Inside an auto theft sting

More than 20 men now face charges ranging from auto theft to drug dealing to engaging in organized crime. Any confusion they may have had about how the cops knew what they’d been up to was about to be cleared up.

One by one, they meet with the police who let them in on a secret: the fencing operation actually was a police sting. And every transaction  in the warehouse was caught on tape.

Some of them agreed to watch our videotape from the warehouse—watch themselves selling stolen property.  What did they have to say?   

P: I haven’t stole—physically stole anything. I only looked out.

Victoria Corderi, Dateline correspondent: So you were a lookout?

P:  That’s it.

Corderi:  But you’re here accepting money for the car, right?

P: But that money wasn’t even for me.

Corderi: What do you think when you look at this?

P: I feel like a loser now, watching myself.

He later pleaded guilty to an organized crime charge.

Another man said he was just a driver.

Davidson: I mean I don’t steal the cars.  They just send me to drive them.

Organized crime charges against him are still pending.

And remember "Big George"?

Corderi: What was your role in the operation?

"Big George": One-time thing, they tell me it was quick. I didn’t even steal no car or nothing.  I just drove 25 feet.

Corderi: You know, everyone I talked to says they were just driving.

"Big George": I just drove—

Corderi: It reminds me of when I go to jail and everyone says they’re innocent.

"Big George": Yes ma’am.

Corderi: So, is that true?

"Big George": No, not me. I mean, I don’t even know how to steal a car, you know, honest to God. 

He says the cops have it all wrong. Remember when he said he could deliver special guns?

"Big George": You can take it through a metal detector and it won’t go through, it won’t beep.

Now he says that was all talk.

Corderi: Now you’re talking that you can get ceramic pistols. What about that?

"Big George":  I was just bulls***ing with the guy, seeing if he’ll buy into it.

Corderi: Here you’re making it like you’re a big player in this video.

"Big George":  I was trying to make the dude that was giving me the money think, you know, that I had not that we can get more. 

He pleaded guilty to organized crime charges.

One of the men who said he could find a machine gun now, he says differently as well.

"Smokey": I was just bullsh**ing him.  I was just talking sideways.

But he did plead guilty to aggravated theft.

Only one of the men we spoke with made no excuses: "Whiteboy."

"Whiteboy": The opportunity was there. I took it. And that’s that. I know I’m going to serve lots of time then for my mistake and that’s all I can do. And I obviously made a mistake, I do realize that.

"Whiteboy" says it’s a matter of money. He has none… and his victims seem to have plenty.

"Whiteboy":  Wealthy people having plenty of money. I know it’s cars, I know they got, you know, full coverage insurance, it’s just gonna be replaced later on.

Corderi: So, what’s the harm?

"Whiteboy": Yeah.

"Whiteboy" also pleaded guilty to organized crime charges and the few remaining cases of those arrested are still pending.

And what about the informant who helped take his fellow thieves off the street? 

Remember he said he’d wanted to cooperate so he could make money and escape the gang life? He made $18,000 for his role in the sting. Has he been able to start a new life?

Tio, undercover police officer: He spent those $18,000.  It’s gone.

Corderi: Gone?

Tio:  Up his nose, drinking it, running with his buddies—

Corderi: And he got in trouble again?

Tio: And since then, he’s been arrested twice.

Corderi: So, that made it clear to you that what?

Tio: That he’s not willing to change and get outta that lifestyle.

In fact, when we spoke with the informant, he said he was preparing for the worst if and when people find out he was the snitch.

Corderi:  Have you been in fear since the sting?  Have you been scared?

Informant: Well there’s a lot of guns pointed at me again. Payback’s a b**ch.

Corderi:   You think you’re in for payback?

Informant: I’m not in for payback, I’m just ready for it.

FOR MORE INFORMATION List: Cars most often stolen Don't make it easy for car thieves: Some tips

Police say the informant on drug charges. And the undercover cops?  They’re already working new cases.

What they leave behind are some very grateful people. There were 33 victims to be exact—victims of auto thefts and carjackings who got back vehicles they never expected to see again.

So the warehouse operation is out of business for now. And across town, that girlie bar faces prostitution and other vice charges. It is missing a crew of regulars—men who had no idea that this night of fun just a few months before, was really a goodbye party.

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