Police Under Cover Truths: Inside His DEA Career

Summary

Law Enforcement Talk: True Crime and Trauma Stories

Episode: Police Under Cover Truths: Inside His DEA Career
Host: John "Jay" Wiley
Guest: David Tyree, retired DEA agent
Date: September 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode presents an insider’s account of undercover work within the DEA, featuring retired agent David Tyree. The conversation delves into Tyree’s years spent infiltrating drug cartels and outlaw motorcycle gangs, managing high-risk operations, and handling the psychological stresses of undercover police work. Tyree also shares his battle with cancer, discusses the personal toll–and occasional rewards–of living undercover, and addresses the pivotal role of following money trails in modern law enforcement.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Background and Entry into DEA Undercover Work

• David Tyree’s Start:
  • Hired at 23, Tyree began his career in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Portland, spending time as a drug liaison abroad, and finishing in Wyoming as resident agent in charge.
  • (11:34) “I started in September of 1998. I was hired out of Eugene, Oregon, and my first office was Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was 23 years old at the time, second youngest in my class.” – David Tyree
• Inspiration for Going Undercover:
  • Tyree, one of the youngest agents, aspired to undercover work, despite early inexperience.
  • (12:39) “A good friend of mine…introduced me to a motorcycle gang that was trafficking methamphetamine… I’d never ridden a motorcycle in my life.” – Tyree

2. Reality vs. Stereotypes in Undercover Work

• Skillsets and Personal Background:
  • Tyree notes that skills like undercover work—or surveillance—are “learned skills that sometimes diminish, like firearms.” (02:40)
  • Personal history, such as growing up in an addicted home, helped him relate and blend in.
• Hollywood Myths Debunked:
  • The “criminal mastermind” trope is rarely true; most offenders are "morons" exposing themselves to major risk for little reward.
  • (05:57) “They’re hardworking morons, but they are morons…exposing themselves to criminal penalties, prison, you know, over narcotics.” – Tyree

3. Building Trust and Maintaining Cover

• The Art of the Legend:
  • Undercover work involves gradually building credibility and rapport, often through mundane interaction, not just “committing crimes.”
  • (13:56) “…A lot of meetings...never even close to criminal, because what you’re doing is building trust with an organization.” – Tyree
• Blending Innefectively:
  • Avoiding stereotypes and not looking like a “bad guy” is crucial.
  • (15:31) “You don’t need to come in and be super intimidating ... You don’t have to be a tough guy at all.” – Wiley

4. Staying Authentic & Managing Nerves

• Truth as a Tool:
  • Consistency is key in maintaining a believable cover story.
  • (22:15) “…always tell the truth because you can’t keep track of lies…if it’s the truth, it’s always consistent.” – Wiley
• Leveraging Nervousness:
  • Transforming nerves into fuel; even using humor to defuse tension.
  • (17:39) “…it distracted me enough; it calmed my nerves...I was so grateful for that wisdom of that senior agent.” – Tyree
  • Memorable anecdote about working the word “medulla oblongata” into a drug deal conversation to calm his nerves.
• Boundary and Cover Management:
  • Wearing a wedding ring to provide an “out” in risky situations; treating the operation as a calculated risk, never as improv.

5. Respect, Humanity, and the Misconceptions of Policing

• Treating Suspects with Dignity:
  • Maintaining respect for suspects is vital; most encounters with people–even those arrested–aren’t hostile.
  • (27:28) “…law enforcement is leading the charge in transparency, authenticity, and accountability.” – Tyree
• Cultural Impact:
  • Importance of positive policing role models for public trust and officer morale.

6. Psychological and Physical Toll

• Stress and Trauma:
  • Adrenaline and stress can become addictive; retirement brings new psychological challenges.
  • (34:26) “The stress became addictive for me. The adrenaline became an addiction problem itself…” – Wiley
• Cancer Battle:
  • Tyree discusses discovering his cancer unexpectedly and the challenge of managing a team remotely during treatment.
  • (31:43) “I had no symptoms and came out with stage two, a colorectal cancer…” – Tyree
  • Both host and guest stress importance of preventative health screenings.

7. Financial Crime and Modern Investigation

• Follow the Money:
  • Tyree’s expertise in financial investigations led him to a second career, helping law enforcement track financial flows.
  • (36:44) “My background is in money laundering…I’d been working with a lot of different financial institutions to help them combat financial crime.” – Tyree
• Technology in Policing:
  • Validate Financial’s platform helps law enforcement quickly map and analyze suspect financial transactions, aiding cases from drug trafficking to DUI.
• Asset Seizures:
  • Seizing criminal proceeds has more impact than simply arresting lower-level couriers.
  • (39:09) “Take away their money. They can’t reconstitute.” – Tyree

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Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On Learning to Lie Undercover:
  (02:40) “For me it was easy because I was sort of conditioned as a child. You know, you kind of learned a lie to survive. So the best lies are often the truth.” – Tyree

• On Accepting Risk and Using Humor:
  (17:39) “I’m in the hotel room buying a half kilo of cocaine… He comes in and I say, ‘Hold, hold, hold. I’m watching this boxing match. This guy’s going to get hit in the medulla oblongata.’” – Tyree

• On Managing Nerves and Authenticity:
  (22:15) “I was always very, very nervous… admitting I was nervous of the bad guys… you can make it fuel or you can hide behind it. I chose to make it fuel.” – Tyree

• On Helping Law Enforcement Post-Retirement:
  (37:19) “Juries understand money movement, I think often better than they understand how drugs are transverse around this country.” – Tyree

• On the Core Mission:
  (27:28) “We stare at the belly of the beast all day long. And to keep a positive attitude towards humanity is really, really tough.” – Tyree

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:40] Learnings from childhood: how Tyree used early-life experiences for undercover work.
• [04:27] Story: Cartel member knew Tyree was a cop–but risked arrest to escape the cartel.
• [11:34] Tyree’s DEA journey, postings, and transition to management.
• [13:56] Undercover operation insights: trust built through rapport, not just crime.
• [17:35 & 17:39] Medulla oblongata story—techniques for controlling nerves under pressure.
• [22:15] Using nerves and authenticity as personal strengths in undercover work.
• [25:44] Strategy: using casual meetings to build bridges to higher criminal echelons.
• [31:43] Tyree’s unexpected cancer diagnosis and the importance of health screenings.
• [34:26] The addictive aspect of stress and adrenaline in law enforcement.
• [36:44 & 37:19] Transition to financial investigations and employing technology to “follow the money.”
• [39:09] Case-making through asset seizure: why hitting finances is most effective.

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Conclusion

This episode of Law Enforcement Talk offers a rare, honest, and sometimes humorous behind-the-scenes perspective on living undercover for the DEA. David Tyree provides valuable insights into undercover tactics, the importance of psychological resilience, and the evolution of law enforcement toward financial crimes. His story is a testament to treating all individuals with dignity, managing personal trauma, and building a meaningful second act beyond frontline policing.

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For more information on Validate Financial:
ValidateFinancial.com (The number 8 replaces the "ate")

Contact David Tyree:

• Email: [e-mail]
• LinkedIn: David Tyree

Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show:

• Website: letradio.com
• Facebook: Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast page

This summary omits all advertisements and non-content sections, focusing purely on the substantive, content-rich elements of the interview.

Transcript

[John J. Wiley]

He's retired from the dea. During his career he worked undercover with outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug cartels. He survived cancer and numerous critical incidents. He's going to talk about how he managed nervousness and all the trauma in his career. Welcome to the law enforcement Talk Radio Show. In the law enforcement Talk Radio show we are joined by special guest and talking about their experiences, their realities of investigating crimes plus those have experienced horrendous trauma. Police, first responders, military and victims of crime share their stories. Hi, I'm John J. Wiley. In addition to being a broadcaster, I'm also a retired police sergeant. Be sure to check out our website letradio.com and also like us on Facebook search for the law enforcement talk radio show. You know we used to have an app and it was very popular app and then guess what, we couldn't hold a candle to our Facebook presence. How many people have the mobile Facebook app already installed on their phone? How many people use it on their computer? Make sure you follow us, make sure you like us on our Facebook page. Just search for law enforcement talk radio show and podcast and be sure to send us a comment to one of the posts. Best of all as 100% free. Joining us from Colorado we have David Tyree on the law enforcement talk radio show. David is retired DEA and during his career he worked undercover with some of the most notorious violent, I'll call them outlaw motorcycle gangs because there's a big difference in a gang and a club drug cartels. He survived cancer and as you would probably suspect, lots of traumatic incidents and he's here to talk about that. He's one of the movers and shakers for Validate Financial. That's valid, the number 8 financial. Just go to the website validate financial with the number 8 instead of a T E. That's validate financial.com David, thanks for being guest on a law enforcement talk radio show and thanks for your service. Both very much appreciated.

[David Tyree]

Well thank you for having me Jay. I sure appreciate your time and your energy and all you do to support law enforcement around the world.

[John J. Wiley]

Well, thank you very much. I do appreciate it. I spent some time in the Baltimore Police Department and during my career I was detailed at DEA for just about two years in Baltimore investigating Jamaican drug gangs and they were all the one thing I want people to understand and maybe we'll talk about this your story. I was always lousy and never really did good at undercover. I was great at playing clothes and surveillance and support teams. There's a huge difference, isn't there?

[David Tyree]

Oh boy, yeah, you can ask anyone I worked with at the. I'm horrible at surveillance. So, yeah, I think a lot of those are learned skills that sometimes diminish, like firearms. You know, it's a diminishing skill. You know, undercover for me came easier. I think I grew up in an addicted home, so it didn't shock me. I knew some of the language already just from growing up. So for me it was easy because I was sort of conditioned as a child. You know, you kind of learned a lie to survive. So the best lies are often the truth. And I think that served me when I was working undercover. Although, you know, there are story, Jay, where there was one time we. I was undercover with a gentleman from the Knights of the Templar cartel. And when he was arrested in a buy bust operations, I made several controlled buys from this individual, met with this individual when he was arrested in an opposed arrest interview. They were going through his phone, the agents, and he had my number in his phone as policia, which is Spanish for police. I didn't believe it. And so the agent, you know, as an undercover, you don't typically want to go re engage these folks that have been arrested. But one of the great interviewing agents came out, showed me the phone, and I went in and I spoke with this gentleman and I said, what's going on? If you've got my name and your phone is police. If you knew I was law enforcement, why would you sell me drugs? And this guy told me, said, hey, this is the only way I could get out of the cartel. He said, you know, I'll go do 10 years. But every time I tried to get out, they would keep dropping Sopranos thing.

[John J. Wiley]

I try to walk away, I try to get out, and they suck me back in.

[David Tyree]

Yeah, I didn't even know there was a Godfather 3 movie, but yes, I'm kidding. I knew there was a Godfather 3 movie, but that's it, right? That is what we're dealing with. Our law enforcement now today is dealing with is that these same traffickers that are dealing around the country, they're also being exposed, exploited by the hierarchy on the organizations. And I think we need to look at it that way at times to understand that these organizations, the folks that aren't touching the drug anymore, that they're doing the best, right? They're the ones driving the shiny cars and living in the expensive homes. That seems to be the standard around the world.

[John J. Wiley]

So here's what two things I want to address. Number one, and this goes to a lot of conversations I have, especially on the law enforcement, talk radio show, Facebook page, be sure to follow that. And people say it was a undercover police car. And I'm like, if you knew it was a police car, it wasn't undercover, it was unmarked car. There's a huge difference. And the second one is Hollywood does this all the time. That we are bombarded with this image, a stereotype of the criminal mastermind, the genius. And the vast majority of people we speak with, we deal with on a daily basis are far from that. They're morons, right?

[David Tyree]

Right. They're hard working morons, but they are morons. I mean, they're exposing themselves to criminal penalties, prison, you know, over narcotics. And you would think they'd know better, right? They must know the risk going into it.

[John J. Wiley]

You would think. I know a lot of people that have told their stories and it's a little bit different thing, but it's the same people. Sex trafficking, human trafficking. People send their children somewhere in hope of a better life. Financially, they'll be better off, they'll do better. They get involved with drug cartels. I just got to be a mule, I got to do this. It's no big deal. They'll make, they'll pay me $5,000. They take all the risk. And meanwhile, the hot shot, the shot caller is immune from all that because they put layers into place that makes it really difficult to get hold of them.

[David Tyree]

Exactly. And so again, it goes to, I look at both ends. So you've got your end state drug users, right? The arguably the most, the weakest in our communities. And that's not a judgment, but they are addicts. Right. So the traffickers, the organizations are making money off the misery of other people. Right. Think about the families, think about the loved ones around these people that are using narcotics. And then you've got the couriers. I mean, I can't tell you how many times whether it was the great state of New Mexico, Oregon or Wyoming, where I worked, where the highway patrol would do these traffic stops of just, we called them suicide loads. I mean 50, 60, 600 pounds of narcotics. And you interview these couriers and they were getting paid a penance, no money really. And yet they're the ones going to prison. So my vision was always, and I worked with some great investigators at the state level, city level, federal level. They were all always trying to work those interdictions up, chain back to the sources and also down chain to the redistributors. You know, it was not uncommon to have a narcotic load interdicted out of California that was destined for Florida. And I'd work with some great investigators that were able to through looking at telephone toll records, bank records, et cetera, sort of build out this organization. And we had some great prosecutors who would then develop that investigation, corroborate testimony. And we were getting indictments. I mean I worked with folks that were getting indictments in other countries and I thought this is what we do to make a difference. And now obviously go after their assets, their proceeds, their ill gotten gain. We have to take out the economic incentive around this criminal activity. So banks are trying to do this, law enforcement's trying to do this. It kind of takes a village to get everybody thinking in those terms of okay. And I often when I train law enforcement I speak about like look, if we went to Target and all you were going to do arrest the cart pushers, are we making a difference now? To some and maybe in the parking lot you are. But if we're going to actually take out the economic incentive for people to shop at Target, we have to go after cashiers, mid level manager, the higher level managers. Ultimately what we really want to go after are those distributors sending product to Target.

[John J. Wiley]

And we're going to take a short break. On that note, we're talking with David Tyree, retired dea. We're going to return. We're talking about his undercover career working with or against, I should say some of the most notorious, most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug cartels and whatnot. This is law enforcement talk ratio. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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[John J. Wiley]

Return to conversation with David Tyree. David is retired dea. He is now one of the movers and shakers for Validate Financial. That's the number 8 instead of ate. Their website is validate financial.com. during his career, he worked. He specialized in undercover work. He worked with some of the most violent, notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs out there, drug cartels, you name it. And of course, he went through a lot of the critical incidents that a lot of people do. He's here to talk about those. David, first of all, your career, what did you start in DEA and where'd you retire out of?

[David Tyree]

I started in September of 1998. I was hired out of Eugene, Oregon, and my first office was Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was 23 years old at the time, second youngest in my class. So shortly upon arriving to Albuquerque, let's see, five years, did a lot of undercover while I was there. Moved up to Portland, Oregon, where I'm an Oregon native. Also happily did undercover there. Moved overseas to Portugal and West Africa. I was a drug liaison officer. So you're not really doing undercover, you're working with your local counterparts. And then finished up in Wyoming as an agent and then did undercover wall and agent in Wyoming and then promoted. The last five years, I was resident agent in charge and had the honor and privilege of working with some of the greatest law enforcement from the state and the city and local level there. So I retired in April of 2023.

[John J. Wiley]

How did you get into the whole undercover thing? Because that's, that's. And is that something you aspire to, that, hey, I'm going to do this?

[David Tyree]

So, as I said, I was one of the youngest agents in the office and a good friend of mine who was a task force officer knew I wanted to do undercover. I thought that would be the best part of my experience with dea. And through informant, he introduced me to. I was ultimately introduced to a motorcycle gang that was trafficking methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine, and cooking methamphetamines. Now, I should tell you, Jay, I'd never ridden a motorcycle in my life. I'm more of a Vespa guy, although now I actually have a couple motorcycles. But at the time, I didn't know what I was doing. And so really, it was through some of the state police investigators and the informant. They were teaching me the best ways to operate and act as an undercover, which I didn't know at the time, involved a lot of meetings and conversations that were never even close to criminal, because what you're doing is building trust with an organization. And oftentimes that was over dinner, drinks, just hanging out, which, looking back, I probably thought I was 20ft tall at the time, but, you know, safety first. I had a great cover team. You're always armed. And over time, actually, it was a little bit strange. I can reflect back. You almost become, in a way, friendly with these criminal actors as you are trying to extract information from them about the larger network and work your way up the food chain. Oftentimes, by the way, you're not committing crimes with them. You're just building rapport over time by kind of hanging out, if that makes sense.

[John J. Wiley]

And by the way, I looked at pictures of you. You don't. And pictures can be very deceiving. Like, headshots don't show the whole body. You don't. You don't come off as looking like an outlaw biker.

[David Tyree]

No, no. And I think that's what made it appealing to them because they were looking to me to traffic at the university and around to students at the University of New Mexico. So, again, working with state and local counter, I had the backstory. I had identification. You know, they never wanted to see any of that. I had all of that with me, but I was really careful to have a strong backstory. Ironically, I was married at the time. And thank you for the photo comments. I was probably carved up at the time, but I think part of being an undercover is you don't need to come in and be super intimidating. I have worked with a great undercover from dea, and he was a college athlete, and oftentimes the bad guys thought he just got out of prison because he was pretty muscular. Not me. I didn't have to worry about that. It looked like I just got out of a Jacqueline stretching class. So I don't think I intimidated too many of these.

[John J. Wiley]

That's all right. The point is this, David. It takes all kinds. And again, that's a misconception that a lot of people put out there. So I'll just say this. A lot of police in the United States, when they go into plain clothes narcotics work, all of a sudden they want to look like they're the bad guy. And quite often, that's not in the most effective way. You don't want to look like the bad guy. You don't want to stand out, but you don't want to look like the bad guy. You don't have to be a tough guy at all.

[David Tyree]

Jake, towards the end of my career, I represent myself as a Money launderer. And I would show up to meetings in a suit because that's how the informants introduced me. Hey, he's laundering me. Why would I dress looking like a thug or a gang member? I would wear a suit. And I gotta tell you, on more than one occasion, I had the bad guys bringing me narcotics for free. Like, they weren't charging me. They were just trying to give me samples because they assumed I had a lot of money and I had a lot of connections. So again, the best lies are often the truth. And working overseas with the undercover units there, they would always refer to it as the legend. So you're creating a legend. And you better be prepared to answer any and all questions that that legend would, you know, ask of you. And so a part of that is, you know, when I was doing. I was representing as a money launderer, I had to explain to these organizations how it was I could launder their money. And I gotta tell you, if you've watched Lethal Weapon 2, it's pretty easy to confuse people around money laundering. So I got a kick out of doing that kind of stuff. Another story I'll tell you really quickly is the nerves, right? You're very, very nervous when you. Because it's very difficult for people to lie to begin with. I had a senior agent who was watching me. He could tell I was nervous. It was a hotel room operation. And the senior agent said, listen, we've got you on video. I want you to say a word. I'm going to give you a word to say while you're doing your undercover. If you say it, I'm going to buy you lunch. The word was medulla oblongata.

[John J. Wiley]

Yeah. Really easy word to come up in passing conversation, by the way.

[David Tyree]

Right, right. But it distracted me enough, it calmed my nerves because I think the alternative was I was gonna have to buy him lunch. And he was a big guy. So I'm in the hotel room, I'm buying a half kilo of cocaine as an undercover, and the source of supply comes into the hotel room. And I've got a boxing match on. And this guy is trying to engage me and make the transaction happen. He doesn't want to be there any more than I do. And I said, hold, hold, hold. I'm watching this boxing match. This guy's going to get hit in the medulla oblongata. Best calzone I ever had. Faggios in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Best calzone you'll ever get. But I was so grateful for that wisdom of that senior agent to Take me aside and say, look, I know you're nervous. That's ego. Don't worry about it. I'm going to walk you through this. He'd done a bunch of undercover. So it's an indust pass down of knowledge that narcs get in their career. And I'll tell you, I did the whole I shaved my head, what hair I had left, I bleached my hair, I put in earrings. I got introduced to a higher level informant and he looks and he says what are you doing? Because I can't bring you anywhere because grow your hair out, get rid of the earrings. You're supposed to look normal. We're looking for folks in my organization that I'm going to introduce you to that blend in. You're gonna hide in plain sight. And I'll be honest, it was the best lesson I ever learned. I started, I wore my wedding ring to the undercover deals. Someone asked if I was married, but it gave me an out. If the organization wanted me to do something that was either illegal, immoral or outside of policy, I could hold my wedding ring and say yeah, sorry, my wife's not gonna like that.

[John J. Wiley]

She's not out of game for that. We're talking about David Tyree. He is retired DEA agent. He's one of the movers and shakers for validate Financial. That's the number 8. Instead of ate their website is validate financial.com. you can find us on Facebook look for and like the law enforcement talk radio show Facebook page. We return to law enforcement talk radio show. We're going to talk more about undercover work and controlling those nerves. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. I'm going to let you you on a little secret that's been a game changer for me with social media. You can get details@let pops.com so redirect L E T P O P S.com it's called chatbots. They're meta partners. Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp and soon to be TikTok. You can turn those people that visit and engage with your content and social media into consumers and then sometimes customers and you can can market to them, get details. Best of all you get started for free. Let pops.com that's L E T P O-P S.com again it's L E T P O P S.com return a conversation with David Ty we retired DEA and I'm a little jealous. I'm a little gel gel be honest with you as undercover career because I was Lousy at undercover. I was good at playing clothes. Lousy undercover. He'll tell you it's the exact opposite for him. He's one of the movers and shakers for Validate Financial. That's the number 8 instead of ate. Their website is validate financial.com. that's valid. The number 8 financial.com, which we'll talk about a little bit later on. I'm kind of fascinated with the undercover things because there were guys I worked with, I say guys, that means men and women that were really good at undercover work. They were Baltimore police, they were dea. They were really, really good at it. It was like you could tell the brand new folks that were nervous, but after that, it was like just another just doing their job. And no matter what, I could never. I always say this, and it's not an insult. I will always look like the cop. I could be 87 years old, walking down the old folks home with the walker, and people go, shh, there's five, zero. And I'm okay with that. It didn't prevent me from being good undercover. What prevented me from being good at undercover was I was not a good actor. So I guess the question I wanted, something you alluded to in the last part of the conversation was authenticity. And a lot of people in radio are like, well, I. I'm going to be real, I'm going to be honest. And what I was always taught and with undercover work and police work and, and radio work is always tell the truth because you can't keep track of lies. And it's okay to exaggerate the truth, the good, the bad, the ugly. But if it's the truth, it's always the truth. It's always consistent. Was that what you mean by authenticity?

[David Tyree]

Yes. Yes, it is exactly what I mean. And I'll add to that, I think, you know, I went in, I was always very, very nervous. And so to alleviate that, admitting I was nervous, admitting I was nervous of the bad guys, not because I'm, hey, I'm an undercover de agent, but you can take those, that nervous energy, which is almost like fire, and you can make it fuel or you can hide behind it. I chose to make it fuel. And so I got a kick out of the act. I did things deliber to make things awkward for the targets. I mean, I would talk about. There was one time we were at a bar, and of course I'm with a guy, another undercover, who's Mr. Motorcycle, the bad guy who's a cocaine source. Well, the bartender comes over and I said, hey, I'd like a appletini. Well, that threw everybody off. They started laughing at me, oh, you're drinking an appletini. I look over at the other undercover, tell the bad guy, hey, I met this guy at a Star wars convention. I didn't go, but he did, right? And now everyone's laughing at this idea of Star wars conventions, undercover active. And I'm just using my nerves and a sense of humor. And basically my thought that I should be a stand up comedian to lighten the mood. And then, you know, ultimately when I'm actually doing those controlled purchases of narcotics, I just tell the bad guy, hey, man, I'm really nervous. I've been to jail once before. I just don't want to go back. Right? And you know what? Then you have the bad guy, you're wearing a recorder, and the bad guy is trying to alleviate your nerves versus coming off like you're some kind of tough guy. But then your hands are shaking like a dog, right? Well, that's not gonna fly. They're gonna. They're gonna make you. They're gonna say you're a cop. You know what other thing I'll tell you, I learned from informants. Only cops always do the deal. Bad guys will walk away. So there was many times where I said, yeah, I don't like your price. Come back when you can come deal with me at a better price. Now, who taught me that? Cops? No, the informants taught me this. The other undercovers who had been around and lived to talk about it. So that's sort of my mindset was always, you're going to be nervous. This is either fuel for the fire or you're going to hide behind those nerves and you're not going to accomplish the mission. And remember, you know this, Jay. It's a mission, right? It's a tough mission, and we have to do it. And so that mindset that I had was, I'm not going to make up stories that I can't verify. And the other thing I would tell you, I never came off as desperate. I always came off as if I can't do the deal with you. If you're dealing drugs today, you'll be dealing drugs tomorrow. So I'm going to make it work for me in a way that safe. That's tactically thoughtful. I'm not putting my team at risk, and I'm certainly not putting my life at risk. That was the mindset I learned from some great leadership at dea, obviously from the state and locals as well. We all Talked about, hey, is this even necessary? Like, is there a purpose behind what we're doing? Because it is. It's a calculated risk.

[John J. Wiley]

Now, is it true? I would imagine I'm phrasing this because I was lousy to undercover work, but they're nervous, too. It's not just you. That's like, they've got a lot online as well. So they're feeling you out, I'm sure, during the process.

[David Tyree]

Yes, exactly. And again, I think that challenging part for that is it's really tough for people to lie. Good guys and bad guys. There's books about this. So, again, alleviating those nerves is often sometimes, as less is more. But what I found was, in my experience, over time, where you're having meetings and you're not doing anything criminal, I would try and invite these guys golfing. I'm a horrible golfer. I would do whatever I could to try and bring them out of their element. Because if they're dealing pounds of methamphetamine or kilos of cocaine and I'm just another customer, how am I working beyond the person I'm dealing with? So ultimately, my goal was always to push them beyond what they were capable of. So they would then introduce me to their boss. Right. Our goal at DEA was always to disrupt and dismantle the larger organization. So that was my lived story. I'm grateful that I can walk on the other side of it, I'll tell you. You know, some of these folks that are in prison or were in prison, I was always kind to them. I treated them with dignity and respect, as did my teams. And that's why I'm able to walk on God's green earth the way I do today.

[John J. Wiley]

And that's another misconception that Hollywood loves to put out there. Most of the arrested. There's one spot on the planet I will never go to on vacation. That's Jamaica, because I know someone's going to recognize me. They're recognizing my voice. And so other than that, the overwhelming majority of people that we dealt with, even the people we arrested, was not animosity. And there was no call, no reason to treat them other than other human beings struggling.

[David Tyree]

I think right now, in our culture today, law enforcement is leading the charge. And transparency, authenticity and accountability. I watch it. I watch all over the country. I watch the news, I watch all the sides. And I continue to see law enforcement leading through example. And I go back to what you said about treating people with dignity and respect. That's why we signed up for this job. We Want to make communities a better place, a safer place for everybody. Even the bad guys.

[John J. Wiley]

That's right.

[David Tyree]

So that was my mindset. I worked with folks my entire career, both domestically and abroad, that shared that mindset. And I wish our greater communities knew that and appreciated it. Because you have to understand, we stare at the belly of the beast. You know this. We stare at the belly of the beast all day long. And to keep a positive attitude towards humanity is really, really tough.

[John J. Wiley]

And sometimes I struggle with that. To be honest, at this point in my life, I'm not very social with people.

[David Tyree]

No, me neither. Me either. Oh, you should hear me driving. I'm horrible. But it's only because I think once you start to see. Once you see it, and you know this as well as I do, when you see that person driving like a jerk, you know they're committing other crime.

[John J. Wiley]

Yep.

[David Tyree]

And I'm talking about the person barreling down, you know, 30 miles an hour and they're going 60, cutting through lanes of traffic. You know they're committing other crimes. And you think, can't you just be a part? Can't you be one of the good guys? So that's always been my charge and my admonitions, just be one of the good guys. Even when no one's watching. It's not that hard.

[John J. Wiley]

It's really not. And so, like, we have dogs and cats and what I always say this jokingly. My best friend in the entire world is a male Rottweiler, 6 years old. His name's Enoch. He doesn't demand much. Mean, I don't. I don't ask him to do anything. He's a great companion. People, on the other hand, can be. Be more difficult to read. They and I. I try not to assume the worst about people. I say try. We return our conversation with David Tyree. He's retired dea. We're going to talk about more of his undercover career and how he does what he does today, which he's one of the movers and shakers for. Validate Financial is number 8. Instead of ATE. Their website is valid 8. The number 8financial.com. There's another location online where you can find the law enforcement talk, rate of show and podcast. That's medium. It's spelled M E d I u m dot com. Medium has 100 million average monthly total users. Look for and follow the law enforcement talk radio show and podcast on medium.com. this law enforcement talk radio show. Don't go anywhere. I promise you. We'll be right back.

[Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show Promoter]

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[John J. Wiley]

Return. Our conversation with David Tyree in a law enforcement talk radio show. He's retired dea. He's one of the movers and shakers for Validate Financial is number eight. Validate Financial. The website is valid eight the number financial.com. and I was fascinated by our conversation about undercover work. And there's a lot of similarities in my career and your career. One thing I will say this, I was not good undercover. I was good at playing clothes and surveillance. Totally different ball of wax. But one thing that I've been relatively lucky is other than my mood, which at times can suffer and I'm not very sociable to people, is I've got good health. You had cancer towards the end of your career, didn't you?

[David Tyree]

I sure did. I sure did. And by the way, I thought I had great health. I had an agent in my office came in and dared me to meet with my doctor to get cologuard. I was 40 years old. I was like, I don't need to get Cologuard. Long story short, Dr. Wouldn't give me Cologuard, ordered a colonoscopy. I had no symptoms and came out with stage two, a colorectal cancer, which is now the number one killer of men over 50 and women over 50. And there's a skyrocketing rate for people under 50. So here I am, 48 years old, resident agent in charge, the great state of Wyoming's DEA, and I had 16 weeks of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiation, and it was halfway through, maybe 2/3, way through, chemo. I'm sitting in the chair at the hospital, chemo port coming in, and my acting supervisor's calling my phone, calling my phone, calling my. He knows I'm getting chemo today. I finally pick up, up. He says, man, boss, we've been in a shooting. Now, I can't tell you of another time in my life where I felt so completely out of control just for my team for the critical incident. And I am so grateful for the leadership I had with the DEA folks. The supervisor at the time that was acting on my behalf handled the shooting. No big deal. I share that story because, one, I hope all listeners will get screened for colorectal cancer, colon Cancer.

[John J. Wiley]

Regardless of your age and how you feel. Get it done. By the way, I'm having colonoscopy done. Right, Right. Earlier part of next month.

[David Tyree]

Oh, well, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but, hey, we got to do.

[John J. Wiley]

The procedure is great. That's a piece of cake. The prep is horrible. I'll just say that it's horrible, but.

[David Tyree]

It's horrible. The prep's horrible. But look, it's like we'll just pretend it's your vacation to Jamaica, and you just say, it could be worse. Because at the end of the day, I look, I'm cancer free. I beat this thing. I got some tattoos because of it. And it does go back to. And what my doctors talked about was, hey, there's a lot of stress in your line of work. So I talk a lot about stress management through exercise. Not just exercise, exercise, diet, holistically. Whatever you've got to do to get centered makes a big difference because it drives my wife crazy. But I was taught that the DEA narcotics work in general. The jealous mistress. And it's true. It just. It never loves you back. And so I think the stress becomes addictive. And I look back and I think, how. Go ahead. Sorry.

[John J. Wiley]

No, I was saying the stress became addictive for me. The. The adrenaline became an addiction problem itself. And it was. I was good. I would say this. I was good when all this stuff was going on. It's when I'm retired. Got hurt and retired. Then the things are quiet. That struggles beginning.

[David Tyree]

Right. No, I mean, there's a dopamine release around it. I remember a case where it was my anniversary dinner, and my partner came to the restaurant, said, we've got to go serve a subpoena. And I couldn't wait to go. I was so excited that there. It's addictive, and there's. As long as you can manage that dopamine release around the stress, I think you're in good shape. We all know the negative ways to manage that stress. And I'll agree with you. Once I left, once I retired. Wow. What. The five stages of grief, man, I was like, I missed this terribly. Thankfully, I still get to talk with some of my colleagues. I watch what they're doing on social media, on the news, and I just. I'm so proud to be a part of all the great work that they're doing. So it's fun to bask in their glory without any of the stress or pressure that they must be feeling.

[John J. Wiley]

I had recently had Jack McFarland on the show retired DEA. And one of the things he talked about is the mandatory retirement. How old were you when you retired?

[David Tyree]

I left at 50. Unlike Mad Jack McFarland, who nothing but love and respect. He was my PT instructor at the Academy. Insane what he had us go through. Best shape of my life, by the way. I left at 50 because my background is in money laundering. I was designated in federal court as a subject matter expert in money laundering and drug detection. And I'd been working with a lot of different financial institutions to help them combat financial crime. And a large financial institution came to me and like in the Godfather, made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I audited their financial crimes program for 14 months and it was absolutely fascinating. Could fill the Grand Canyon with what I did not know about how banks understand money movement and illegal money movement. So that's why I left. And here I am now at Validate Financial. I'm their senior advisor in financial crime and money laundering. Essentially they have a software platform that makes a storyboard of flow of funds. So what I mean is, if law enforcement uploads banks into this platform, within about two hours it turns around one page storyboard showing you where the money went in, where the money goes out, different accounts, assets, et cetera. I use it for pattern of life cases on highway interdictions across the country. We use it in fentanyl overdose cases, human trafficking investigations. It's just great. The bank records don't lie.

[John J. Wiley]

No, they don't.

[David Tyree]

They tell a story now. And juries understand money movement, I think often better than they understand how drugs are transverse around this country. So that's what I've been doing since January of this year. And I've never been happier since leaving dea. It's just a great platform to help law enforcement understand money movement. I mean, you could use it in a DUI case if you're back in Baltimore and someone gets pulled over and they say, I wasn't drinking. You grabbed their bank records really well. You're a T.G.I. friday. You spent 88 bucks on beer. We can show this from your bank records 20 minutes before the stop in the discovery process. You just hopefully got yourself out of a trial by providing evidence that would corroborate the law enforcement supposition. So I love the platform, I love what it does and for me it's great to get to work with law enforcement again, talking them through their investigations. We are a partner based solution. And like I said, I love following the money, I love seizing the money, I love taking out the economic Incentive for bad guys to commit crimes. I think it makes a difference in.

[John J. Wiley]

Our community, I was going to say. And one of the great things about working with DEA in my experience was their equipment. And they had the manpower that we did not have, but they had the equipment. Oh my goodness, you name it, they had a car.

[David Tyree]

And the other thing with the toys.

[John J. Wiley]

Was seizing their assets. Nothing felt better than cracking open a safe deposit box with a subpoena that's owned or rented by a drug dealer. And we did that. And we took cars off the street. We did everything in the world. Because it's not a power thing, a lot of people think it is. It's really about hurting them where it really hurts, which is financial. Most of these people don't even use their own product, but they're in it for the money.

[David Tyree]

Right? And it's a 99% profit. I mean, listen, when I was working with the Europeans, I mean, they were interdicting boatloads of narcotics ton quantities all the time. And it was always about the money. Like, who, who in Europe is paying for this out of South America? And when you started to peel back that onion and see the transnational organized crimes, the cartels, terrorist organizations, it opened my eyes to the. Drug trafficking is just a means to an end. And ultimately it's having political influence where they live and affecting their ideologies. And so we have, have to, and we can do better. And that is not to besmirch all the good work that's happening all over the world. It's just we've got to take their money as well. We. Because Again, it's a 99% profit industry. Right? Drug trafficking. So if we're not going after the money, they can grow more coca leaves, they can grow more marijuana, they can make more fentanyl. Take away, take their money. They can't reconstitute. And, and we know this, it's just people in the world, we know that you take away somebody's money, they're no good to you. So that's sort of my messaging. And it's not that it's mutually exclusive from a human trafficking case or drug.

[John J. Wiley]

The same thing. It's very similar.

[David Tyree]

Run part and parcel. One thing, the product may be different.

[John J. Wiley]

But the reasons why they do it and they always say this. And if you want, want to discover crime, file the cash. That's, that's what's going to be your evidence. And it's really hard to clean cash and launder cash, David, very quickly validate financial. That's number eight instead of ate validate financial.com can they get ahold of you there and get more information about what you do?

[David Tyree]

Sure, yeah, they can hit me up. I can get them a pilot of the platform. It doesn't cost them a thing. They get a login. It's unlimited users for the agency. Give it a try. We do a demo. We've got some great folks that can talk you through your cases anytime. Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn or I'm just at D Tyree. Validate the number8financial.com you can also email me personally at david atyreemail.com I'll do whatever I can to help you out. David I can't help you.

[John J. Wiley]

I'll find your service and thanks for being guest on the Law Enforcement Talk Very Radio show. Both very much appreciated.

[David Tyree]

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

[John J. Wiley]

Jay I'd like to thank our guests for coming on the Law Enforcement Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show. The Law Enforcement Talk Radio show is a nationally syndicated weekly radio show broadcast on Numerous AM&FM radio stations across the country. We're always adding more affiliate stations. If you enjoyed the podcast version of the show, which is always free, please do me a favor and tell a friend or two or three. I'll be back in just a few days with another episode of the Law Enforcement Talk Radio show and Podcast cast. Until then, this is John J. Wiley. See ya.