Jay Anthony "Jaybird" Dobyns (born July 24, 1961) is a retired Special Agent and veteran undercover operative with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), author, public speaker, high school football coach, and University of Arizona adjunct professor.
Dobyns joined the ATF in 1987 and was involved in more than 500 undercover operations during his 27-year career as a Special Agent.No Hero, No Angel: The Jay Dobyns Story Matt Wall, Arizona Daily Wildcat (January 26, 2017) A&E ‘Undercover: Caught on Tape’ Investigates Las Vegas Casinos Bombing Plot Scott Fishman, TV Insider (January 10, 2024) Most notably, he infiltrated the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Arizona between 2001 and 2003 as part of Operation Black Biscuit.ATF agent says he faked murder to get into Hells Angels Kelli Arena, Scott Bronstein and Jim Spellman, CNN (February 5, 2007) Federal agent penetrated Hells Angels, fears for his life Kelli Arena, Scott Bronstein and Jim Spellman, CNN (February 6, 2007) A Very Hellish Journey Eve Conant, Newsweek (March 6, 2009) Jay Dobyns Tells B.C. Cops How He Infiltrated the Hells Angels Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun (February 3, 2011) In 2009, Dobyns became a New York Times Best-Selling author with his memoir, No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels.Hardcover Nonfiction The New York Times (March 1, 2009) Former undercover agent recalls infiltrating the Hells Angels: 'A dangerous game to play' Stephanie Nolasco, Fox News (April 14, 2024) He retired from the ATF in 2014."Vindication" for Jay Dobyns, Ex-ATF Agent Who Infiltrated Hells Angels, After Court Ruling Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times (September 17, 2014) Judge voids his own judgment in ATF lawsuit Paul Giblin, The Arizona Republic (November 26, 2014) Former ATF undercover biker Jay Dobyns, who infiltrated Hells Angels, speaks in El Paso Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times (June 15, 2018)
Early life Born in Hammond, Indiana, Dobyns was raised in a middle-class family in Tucson, Arizona, where his father had moved the family looking for work as a carpenter. He was a standout athlete in several sports at Sahuaro High School before receiving a football scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas in 1980.Jay Dobyns, Class of ’80, US Justice Department Agent SahuaroCougars.org In 1982, Dobyns transferred to the University of Arizona, where he became an All-Pacific-10 conference wide receiver and college football All-American candidate.Hell's Angels Criminal Enterprise Albert De Amicis, University of Phoenix (August 14, 2009) He is still ranked as one of the best receivers in the history of the Arizona Wildcats. Dobyns was named to the Wildcats "All-Century" football team by the Arizona Daily Star in 1999, and was named the "#1 Badass Arizona football player in history" by the Tucson Citizen in 2011.Jay Dobyns PCSHF.org No. 1 on the Offensive Arizona Wildcats Badass List: Jay Dobyns Javier Morales, Tucson Citizen (November 19, 2011) He is also a member of the Sahuaro High School and Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. Dobyns graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in public administration.
Dobyns was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine before he was drafted in the 1985 USFL territorial draft by the Arizona Outlaws of the United States Football League, where he played for one season.1985 USFL Territorial Draft Pick Transactions prosportstransactions.com Jay Dobyns on going from football to working undercover for the ATF ginnandtopics.com (October 19, 2016) He later had unsuccessful tryouts with the Chicago Bears and the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League.Ex-AIs star watches son rise The Leader-Post (July 11, 1989) E24. Federal Agent & Arizona WR Jay Dobyns blogtalkradio.com (October 18, 2016) Describing the end of his football career, Dobyns told the author Mike Detty in 2020: "I'm a person who never had a Plan B... My Plan A was to play football and through college I became pretty full of myself. It turned out I wasn't as good as I thought I was. When football fell apart for me I was like, 'What now?'."Jay Dobyns: The Undercover Agent Who Survived the Hells Angels Mike Detty, AthlonOutdoors.com (June 4, 2020) He then decided on a career in federal law enforcement, initially considering joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or Secret Service. Dobyns stated he did not wish to work in an office as he wanted "action", but ruled out a military career under the grounds that he did not wish to wear a uniform. In an interview in 2006 with the Canadian journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden, Dobyns stated that he joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "because of their reputation for street work". The ATF historically had an understanding of street work and what it's like to be a street officer or a highway patrolman. And I think that's the beauty of the ATF: the ATF never fully embraced that federal stereotype of showing up with a suit and tie and a notepad and reporting to a crime scene after the fact. It's as close to being a street cop as you can be and be a fed".
Federal law enforcement career Dobyns became a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in 1987. On November 19, 1987, less than a week after beginning operational duty, he was taken hostage at gunpoint in a trailer park near Tucson Airport while serving an arrest warrant on Brent Provestgaard, a convicted felon who had recently been released from prison.Jay Dobyns interview: To hell and back The Scotsman (May 15, 2009) Provestgaard forced Dobyns into the driver seat of the officers' undercover car, which was immediately surrounded by the other agents with guns drawn. During a brief standoff, the agitated gunman repeatedly screamed at Dobyns to drive away. Dobyns told Sher and Marsden for their book Angels of Death that he was thinking at the time: "This guy is probably going to shoot me one way or the other. I'd rather have him shoot me with my people around me versus driving me twenty miles out into the desert and killing me there". When Dobyns intentionally pulled the car keys from the ignition and dropped them to the floor, Provestgaard fired a single .38 caliber pistol bullet into Dobyns' lung, which exited his upper chest. The other ATF agents instantly opened fire from both sides of the car, killing the gunman. As Dobyns lay bleeding on the floor of the car, he recalled: "I was lying in the desert thinking, I got shot before I even got my first paycheque! You know what, I'm going to fuckin' die. I have been on the job a week and I'm going to die in this fuckin' trailer park". Critically wounded, Dobyns was rushed to Kino Community Hospital in Tucson, where Dr. Richard Carmona, who later became the 17th United States Surgeon General, performed emergency trauma surgery that saved Dobyns' life. The shooting ended Dobyns' marriage. His 21-year-old wife told him: "I don't want you to do this anymore". Dobyns replied: "This is what I'm supposed to do. This is what I want to do". Shortly afterwards, Dobyns' wife filed for divorce.
Despite the severity of his wounds, Dobyns refused disability retirement and returned to duty within months of the shooting. The publicity generated by the incident was felt to make Dobyns unsuitable for undercover work, which he insisted on continuing as he told his supervisor about his offer of a desk job: "Absolutely not. I didn't freaking come here to sit behind a desk and sit on a phone and make my case by using a fax machine and a computer". In the spring of 1988, Dobyns attended the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. While at the training center, he was offered a professional football contract with the Dallas Cowboys due to an NFL players' strike but declined the offer, explaining: "I knew the strike wasn't going to last forever. Did I want to trade a couple weeks or months or a season of my dream to play professional football for a life and a career of what I really enjoyed doing? I was like 'Thank you, I'm going to stay where I'm at. I'm content with where I'm at.' I'd found a new home and a new Plan A."
After graduating from the FLETC, Dobyns was transferred to Chicago. One ATF agent who worked with Dobyns in Chicago, Chris Bayless, told Sher and Marsden: "Jay is probably one of the best undercover guys, bar none. What makes you good is being able to keep your shit together when everything around you is just spiraling out of control". Dobyns and Bayless worked undercover on the South Side of Chicago, posing as gunrunners to various gang members. In Chicago, Dobyns married a second time, this time to the graphic artist Gwen, whom he had met in Tucson.
During a botched bust in Joliet, Illinois in August 1989 when Dobyns and Bayless attempted to arrest a group of Vice Lord gangsters for trying to buy an illegal machine gun, the suspects fled in their automobile while the two ATF agents tried to block the street. The gangsters sped forward in their car while one of them rolled down a window and fired two shots. Dobyns shot the driver of the car in the shoulder, but was run over. Bayless recalled: "He flips up in the air, his shoes go flying off. I could see his eyes go back in his head. I thought he was dead...Jay flew into the air, but he had enough sense to catch himself, twist his body around and fire another round at the car before he hit the ground". Dobyns hit the glass of the front window of the car head first and both of his kneecaps were blown out of their sockets. Despite his injuries and the pain, Dobyns told Bayless from his uncomfortable position: "Go fuckin' kill them!". Bayless arrested the suspects shortly afterwards. Bayless told Sher and Marsden about his partner: "This was a guy who had been taken hostage and shot back in Arizona. Then he comes here and gets run over and almost shot and killed a second time. He still sucks it up and goes out there everyday and works harder than anybody else I know".
In 1992, another ATF agent, Carlos Canino, was involved in a shoot-out in Los Angeles that left a man dead. In the aftermath of the shooting, Canino suffered from depression and self-doubt. Dobyns was sent to Los Angeles to mentor Canino and helped recover from his depression. Dobyns said of his mentoring: "We take care of each other because we know how quickly the tables can turn and the counsellor could be on the wrong end of a bullet and be the victim. Carlos is a brave, brave man". Canino later served with Dobyns on Operation Black Biscuit.
Following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Dobyns was assigned to investigate various high-profile targets in the militia movement in Nevada, including Bo Gritz.Undercover Stories Barry Kaufman, South (June 5, 2019) During this investigation, Dobyns and his undercover partner, Vincent A. Cefalu, encountered Jeffrey Tenpenny, a lone wolf terrorist who orchestrated a conspiracy to detonate improvised explosive devices at three Las Vegas casinos—The Mirage, Treasure Island, and the Golden Nugget—and assassinate Carolyn Ellsworth, an attorney for the casino magnate Steve Wynn.Forgotten Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in A&E True Crime Series Philip Conneller, Casino.org (January 11, 2024) Tenpenny had suffered a serious head injury in a hotel elevator accident at the Golden Nugget in 1990 and subsequently sued the casino for damages. Repeated postponements of the personal injury trial resulted in Tenpenny pursuing a vendetta against Wynn's Mirage Resorts, which culminated in the revenge bombing plot.7 years for plot to bomb casinos Rachel Levy, Las Vegas Sun (March 20, 1996) Tenpenny suit settled Rusty Murry, Nevada Daily Mail (September 8, 2012)