Original subtitles

There's no stopping in undercover work.

You say it, comes out of your mouth, and you've got to live

with it.

Everything inside of you is screaming, "oh, my, god, I hope

he doesn't find out that I'm an agent."

My name is Mike gibeley.

I've been an f.B.I. Undercover agent for 19 years.

If you haven't given a moment's thought about what you might say

when you feel a piece of steel against the back of your head,

you're not preparing properly.

When you go to school as a young kid, you can't imagine that

you're going to end up someday being a mafia guy, a white

collar criminal, or a host of other undercover assignments

I've had.

You're portraying yourself as somebody you are not.

That's not easy to do.

There are no take twos.

If we make a mistake, we can die.

My name is f.B.I. Special agent Michael r. Mcgowan.

I served 31 years in the f.B.I.

There's a five-step process to working undercover.

Step one is preparation.

Step two is preparation.

Step three is preparation.

Step four is preparation.

And step five is go do it.

Any undercover case, if you're not nervous, then it's

time to probably start doing something else.

You understand there's inherent danger.

The x factor is...

...something definitely is going to happen that you didn't

plan for.

Ed mclarnon was a pseudo sovereign citizen type from

Massachusetts who used the nickname zed.

I'm zed mclarnon.

I've been exposing judicial corruption since the mid-1990s.

I'd seen some of Mr. mclarnon's videos on YouTube and

online.

It was clear, having worked a lot of other domestic terrorism

cases, that he was someone that did not acknowledge the

authority of the United States.

Your tax dollars are supporting federal courthouses

like this across the country where federal judges cover-up

the crimes of state judges.

He hates the government, has talked about killing f.B.I.

Agents.

There was a source in Baltimore that was reporting

that Edward mclarnon had a plot to kill several individuals up

in Massachusetts.

My name is Brian leblanc.

I was the case agent for Edward mclarnon.

Mclarnon was attempting to obtain legal and illegal

firearms to kill people.

He wanted to blow up the federal courthouse in Boston.

He wanted to murder as many judges as he could.

In this particular instance, he's looking at killing elected

officials-- an Obama cabinet member, a United States district

court judge, and the former Massachusetts Attorney General.

We were all very concerned.

We immediately put up 24-hour surveillance on all the

potential victims.

He was on that pathway to violence.

My job is to compile a profile of the subject, put the

puzzle together to figure out who this person is, what's

motivating them, where they're going, what they're doing.

My name is Alyssa Dietrich.

I'm a tactical analyst with the f.B.I.

The first thing that I noticed about mclarnon was, he hated the

justice system.

Mclarnon referred to the loss of custody of his son as a state-

sponsored kidnapping.

How many more children and families must be destroyed for

money before we stand up and end state-sanctioned kidnapping in

america?

He believes that something needs to be done about a corrupt

judiciary.

Mr. Mclarnon is a threat.

It needs to be mitigated, and we need to disrupt this threat as

fast as possible.

"The f.B.I. Declassified,"

narrated by Alana de la garza from the CBS series, "f.B.I."

"The f.B.I. Declassified"

this case was getting a lot of pressure from the top.

We need to vet this out and determine whether or not this is

a real threat.

Narrator: In October 2015, the f.B.I. Received a tip from a

government informant.

He was a friend of Edward "“zed"” mclarnon, a 67-year-old

Massachusetts man who was plotting to assassinate high-

ranking government officials.

The source is reporting that Edward mclarnon has a plan to

kill federal judge Dennis saylor; Former Attorney General

for Massachusetts, Martha coakley; And the undersecretary

for homeland security, Lisa Monaco.

Narrator: The bureau would assemble surveillance teams,

undercover agents, and analysts like Alyssa Dietrich to try to

stop mclarnon before he could launch his attack.

As I started looking at our victims, I noticed that each one

had a tie-in to the court system.

Narrator: Dietrich discovered mclarnon had gone through a

bitter divorce, and a judge had awarded custody of his son to

his ex-wife.

He was in financial trouble, and the bank foreclosed on his home.

He's seeming like a man who doesn't necessarily take

responsibility for his own actions.

He looked at the court system not only as his enemy, but as

almost as an enemy of the united states.

How can state and federal courts operate overtly as

criminal enterprises?

Narrator: Mclarnon was public about his views of the court

system, posting videos of his grievances on his own YouTube

channel.

They're railroading innocent citizens into jail to kidnap

their children.

He was a self-described forensic examiner and expert

witness.

Narrator: Years earlier, he seemed to be living a normal

life.

He claimed to be a sound engineer who would work with

major music acts.

I built the first 16-track audio studio in the world, where

aerosmith recorded their first album.

Narrator: But now...

He was down and out on his luck.

He had no other family.

He had nothing.

He really blamed the government for his demise and where he was

in life.

Narrator: Just days after receiving the assassination tip

from the government's source, special agent Brian leblanc had

him call mclarnon as the f.B.I.

Listened.

Narrator: But mclarnon was

hesitant to talk over the phone.

Chyron is there any encrypted way

that we can communicate?

For me to tell you exactly, you know, what I want?

Narrator: To calm mclarnons' fears, special agent leblanc--

posing as the source-- set up a gmail account both he and

mclarnon could access.

Within a few hours, mclarnon was calling to check the account.

Within a few hours, mclarnon was calling to check the account.

It has all the items he wishes for to conduct his plot--

hand grenades, an ak-47 pistol with a silencer, explosives,

numerous other firearms and ammunition.

As soon as I saw that, I knew we had a case, and I knew that

Edward mclarnon was serious about conducting this plot.

The assessment here was, is this guy capable or not?

Doesn't matter.

What if he goes down the street and asks somebody else to do it

and the f.B.I. Was aware?

You've got to get out on the street as soon as humanly

possible and try to prevent violence.

Narrator: The best way to monitor mclarnon and shut down

his plan was to send in an undercover agent.

Mike mcgowan was in charge of the f.B.I. Boston's undercover

program.

His job is to review all the undercover proposals and then

determine who's going to be a best fit for the undercover

operation.

Mike mcgowan is, without question, one of the most

experienced undercover agents in f.B.I. History.

I've been a crime boss.

I've been a bank robber.

I've been a leg breaker.

I've pretty much worked across all program lines.

He is my mentor in undercover work.

It was never pleasant.

It was tough love.

He cares a ton about me and others, but he's difficult and

ornery and angry.

And I love the guy.

Mike was a horrible undercover when he started, as

were I.

But he was intelligent.

He was compassionate about the technique.

He wanted to learn.

I have never seen him make the same mistake twice.

I got a phone call from Mike mcgowan, who, in his typical

ever-loving, friendly way, said, "get your ass down here, go see

Brian leblanc."

Narrator: The plan was for Mike gibeley to pose as an ex-

army black market weapons dealer, someone mclarnon

believed could sell him untraceable firearms and

explosives to carry out his attacks.

The source had told me that he had been in the army, so,

when it came time to develop the idea for the undercover

operation, the easiest way to do that was to have the undercover

be an old army buddy.

Narrator: The problem was, while Mike gibeley had plenty of

experience pretending to be a criminal, he had no experience

as a soldier in the army.

In undercover work, we try to stay close to who we really are

so we don't have to remember as many lies.

At this point, I'm stuck with it.

I got to be an army guy even though I don't know anything

about the army.

Accept your job and you get on it.

Narrator: As special agent gibeley worked to setup a face-

to-face meeting with mclarnon, the f.B.I. Was watching him

around the clock.

That surveillance nearly blew the f.B.I.'S cover.

We learned through a conversation between the source

and Mr. Mclarnon that he detected the f.B.I. Installing a

camera on the pole across the street from his house.

Tis guy hated the government, wanted to kill members of the

government, and now he knows or at least believes that we're

watching him.

It became a major concern for us-- is he going to now be

suspicious of Mike in this whole operation?

I wasn't happy about it.

It certainly elevated my internal antenna.

But, at the end of the day, I've got a job to do.

The fear was Mr. Mclarnon was going to go find somebody else,

and then we've got a terrorist attack on our hands.

We take every threat-to-life investigation that we receive

extremely seriously, but this one in particular because the

plan was so clear and so concise.

I was shocked.

Narrator: Before the f.B.I.

Could arrest Massachusetts resident ed mclarnon, they

needed to determine if he was acting alone and learn more

about his deadly plot.

One of the things I want to know is, who is he talking to?

Where is he going?

We didn't know when he was going to enact this plan.

Narrator: The f.B.I. Set up a meeting across the border in new

Hampshire between mclarnon and undercover agent Mike gibeley,

posing as that arms dealer who had served in the army.

We chose a location that I had previously worked in before.

It's a legitimate weapons store owned by an individual who was

helping the f.B.I.

A lot of preparation goes into an undercover meet.

We have tech agents, surveillance agents, SWAT

agents.

The room needed to be set up to record.

Narrator: Of Paramount importance: Getting mclarnon to

trust gibeley, especially after mclarnon noticed those

surveillance cameras installed near his home.

That meant gibeley had to concoct an elaborate and

believable back story for his undercover persona.

Some details were based on gibeley's own life.

I fall back a lot on my being a kind of knock-around kid from

the north shore of Boston.

His plan was to talk to Edward about his own divorce,

and so he developed a story where he was going through

similar problems that Edward had gone through.

On October 28, 2015, Edward drove up to New Hampshire and

met with Mike.

As I was driving to the location, I'm constantly

thinking about, what is my objective?

Like every other undercover I've done, I was nervous.

I was anxious.

Mike and I discuss an emergency response plan in the

event of something happening that he felt unsafe.

We have numerous audio and visual distress signals, coded

language that can be used.

Ed mclarnon walked through the front door.

He did as instructed.

He asked for the owner.

It's mid-fall.

I dressed the way somebody would dress who's an outdoorsy type

who likes guns in New Hampshire.

I wore a hooded pullover with a t-shirt, a pair of boots, some

blue jeans, and I borrowed my nephew's west point army hat.

During the meeting, i'm sitting outside in a vehicle,

and I'm listening real-time through a transmitter.

We also had a SWAT team that was on standby, as well.

The primary mission of the SWAT team is the protection of

the undercover agent.

My name is Daniel r. Romanzo.

I was a supervisor in charge of the SWAT team during the

mclarnon case.

Our SWAT team was in the vehicles a short distance away,

close enough so they can respond but not so close that they

compromise the operation.

Narrator: Another f.B.I.

Undercover agent in a nearby Van was also listening in.

He would decide if Mike was in danger and if the SWAT team

needed to go in.

He can interpret what it is that Mike is saying, how the

meeting is going.

My job is not just to find out what items he wants, but

what's his plan?

What's his plot?

Mr. Mclarnon had said to me he was looking to do some close

work.

He wants a silenced pistol so that he won't get detected by

law enforcement when he starts killing people.

Mike and Edward started talking about some of the

weapons that they had in the store.

Narrator: Other weapons that included an ar-15 and explosive

devices.

I begin to show him all different types of makes,

models, styles of guns that are in the store.

We ultimately decide to go outside and start shooting guns

together.

I'm supposed to be comfortable around weapons.

Let's do it.

I was extremely concerned because now we have at least one

firearm that's there.

It was nerve-wracking, but it seemed to be going pretty well.

So, I just took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

It was enough to kind of just break the ice a little bit.

Narrator: Back inside, mclarnon-- now confident Mike

was who he said he was-- began to open up about how he believed

the government was persecuting him and many others.

He wanted to talk.

He was a talker.

And so, if you're an undercover and you get somebody

that wants to talk, the job just got easier.

That wants to talk, the job just got easier.

I originally thought my conversation with him was going

to be about Lisa Monaco, judge saylor and Martha coakley.

Narrator: Mclarnon did bring up saylor and coakley but never

made mention of Monaco.

Instead, he brought up a new target.

He kept talking about this social worker he wanted to kill.

He actually identifies a potential fourth victim, the

social worker that reviewed his court case for the child custody

dispute several years ago.

That social worker then went on to marry his ex-wife.

He goes on to explain to Mike how he had conducted

surveillance at this social worker's office and how he

actually had a plan of how he was going to kill him

having his car parked up in Maine so that his g.P.S. Would

record that as an address so he would have an alibi.

One of the things that i'm quickly evaluating and learning

is, every time he talks about killing somebody, he starts

laughing.

What surprised me most was how direct and how blunt and how

deliberate he was about it.

He explained that he had a plan to use hand grenades to

kill federal judge Dennis saylor at the courthouse...

...as well as other federal judges as they were in the

parking garage underneath the courthouse.

At the conclusion of the meeting, we agreed that we would

stay in contact.

I would work up a price list of what exactly he wanted based on

all the weapons that I had shown him.

There's no doubt, at this point, that Mr. Mclarnon is a threat.

It was a race against the clock to try and prevent him

from conducting his attack.

After that first meeting, I became a lot more concerned.

I knew that Edward mclarnon was on that pathway to violence,

that he had a fourth potential victim that we didn't know much

about.

Narrator: That fourth victim: The social worker who had

married his ex-wife.

He had a family, from what I knew about him.

And so, that just elevated our need to act quickly and make

sure that mclarnon was off the streets before somebody got

hurt.

Narrator: The day after that first meeting, special agent

Brian leblanc, again posing as the source, sent mclarnon a

follow-up email.

Mclarnon quickly responded, asking for even more artillery

and ammunition.

He wants scoped sniper rifles, different guns with

silencers on them.

He wants explosive devices.

Narrator: While mclarnon was eager to add those items to his

arsenal, the f.B.I. Was focused on confiscating the two weapons

he already had.

He informed me that he had a .38 revolver.

He also told me that he had a .22 caliber rifle.

I knew that was going to be a problem.

One of our objectives was to try and get his firearms away

from him so that in the event that he decided he's not going

to meet with Mike anymore, but at least we had the firearms

away from him.

They are concerned that he's going to go take the two guns

that he owns and conducts a murder.

So, mcgowan and I come up with a way to try to get him to bring

his guns to the next meeting.

What if we conducted a deal where you include your guns as

part of the deal, I'll cut off some money on the overall

purchase price of the items you're trying to buy.

Narrator: Meanwhile, special agent leblanc ordeed the

weapons mclarnon had requested from the f.B.I. Laboratory in

Quantico.

We have a program that will provide inert firearms and

explosives for operations like this.

And so, I put a request in to the laboratory to get a pistol

with a silencer, to get an ak-47 with the required magazines and

ammunition, as well as hand grenades.

Narrator: Just eight days after the first meeting,

gibeley-- posing as the arms dealer-- had a second face-to-

face meeting with mclarnon at that gun store.

The second meeting, at this point, now, is to formalize the

terms of the deal, have an exchange of money, and to get

those firearms out of his hand.

Narrator: As part of his plan, gibeley gave clear

instructions to mclarnon to leave his guns in the car.

I explained to him, the owner doesn't like that.

Leave it in the trunk, and I'll come out and get it.

And he agreed to that.

Mr. Mclarnon comes to the store for our second meeting.

He's supposed to leave the gun in the car.

He does not.

He immediately pulls it out of his pocket.

He has his finger on the trigger.

He is a foot and a half away from me.

Like any human, my first instinct is, I'm looking at the

wrong side of a gun, and I was scared.

No doubt about it.

He actually now had a gun in the meeting with Mike, so we

were very concerned.

The best thing I can come up with is, the licensed firearms

dealer needs to make sure that the gun is properly, safely

rendered in his store.

So, I say out loud to the store owner:

Narrator: The gun store owner handed the gun to gibeley.

There were no bullets in the chamber.

The next immediate thing that crosses my mind is, I'm fine

now, I'm okay, we're past it.

But I don't know if my gear is working, so I don't know if the

SWAT team heard me.

I'm trying, through my own coded language, to say to these

guys, I'm all right, all right?

But all I can picture in my head is 25 SWAT operators dressed in

fatigues and shields and flashlights and assault rifles

crashing through every window and every door.

By that time in his career, Mike had probably seen 50

examples of what to do or what not to do in training.

He's calm.

He's focused.

He thinks quickly when he needs to.

Narrator: Changing the subject, gibeley asks mclarnon

to inspect a series of photos of the weapons he ordered.

Mclarnon had a plan and was determined to go through with

some sort of violence.

Right after the situation with which Mr. Mclarnon pulls

out his .38, we start negotiating for the sale of a

grenade.

I realize immediately I just made a huge mistake.

I get nervous, and I tell him, "you have 30 seconds."

I know a grenade goes off in three seconds.

Being a bomb technician and a former marine, I know it doesn't

take 30 seconds for a hand grenade to go off, so i'm

cursing Mike's name at that point.

That could blow the whole operation.

One slip of the tongue, you can cost yourself an

investigation or your life.

If you work undercover enough, there's no cut.

There's no second take. It's not a movie.

It's real.

When you make a mistake, you've got to roll with it.

I know how long it takes for a grenade to go off.

It's not 30 seconds.

What's going through my mind is, does he know I'm not really an

army person?

Is he going to back out of the deal?

Narrator: All along, mclarnon was under the impression that

gibeley was an ex soldier.

Now, agents worried gibley's slip-up could place the mission

in jeopardy.

Edward mclarnon was either going to pick up on that because

he's going to believe, well, wait a minute, this individual

had been telling me he's been in the army and yet he doesn't know

how long it takes for a hand grenade to go off?

And so, that was a major concern, that that could out

Mike.

We broke undercover 101 rule: Don't be who you aren't.

But in this case, we didn't have a choice.

I had to be the army guy.

I've never been a day in the army.

You can prepare as much as possible, and something still

can go wrong.

And that's where your instinct, your experience and your

training should take over.

Just like playing ball-- if you make a fumble, you get ready for

the next play.

Narrator: Outside the gun store, the SWAT team and agent

Brian leblanc listened in, anxious to hear gibeley's next

move.

Narrator: But mclarnon remained fixated on the timing

of the grenades.

Mclarnon will not leave the 30-second issue alone, and he

continues to talk about how he wants to place the grenades

either under a car or inside the car of the judges as they're

pulling into the federal courthouse.

And he's afraid the judge is going to have time to throw it

back at him.

Narrator: So, gibeley decided to own his mistake, asking the

gun shop owner about grenades.

Narrator: The gun shop owner told him three to 30 seconds.

I begin to basically tell him, hey, I made a mistake.

I know it's not 30.

I don't know why that came out of my mouth.

But I tell you what, I will confirm with my army personnel

the exact time that you are looking for.

Narrator: Confident that he had diffused the situation,

gibeley continued to try and close the deal.

During the meeting, we agree that he was going to buy two

firearms, one with a silencer on it, two hand grenades and a

bunch of ammunition, essentially, in exchange for

about $700 and his two firearms.

Mr. Mclarnon handed me $450 as down payment.

We then agreed that I would send him a message in coded terms

later that day, saying, "let's get together tomorrow for

coffee."

Narrator: Just before the meeting ended, gibeley gave

mclarnon one last chance to reconsider.

There were numerous occasions in which I said to him things

such as, "hey, if you don't want to do this, there's the door,"

or "if you don't want to do this, no problem, I'll give you

your money back."

So, I started to rehash with him, tell me again why you want

to do this?

And it was clear to me that this didn't bother him at all.

Narrator: Instead of arresting mclarnon on the spot,

the f.B.I., wanting to make the strongest case possible, made

the decision to move forward with the final phase of the

undercover operation.

We had had an exchange of money and an agreement at that

point.

I'm comfortable that we could have made an arrest potentially

there, but he doesn't have custody of any of the equipment

yet.

I developed an operational plan and an arrest plan in

coordination with the SWAT team leader.

During the planning process, we conducted a site survey of

the area where everyone is going to be.

We sat down with the undercovers and stepped through exactly

what, how the plan was going to play out.

Narrator: Now, the f.B.I. Had to find a good location for the

final meet.

They chose a rest stop in seabrook, New Hampshire, just

over the border from massachussetts.

I knew he was coming from the north shore of Massachusetts.

He knew I was a New Hampshire guy.

I told him I did not want to travel interstate with the

firearms.

During an arrest like that in a public area, we can't stop

traffic.

We can't vacate the rest area.

It needs to seem like a normal course of business.

We train on the different scenarios that we can expect.

We're always concerned about what we call a rip, that he was

just going to steal the stuff from Mike, possibly shoot him.

Narrator: Later that night, another email was sent to

mclarnon with directions to the location.

After I posted in the draft folder the location and the time

of the meeting, it didn't take Edward very long to reply and

confirm that he was going to be coming.

It is a nerve-wracking period of those 24 hours, waiting to

see what's going to happen.

Is he going to show up with a weapon and try and do something?

And then, ultimately, is he going to follow through with the

purchase?

We knew that this person was considered armed and dangerous.

What is a little surprising is when grenades are in play.

Mclarnon was moving so quickly to get the items he

needed to go through with his plan.

We want to make sure that we're always one step ahead so

that nobody gets hurt.

There's a lot of moving parts on takedown day.

My overall mindset is, let's finalize the deal and then give

a safe and effective takedown sign so the SWAT team can do

what it has to do.

Surveillance had the plane up, and ground surveillance was

following mclarnon from his house.

Narrator: The f.B.I. SWAT team was in position.

F.b.i. Veteran Brian leblanc knew what was at stake.

Everybody's a bit nervous.

It's that combination of not knowing, one, is Edward going to

follow through with this plan?

Two, is Mike going to be safe?

If you're not nervous, you're either doing it wrong or

something's wrong with you, period.

Narrator: Wired with a hidden camera, Mike gibeley made his

way to mclarnon's parked car.

Quite honestly, I had had enough of him, all the

conversation we're having about killing people, how much he

hates the f.B.I.

I was looking forward to this being over.

There's no small talk anymore.

For him, it's go time.

We walk over to the back of my vehicle, where we have a

hockey bag that has all of the items that I showed him.

It's clear to me he just wants the bag, and he wants to go.

I'm not going to let him do that.

I'm going to now get one more opportunity to show for the jury

every single item that he's going to take.

Each moment that goes on that Mike is having a discussion with

mclarnon at the rear of the vehicle is one more second that

mclarnon could decide to do something bad to Mike.

Honestly, it seems like an eternity.

I point to the bag.

He reaches in the trunk...

...puts the bag on his shoulder.

He turns and starts walking in the opposite direction.

I give the arrest signal, and I can see the SWAT team coming.

And at that point, my job is to get out of the way.

Narrator: With gibeley out of harm's way, it was go time.

The SWAT operators in that first vehicle had their m4

rifles pointed at Mr. Mclarnon, yelling at him to get his hands

up.

Brought Mr. Mclarnon to the ground and safely got him under

arrest.

Narrator: It took three weeks for the f.B.I. To build their

case, but the arrest of Edward mclarnon was over in just

minutes.

Narrator: Special agent leblanc let mclarnon know the

f.b.i. Had already built a strong case.

F.b.i. Had already built a strong case.

Narrator: Mclarnon said the f.B.I. Had it all wrong.

He had a unique defense.

He claimed he was writing a movie and buying weapons as part

of his research.

He claimed he never planned to hurt anyone

he claimed he never planned to hurt anyone

Narrator: Mclarnon represented himself in court and

claimed he was the one working undercover.

The trial lasted six days.

It took the jury just four hours to find mclarnon guilty.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

I do this work for a number of reasons, but one of the

biggest reasons I do it for is that personal satisfaction of

taking an individual like Edward mclarnon off the street.

I truly believe that if he hadn't been arrested, we would

have been hearing about him on the news, and it wouldn't have

been for a good reason.

One of my favorite lines is, "no one's ever arrested a

computer."

At some point, you're going to have to go face to face with

somebody and make it happen.

So, that's why we have to spend the appropriate time, effort and

energy keeping this technique alive and well.

I would do this job for food money.

It doesn't just turn on and off.

It's not a profession.

It's an obsession.

It's how you live your life.

It would not be fair to say this hasn't impacted my family, and

it's been challenging at times over the years.

The phone rings, we go.

There's a problem, we go.

We fight for people who don't have the ability to fight for

themselves.

It's one of the things I Cherish most about this job is being in

that role, and that's why it's worth it.

There was only one suspect in this case.

Who else would want this sweet, young lady murdered?

Decades later, the prime suspect arrested,

but a witness changes everything.

I kept the secret for 30 years.