Not a make believe guy. 3

'Cause they don't want a make believe guy. 4

Right. 5

They want what's here and here, 6

and money in their pocket. 7

My name's Eddie Follis, and for practically three decades 8

I worked as an undercover agent 9

for the United States government, 10

and in particular the United States Marine Corps 11

and Drug Enforcement Administration. 12

As an undercover agent, 13

Eddie Follis put his life on the line countless times 14

to take down what the U.S. government called 15

some of the world's most nefarious drug barons. 16

Embedding himself in places like Egypt, 17

Lebanon, Israel and Pakistan. 18

I would apply for every place 19

that nobody else wanted to go. 20

And where the sources of supply 21

for the various types of drugs 22

were produced and distributed. 23

I just made my mind up. 24

I said I don't care what happens now. 25

I don't care where my life takes me. 26

If I'm gonna do that, 27

I'm gonna make this mandate on my life. 28

And then it was just, like, no course correction. 29

It just happened. 30

In other words, go big or go home. 31

Which is where Eddie started, in California. 32

The first large case that I assembled 33

was the Sam Essell case 34

in Los Angeles and I was a lad. 35

I mean, he thinks I am his partner. 36

His real partner, like brother. 37

And he's told me at times that he values me 38

more than his own brother. 39

Essell worked as a Nigerian drug trafficker, 40

who owned several legit businesses 41

and laundered money through them. 42

The next larger case that I worked on 43

was the Amado Carrillo Fuentes case from Narcos fame. 44

Welcome to the Medellin Cartel. 45

He was known as the Lord of the Skies. 46

And my partner and I, we were able to develop 47

the first warrant on him. 48

And that was out of Juarez, Mexico 49

when I was assigned to El Paso, Texas. 50

Next was Myanmar, tasked with 51

arresting the man then responsible 52

for 80% of the heroin that arrived in the U.S. 53

The Khun Sa Shan army, 54

you know Zhang Quifu, opium warlord empire. 55

17,000 drug insurgence was taken down 56

in the course of two months. 57

The strategic applications of this incredible group. 58

Eddie says that in order to get in good 59

with these kids of guys, you have to give a bit of yourself. 60

I have to call it junctures. 61

You get to a juncture and there's more trust. 62

You get to the next one and there's more trust. 63

So when you convince these people 64

to sell you whatever it is, 65

whatever the contract may be. 66

It could be murder for hire, drugs, you know, any vice, 67

weapons, corruption, whatever. 68

When you get to that juncture, 69

and they look you in the eyes, 70

and they trust you like a brother, 71

then you're in. 72

Then there's no limit to what you can do. 73

Except when it comes to your personal life. 74

With all the major 75

crazy, insane professional satisfaction 76

and success I had in taking down, and being part of four 77

king pin's demise, 78

there is a toll on you. 79

And it never does allow for that stability that's necessary. 80

They said in the Marine Corps, 81

when I first jumped into this trade, 82

if the corps wanted you to have a wife, 83

they'd issue you one, right. 84

And they meant it. 85

And that just kind of carried through 86

implicitly throughout my career. 87

And the times that I did, it didn't work out so well. 88

And it's wholly attributed to me on my side. 89

So there's a price to be paid for anything. 90

Eddie has written a book, 91

consulted on Hollywood films. 92

I thought Dennis was a creature 93

who was the lateral thinker 94

who manages all these different quarrels. 95

That's why you need Dennis. 96

And is working on an upcoming TV series. 97

His incredible story is getting renewed attention 98

through another Hollywood heavy hitter. 99

Ed O'Neill, best known for his roles as Al Bundy in Married 100

with Children and Jay Pritchett in Modern Family, 101

has started a podcast called The Undercovers. 102

A drug deal is about to go down. 103

Two kilos of Southeast Asian number four heroin. 104

Right here, in the middle of the park. 105

In the middle of the day. 106

The first season is a sequencing of my life. 107

Throughout the beginning, fundamentally 108

to the day that I left and parked my badge at DEA. 109

When Eddie looks back at his career 110

he realizes he got there, and stayed there 111

by following some key rules. 112

Like keeping your first name 113

and only changing your last name. 114

Maybe there's dope, drugs, people, 115

arrests coming your way. 116

And somebody may say, "Eddie" and you're gonna' turn. 117

Reflexively, you're not going to be able to help yourself. 118

But, it's okay if the bad guy knows you as Eddie, right? 119

Or paying with fake credit cards. 120

Like, in the beginning, I'd always carry credit cards 121

that were canceled out in my name. 122

So, then if I was out with the crooks, they'd pay for a meal 123

"Ah I'm sorry sir, this one's over limit." 124

"Oh sorry sir." 125

That's what real crooks do. 126

And of course, looking the part. 127

It doesn't matter what the reality is. 128

It's their perception to reality that can get you killed. 129

And you have to control their perception to reality. 130

That's the greatest undercover trick there is. 131

Their reality is a perception of you. 132

It's not the actual reality. 133

That's the trick. 134

For a career intense enough 135

to make anyone wince, Eddie is grateful. 136

Especially to still be alive. 137

It is just incredible to wake up every morning 138

and just be happy to be at the party. 139

For insideedition.com, I'm Stephanie Officer.