Charlie Spillers Interview: Confessions of an Undercover Agent

Charlie Spillers of Oxford, Mississippi, a former career federal prosecutor, is the author of “Confessions of an Undercover Agent: Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll of a Double Life” published by University Press of Mississippi.  The book describes his experiences during a decade of undercover crime fighting and narrow escapes.  As a young officer with the Baton Rouge Police department, ex-Marine Charlie Spillers went undercover to infiltrate criminal groups.  During almost six years undercover his closest associates were safecrackers, burglars and drug traffickers.  But the longer he worked, the greater the risks. His final and perhaps most significant action in Baton Rouge was leading a battle against corruption in the police department itself.  After Baton Rouge, he joined the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and for the next five years continued working undercover, from the Gulf Coast to Memphis; and from New Orleans to Houston, Texas.   Playing different roles and adopting multiple identities, he infiltrated drug trafficking groups, auto theft rings, and drug smuggling operations.  During his last undercover operation drug smugglers delivered 3,000 pounds of marijuana to him in Houston, Texas.  He capped off a unique career by becoming a career federal prosecutor stationed in Oxford.  While with the Department of Justice (DOJ), he volunteered and served three tours in Iraq.  First as an attorney-advisor to the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court that tried Saddam Hussein, Chemical Ali and other high level regime members.  He then served as the Justice Attaché for Iraq and led a joint project to disrupt al Qaeda terrorist financing.