FBI AGENT HUNG OUT WITH MADE GUYS WHO KILL UNDERCOVERS

My 12 different identities as an undercover FBI agent

By Michael Kaplan

New York Post
June 3, 2017

Marc Ruskin trafficked in heroin, pedaled stolen jewels, laundered money — and he worked for the good guys.

As an FBI undercover agent, Ruskin maintained about 12 different identities, routinely juggling three at a time. Double- and triple- lives unfold in his memoir “The Pretender” (St. Martin’s Press, out Tuesday).

Currently practicing criminal law, the wiry Ruskin, now 63, retains at least one trapping from his FBI past: On a recent afternoon in Manhattan, he had a gun discreetly holstered beneath the waistband of his pants.

But who can blame him? During his 27 years as a fed, Ruskin was often concerned for his life. As he recalled, “I hung out with made guys who kill undercovers.”

Among the scary dudes he buddied up with: Mahmoud, a violent Middle Easterner who, during the early 1990s, dealt in drivers licenses, Social Security cards and license plates obtained through crooked clerks working out of government offices in Manhattan, Yonkers and The Bronx.

After cold-calling on Mahmoud as Alex Perez, a midlevel gangster with a ponytail and a shady past in Miami, Ruskin registered a hot car, gained trust and infiltrated deep.

He brought various undercover agents to Mahmoud’s travel agency — actually a front — in The Bronx. They played at being drug lords and killers, paying thousands of dollars for new identities and piling up evidence. As Alex, Ruskin met other false-document sellers. One offered counterfeit $50 bills. Alex made the buy. Soon after, a bust went down on East Houston Street.

Meetings usually went smoothly. But during one with Mahmoud, a neophyte FBI agent forgot Ruskin’s undercover name. Mahmoud, backed by bodyguards, got suspicious. He turned angry and barked orders in Arabic.

Understandably paranoid, Ruskin feared that “the guards had been told to close the metal gates in front and bring a van around so they could kill us and take the bodies out the back door.” Then the guy returned with documents. “I told [the newbie agent] to wait outside, turned to Mahmoud and said, ‘Let’s charge this asshole top price.’ Mahmoud smiled. Clearly, I was speaking his language.”

Soon after, Mahmoud and 49 others were arrested. All pleaded guilty or were found guilty. Charges included fraud, counterfeiting and bribery of public officials.

As Ruskin’s career progressed, so did the level of criminal he portrayed. Playing a small role in a 2004 rousting of Genovese crime family members, he was “Daniel Martinez,” an international jewel thief who favored stylish suits. Ruskin provided hot diamonds to be moved on 47th Street and cash to be laundered by a restaurateur with Mafia ties.

Ruskin confessed to being scared on much of that job. One potentially close call came during dinner at a mobbed-up restaurant in Queens. “We were having a good time,” Ruskin said. “Then I went to the men’s room. A guy there patted me down for a wire.” It happened to be one of the rare occasions on which Ruskin was not wearing one.

Post-9/11, Ruskin found himself sidling up to traitorous Americans selling classified information — including dirty-bomb recipes — to foreign governments. One high-profile buy-and-bust focused on a rogue weapons consultant, Roy Lynn Oakley, offering rods used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

Portraying Jean-Marc, a French intelligence officer, Ruskin negotiated a $200,000 deal. At the transaction, Ruskin feared for his life — but not for the usual reasons. “This was my first time buying something that could have been radioactive, leaving me vulnerable to leukemia or bone cancer,” he said.

After trading cash for goods, followed by 30 minutes of incriminating chitchat, Ruskin wrapped things up. “I salute you for helping my country,” he shouted.

That was the signal. “A SWAT team raced out and took [Oakley] down,” remembered Ruskin.

At age 58, a year past mandatory retirement, Ruskin begrudgingly left the FBI. “Given a choice,” he explained, “I would continue indefinitely and go to undercover meets with a walker.”