Civilians Helping the FBI: "Out of Reach"

For the past few months, I have been reading nonfiction book after nonfiction book. Being a bit tired of nonfiction, I decided to read a mystery novel called, Out of Reach by Kate Bold. When reading this book, I wondered if the novel was realistic for having a civilian help with the FBI. Therefore, I decided to do a bit of research and wanted to share my findings. But first the summary (minimum spoilers):

Dylan First is a psychologist who is one day asked to work with the FBI, because of her connections with Charles Cameron. Dr. Charles Cameron was Dylan’s mentor who had been a serial killer behind her back as the Puppet Master. Although in the beginning she is only to try to get information out of Dr. Cameron about the new killer, she ends getting more and more involved with the investigation. Dylan teams up with FBI agent Mike Flynn to find the new serial killer in DC, who seems to be a fan of the Puppet Master. While going through her trauma and various struggles, Dylan uses her skills as a psychologist, to help track down and arrest the copycat killer.

In the novel, Dylan helps quite a lot with solving the case by, interrogating Dr. Cameron, chasing after suspects, analyzing data, and even finding where the killer’s house is. The FBI also shares a lot of information to her, which is supposed to be kept secret. Therefore, I was wondering if citizens can actually help the FBI, and if it had ever happened before. When beginning my research, the most common way the civilians helped was by contacting them or the police saying they had witnessed a wanted criminal or fugitive. However, this was not the same way that Dylan helped. After looking into different newspaper databases, I found a case in the Times News published on October 10th, 1988, of a civilian recruited by the FBI for undercover work ("Civilian Helps FBI in undercover role"). 

Herman Henry Mazzeo, an ex-Marine and former salesman, helped undercover FBI agent, Greg Calles, and hundreds of other FBI agents for two years. In March 31, they charged a total of 281 members of the major Sicilian Mafia heroin-trafficking operation between Italy and the United States, which was “one of the United States’ largest organized-crime heroin busts” ("Civilian Helps FBI in undercover role").

Comparing Dylan and Mazzeo, I found some aspects to be similar in their stories. Although they were handling completely different cases, both had clean records, leading to the recruitment. However, a bigger similarity was that they were connected to the case before they joined. Dylan had the connection of having been by the Puppet Master for a long time and being able to communicate with him. On the other hand, Mazzeo worked at an Italian restaurant and could point out drug businesspeople ("Civilian Helps FBI in undercover role").

With all the information I gathered, I came to the conclusion that people with a clean record and connection or possibility of helping with the case, have a hundred-to-one shot of FBI recruitment. I enjoyed reading this mystery novel, as well as researching on this topic, and I hope this turned out to be an interesting blog.

P.S. Here is the link to the newspaper (on page 6 of the newspaper) if you would like to see it (also for credit purposes):

https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ9PAAAAIBAJ&lpg=PA4&dq=%22Civilian%20helps%20FBI%22&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false                                                                                                   

-Yuto.I

Comments

  1. MateoNovember 21, 2023 at 12:51 PM

    Hey Yuto, nice job on your review and research! This blog caught my eye because I know a couple of people who actually used to work in the FBI, so I found this very informative!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James YDecember 3, 2023 at 8:36 PM

      Mateo's social connections are never-ending! 🤩

      Delete
  2. Lucas BraunNovember 21, 2023 at 2:43 PM

    I am very interested in mystery stories, so I might check this book out. Also I found it fascinating that you did research on times that the public has been involved in cases. If you know, did these people get any kind of financial compensation for their work for the CIA, or did they only do it for fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yuto InoueNovember 23, 2023 at 10:30 AM

      Yes, the people got a lot of financial compensation for risking their lives.

      Delete
    2. James YDecember 3, 2023 at 8:39 PM

      Hi Yuto, I found the connection between real life and the fictional book quite cool. Nice job researching and great blog!

      Delete
    3. Muhammad IftikharDecember 17, 2023 at 10:10 PM

      Hello Yuto, Great review! I loved reading about how everyday citizens could aid the FBI in exposing this large drug trafficking scheme going on. It's really cool to see that no matter what your job is, you can still aid the FBI in theirs! Great review!

      Delete

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