The travelling medicine show called Jay Dobyns will be in Vegas tonight at 7 p.m. Dobyns will speak and sell books at The Mob Museum which is located at 300 Stewart Avenue. If you are a member of The Mob Museum tickets cost $15. Everybody else must pay five dollars more. You can buy your tickets online here.
According the museum’s press release, Dobyns is “a federal undercover agent and a New York Times Best-Selling author. He achieved worldwide notoriety as one of history’s most daring undercover operators during high-octane covert operations targeting the world’s most brutally violent criminals and organizations.
“For over twenty five years, Jay successfully infiltrated and brought down scores of the deadliest criminals and illegal enterprises in existence. He operated amongst vicious street and prison gangs, gun running groups, drug trafficking organizations, bomb makers and home invasion crews. He routinely played the role of a shrewdly-calculating professional hit man during federal ‘murder-for-hire’ investigations.
“Jay is perhaps best known for his landmark infiltration of the notorious Hells Angels biker gang. He was the first-ever law enforcement officer to successfully defeat the gang’s multilayered security measures and become a full patched member (of the legendary Skull Valley charter), a fact that club’s leadership vociferously denies to this day.”
Dobyns Complaints
Dobyns has pursued a series of lawsuits and complaints against his employer, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for almost six years, since before the publication of his memoir No Angel in which Dobyns concedes he was never actually a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. The prepublication working title of the book was Almost An Angel. He has also been the subject of books by Kerrie Droban and Julien Sher. Dobyns public statements are frequently contradictory.
Dobyns current lawsuit alleges that the ATF failed to properly protect him from his many enemies, particularly the Hells Angels. Specifically, Dobyns argues that his employer failed to protect his suburban Tucson hacienda from a fire on the evening of August 10, 2008. That night someone threw about a pint of flammable liquid on his back porch and set it on fire. Initial estimates said the fire caused about $30,000 damage. Dobyns later said the fire caused $300,000 damage. After the fire, ATF officials determined it was an arson and named Dobyns as a suspect.
In the last two years Dobyns has branded himself as an ATF underdog bravely fighting to tell the truth about a soulless and corrupt government bureaucracy. Since 2011, Dobyns has exploited the fallout from a questionable ATF sting called Operation Fast and Furious to advance his allegations about the ATF.
The Lawsuit
Dobyns lawsuit was filed in October 2008. The case was tried in two court sessions in Tucson and Washington this summer. Dobyns is reportedly seeking $22 million.
At Dobyns insistence, neither session of the trial was open to the public and the trial transcripts are sealed. Dobyns has argued that the case must be kept secret to protect vulnerable, government agents. Government attorneys have suggested that Dobyns wanted the case sealed to protect his public persona.
There will probably be no decision in the case for at least another four months.