a conversation can help rebuild a shattered bridge between an addict and society and take them one step closer to believing they are with knowing and could live a normal life if they kick their addiction. Thank you.

I gotta say, I really like this guy. I hope he comes back. He explains concepts of his work eloquently and comprehensively. I wish he was my teacher, thats how good he is at explaining.

The fact that The Departed is somewhat realistic is kinda unnerving.

It's amazing that they found 30 seconds out of the entire Fast and Furious franchise that rings relatively true.

I love the way he discussed with Jason Bourne how the inaccuracies were in the context of communicating to an audience in a visual media. It’s a great way to approach a judgement of accuracy

"I had to take some speed once, which was quite uncomfortable......"

"I had to take some speed, once... {recalls traumatic flashback} ... which was quite uncomfortable."

"The trouble is: It's a half a trillion dollar industry worldwide, and that inevitably causes corruption" - Man literally describes problems far outside of the illegal drug trade.

Seen two of his videos now. Why has no-one made a movie? This guy is a legend. The things he's done, yet so calm and collected.

James McAvoy could play him a movie.

In fairness to Riggs, he WAS trying to get himself killed, pretty much all the time.

Most accurate part of the entire FF franchise was Walker's character calling for medical help 🤣

The bit where Mel "tastes" the drugs to see if they're legit, every time I see similar scenes in movies it always reminds me of the Robert Di Niro scene in Showtime when Wil Shatner is showing the cops how to check the drugs by tasting it and Di Niro's character, looking very unimpressed, simply says "What if it's cyanide?"

The best thing about Inglourious Basterds is that it's a German playing a British character who is going undercover as a German.

To be fair, Mel Gibson was playing a suicidal character in Lethal Weapon.

It’s interesting because ‘being a different version of yourself’ and ‘using your own imagination’ is the essence of good acting. Good acting is never just pretending or imitating.

This guy is a hero and also has a common sense approach to decriminalising drugs. He’s someone who’s spent his career fighting the war on drugs and has the balls to highlight the absurdity of it.

“I had to take some speed once... which was quite uncomfortable.” I could not have some up with a more British sentence if I tried 😂

Most realistic undercover scene is from the most unrealistic action movie ever In history period.

"I had to take speed once... which was uncomfortable..." Ahh British understatements at their finest.

How can you talk about undercover work, and not bring Donnie Brasco? That's one of the best undercover movies in the world.

"You've got to feel invulnerable". That's how you know this job is for a very special type of person.

Just answer every challenge with "u wot m8?". Easy job, easy living.

Someone in my family was an undercover guy decades ago during the cocaine wars in Chicago. Put a ton of mob guys away. To this day, he's the hardest man in the world to read. This guy's comments about knowing your anecdotes are dead-on. My family member (I'm being intentionally vague since mafia promised to kill him and his family) can lie about virtually any topic. He's told stories that I still don't know the veracity of. It's as if lying is a sport to him. Don't get the wrong idea, he doesn't lie maliciously like most people. He just sees what ridiculous stories he can get people to believe. And he wears a straight face at all times. Never seen him crack once. Until he starts to feel bad that you're being duped. Really interesting part of policing. Takes a special kind of person.

That was a really interesting one. The way he's calm and settle and shares some real knowledge, without unnecessary judgment.

I think Lethal Weapon should have gotten 10/10. He said himself, “That would be a good way to get yourself killed.” And In that part of the movie he was actually trying to get himself killed.

The photo of him undercover kinda reminded me of Thom Yorke.

I was a heroin addict for years. I hated every moment of it. I had morals and stuff. I didn't steal, I worked 2 jobs to pay my bills and my drugs etc. One of the guys I bought drugs from was a well known drug dealer but was pretty much untouchable. One day this homeless guy came into the house of the drug dealers house (he was a connect so people that needed a dealer needed to know somebody who used drugs basically and this homeless guy would feel out the person and eventually introduce them over time) he brought this older gentle men. This older gentleman was dressed down but kind of clean cut which I found odd. He reached his arm out to shake the dealers hand and I saw a tan mark on his wrist where a watch used to be and a worn spot where he had a wedding ring. It didn't take me long to put 2 and 2 together. My dealer started asking questions (he was really suspicious of people ) and I knew my dealer was gonna ask questions. I let it start to play out but the gentleman was quick on his feet but it wasn't answers my dealer wanted to hear (it all went down really fast) so I pretended to recognize him I said "did u used to be known as JJ? " and I give him the look of "dude go with it" and he did. So then I hugged him and basically pretended to know him. I asked him things like "so how's your mom doing? Ur family still own that big lot ?" Etc and he went with it. My dealer recognized that I knew him and he cut it out. My dealer was the type that wouldn't wait. He'd kill u. Id known him for many years (we went to school together) so we had a friendship in a way. After the meeting was all said and done, I left with "JJ" and we started walking down the street and of course a car was parked on the side of the road with 2 people in the front and I knew they were watching their UC. It obviously was his first case as a UC and they must have wanted to watch to make sure the first meeting went safely. Once we got far enough away I stopped and told him "u need to cover your wrist till that tan line goes away" (generally cops, military, personal protection specialist etc all wear their watches the same way) and to put a ring on. I told him my dealer was about to bust his face up and ask questions (my dealer would use xanax with heroin and for some reason he would really really get paranoid but with meth he was fine) I told him I didn't want to watch him get killed . I told him I didn't care what he was there for but now he is vouched for,he can do his job (they weren't after me so I knew I was safe). He just nodded. About a month later my dealer was arrested. He got out about a year and a half later for "good behavior " and he developed a heart condition that the prisons basically didn't want to pay for so they let him go. My dealer obviously went back to dealing drugs and he eventually shot and killed himself. They didn't really want my dealer, they wanted to arrest him to turn him so they could get to his supplier which was the cartel. I doubt he turned, he wasn't the type at all. Years later (I finally got clean and at this point I was like 2 years clean) I volunteered for this police education program where recovering addicts will talk to officers about what to look for, what behaviors to look at etc(the town I live in has a giant heroin problem which the police had been trying to clamp down on for a hot minute) I went to the classroom cause I was asked to speak and here comes "JJ" marching in. He recognized me right away (took me a minute to remember) he was really good about it. He first said he was so happy to see me clean and healthy, then he said he was sorry for my loss (my dealer was over all a really good man just haunted by his demons. I mean his mother used to put heroin in his baby bottle to get him not to cry for God's sake. Everyone that was close to him knew his a good guy with a good heart, he just became a paranoid bad person when he did drugs. I knew for a fact he had killed like 2 people but they tried to steal his drugs and he easily had connections to make it all disappear). "JJ" thanked me for covering for him that day and I just told him I didn't wanna see someone get hurt. After I was done doing my whole speech thing, "JJ" introduced me to his boss, tole the whole story blah blah blah and offer to sponsor me through the police academy. I was honored but unfortunately I take seizure medication and law enforcement don't really like to hire someone with a health condition like that which is understandable but I did always want to be a cop or go in the military but when I was diagnosed I knew that would never happen. He said to just try the academy and see how I do, so I did. I aced through all firearms training (my dad was a marine so I've already been taught to shoot, break down a weapon etc), I had no issue with hand to hand combat (I did martial arts for 20 years) but of course I struggled with the actual book work but I did pass. Once I was done, "JJ" asked if I would reconsider but I said no because I don't want the politics which he understood so he asked if I would be interested in personal protection so I agreed to do it. Now I work as a personal protection specialist (body guard) I've done jobs for politicians, famous people, average Joe who has a lot of money etc. I absolutely love my job and love my life and its all because a UC came into my drug dealers home one day and I just happened to have the eye to notice details that most people didn't. "JJ" and I still keep in contact to this day. He has been retired for many years as a UC now and he just retired from the force 2 years ago, my wife and I went to his retirement party. Great guy. Such a random situation but thankful it happened. Life is funny that way I guess.

Some people seem confused by the Inglorious Bastards scene. In Germany when we signal "3", we use thumb, index and middle finger, not index, middle and ring. So it would seem extremely odd, that someone signals three like that. And we signal it in places like bars due to the noise, as 2 and 3 can sound quite similar (which is why ie in the military you'd sometimes say Zwo instead of Zwei over radio etc, so they can understand you better).

I saw this guy give a talk about his years undercover, his experiences are incredible. Some of the stories he told were terrifying.

Welcome to another episode of: “Where the quarantine has lead me today”

I really liked this a lot. You can tell this man has been exactly there in the siutation, where it more like talking to the school bullies than making an incredible story up. Try to fit in, be normal, be yourself .. those are the things.

What a line of work to be in. There would be so much stress in doing this! I couldn’t imagine how anyone could pull this off for a career.

Plot twist: This guy was an undercover cop in Harlem for 15 years. He lead a drug kingpin away in handcuffs and got a call later that night. The kingpin was on the phone and said to him "Okay this prank has gone far enough! If you don't let me out of here I'm callin the cops!"

Stop putting "Change Me!" in the corner of the clip. It's distracting and adds nothing.

This is a great video. Love his explanations.

I wanna see this with a cop from the USA I feel like it would be waaaay different

I don’t know why “bit harsh” killed me

I watched a similar video from Vanity Fair. Their Undercover expert claimed he never used illegal drugs. I found that hard to believe. This guy seems much more credible and honest.

I think he dismissed "Rush" a bit quickly, seeing as it was based on the memoirs of an undercover narcotics officer in 1970s small town Texas and they took pains to portray it straight. Another good undercover scene was in "State of Grace" (1990) where Sean Penn is grilled by Ed Harris on the places he's been.

"You have to have your cover story" - "Shoot him he's an American spy" "Bit harsh..."

In Argo they were vulnerable. As none of the people trying to learn their “legends” were cops. Undercover or otherwise. They were diplomats trying to get out of a country, so they only needed the essentials name, DOB, SS#, for customs agents. No custom agent was going to ask them about a bartender on a Wednesday night as they are trying to get through customs. They just want to make sure you know your basics info and maybe why you were in their country.

Next : real cars rates disney pixar cars

7:30 good observation that "it would be a way to get killed" since Riggs was actively trying to get killed on duty in that part of the franchise. Just an 80's action movie, but nonetheless, good catch :)

Imagine drug dealers seeing this video and being like "Yo, that motherf*cker worked with me"

Love how profesional this guy is then goes onto to say "roll a spliff". This guy is great!

For me, the scene in Fast and Furious, where Brian breaks undercover to save Vince, has always stood out as one of the best scenes in movie. Such good scene, and amazing done by the cast, director of photography and director...

4:30 - THIS is scary stuff! Imagine how many police officers whom are dirty. There's virtually no control whom enter the police academy as long as you don't have a criminal record.

For the clip "Inglorious Bastards" the guy didn't look at him because he was hostile, he looked at him because of the fingers that he used to count the number 3, in Europe they start counting from the the thumb and not the index that's what sold the guy out, it wasn't so much so his hostility. But apart from that i love his explanations, hope he comes back again.

Riggs in lethal weapon wanted to die, so the situation was quite dumb to choose here

The way he so casually glosses over events that would reasonably cause any normal person a lifetime of nightmares makes me think that maybe my life isn't so bad after all.

Funny thing about the anecdote from "Reservoir Dogs" is, that this story actually happened to me about 25 years ago. So now everytime I tell the story of me having been "caught" having weed on me by a police dog, who then got yelled at by "his" police officer, because the cop didn't think I was looking like somebody having weed on him, people will say "Nah, you got that one from that Tarantino movie". Fortunately I am not a gangster, as other gangsters would immediately think I was an undercover cop if I'd tell them the story. ^^

Plot twist: this guy is actually Keyzer Soze. Everything he talked about was on my room wall and I just broke my coffee mug.

So Fast and the Furious is the most realistic? I did not see that coming...

I want a episode with Dwight, telling about his undercover missions.

"He injected heroin without a filter into his groin." Call me overly cautious, but I'm beginning to think that heroin is a bad idea.

DAMN he really pulled that man bun off!

I was so hoping you would review Eastern Promises.

What about Donnie Brasco? I wanted to hear his view on that

Maaaan, that Deep Cover movie was really good!! I saw it once, back in the 90s and forgot all about it until seeing a clip of it here. I still remember one of "Larry" Fishburne's lines from that film. He was on a date with a girl, explaining his rise in the drug world. He says to her "I went from almost nothing to almost something."

This guy is awesome. I need several more videos of him speaking about abutting he wants.

Glad I watched this, I never would have known Dwight and Michael in the office wasn't that realistic.

No Donnie Brasco not even once??

I can't even imagine being undercover with people who do drugs. You have to partake. I wonder how many undercover cops have died of an overdose, became addicted, or were figured out by the bad people. So scary!!

Very nice source and analysis. BUT they should have had him look at Point Break as well - not only the whole Johnny Utah scenario but also the scene with Tom Sizemore, when they realize they've blown his cover/ ruined all his hard work and how much he's sacrificed. Also Donnie Brasco... come on, forget about it!

9:59 Perhaps nowadays earphones with leads may be getting less common, but you see earpods everywhere now, so I think an updated Bourne film could easily have him with an earpod doing exactly the same thing and it wouldn't be suspicious.

"Cannabis a few times" yea me too guy me too 😂

Learning the story in Reservoir Dogs may not have been realistic but I really loved it. Best part of the movie by far.

09:59 I know it is a little nitpick, but IIRC he bought burner phones from a kiosk right off the street. Bourne Ultimatum came out right before Bluetooth headsets became a thing. Seeing someone with an earpiece going to a cellphone wouldn’t have been that unusual at the time and he had to improvise with the tools available to him. He is a rogue spy and has no support at all, so he has to improvise. The pulling up his lapel to talk is still dumb though.

What about Eastern Promises? That one was a good one. It would be interesting to know if it was accurate.

A lot of folk seem to confuse an 'undercover' officer with a 'plain clothed' officer. Two completely different things.

I like how he stresses "If someone is suspicious of you, they will challenge it *Instantly* ". Hilarious.

Man just needed one more clip. Donnie Brasco but still great vid

Me: “The guy looks as clean cut and business like with such an honest face. How the heck can he be undercover officer?” 5:29 Somehow transforms to look more like a criminal than the guy he is busting.

It’d be fair to not trust Orange, he obviously wasn’t great at his job.

Plot twist, he isnt a “former undercover cop” and hes still actively undercovering.

Great explanations

I saw this lad on the Shaun Attwood podcast, fascinating man..

Serpico is actually a very true story. All the way down to the fact that he was set up by his own Squad and shot. New York during the 70s was disgusting and the police department was almost completely corrupt.

Wish you'd reviewed the scene from True Detective Season 1. Great video though.

Very good video and very credible.

i love the way he speaks , his accent , his attitude

I would have wanted him to explain how you would reconcile preserving your false identity vs exposing yourself as a cop in order to save someone's life. Like if you see your buddy gunned down do you possibly let him die in order to stay undercover? Youd have to forego preserving life then...

There's a couple movies I'd like to hear him talk about, Training Day, Street Kings, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

EXCELLENT!!! THX!!!

Neil Woods Book is an amazing read. Highly recommended read.

POINT BREAK would've been a great movie to get his feedback on. Anyhoo, fun vid. :)

It would be interesting to hear where the line between "preserving life" and "never break cover" is - it seems that most situations you'd find yourself in would mean the decision wouldn't be easy, I suppose "preserve your own life" would need to be factored in.

Neil Woods' book Good Cop, Bad War was excellent. Highly recommend.

Well, Bourne used the phone and handfree he was able to buy in that shoppingmall the scene takes place in, so it wasn't high tech government equipment he was dealing with, so in the context of the movie i think it makes sence. But i get that an actual person trained in surveilance will find odd shit like that.

In many cases a professional actor brings parts of his own personality into the stage, so being an uncover cop requires the same skill.

Earpiece with a wire is a common sight in german Protests. And they are always in a Group of 2, cloths and shoes you can run in (no heels e.g.) and they are build fairly sporty, but there undercover work also differs greatly to the work seen here.

I remember seeing the movie at 11:26 and just being so confused by the casting. Also we used to play slapsies/ knuckles as kids, but that guy was the king of knuckles.