Award Winning Reporter Shares Story of America’s Biggest Drug Bust That All Started in Detroit
Journalist Jake Halpern and former FBI agent Ned Timmons discuss Deep Cover, their podcast about Timmons's 1980s undercover mission, which uncovered a smuggling ring tied to Manuel Noriega and led to the U.S. invasion of Panama.
About This Episode
Jake Halpern is a prolific journalist, storyteller, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Ned Timmons is a former FBI agent who spearheaded investigations in the 1980s that led to the indictments of the world’s most dangerous drug smugglers. Together, they’ve collaborated on Deep Cover, a podcast detailing one of Ned’s undercover missions that unwittingly led to the U.S.’s invasion of Panama.
In this compelling episode of Open Mike, Jake and Ned discuss the creative journey they underwent during production of Deep Cover, insights they’ve gleaned from each other along the way, and reasons that undercover assignments of this magnitude could never happen in the present day. Jake also reflects on ways his 2018 Pulitzer Prize has affected his life and career.
Show Notes
- Introducing today’s first guest, Jake Halpern
- Jake’s background and epic, fantasy series Dormia
- In addition to writing for dozens of publications, you teach at Morse University (no relation). How do you like being a professor?
- You won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 — what was that like?
- When you say you wrote a graphic narrative, a “true comic” about a refugee family’s immigration experience… is it funny?
- What is the book called?
- Is it a strip?
- Is winning a Pulitzer like winning an Academy Award? Since then, how has your career changed?
- Your podcast Deep Cover with Ned Timmons is amazing. It hasn’t been out very long, but you have over two thousand five-star reviews. Do you know how many downloads you have?
- Ned’s background, time as an FBI agent, involvement in the overthrowing of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega
- How did you learn about Ned and what made you decide to collaborate on this podcast?
- How long did Deep Cover take to investigate and record?
- How many episodes is it?
- Introducing Ned Timmons! Welcome back Ned. How’d it feel to hear us talking about you for the last twenty minutes?
- Ned, how was the experience working with Jake for the last year-and-a-half?
- Ned, when you were telling these stories, part of the shock factor is that you were a one-man operation, doing some amazing, dangerous work, making life-or-death decisions without supervision.
- Why do you think this story is resonating with millions of people, right now?
- Ned, what is it about you that kept you from being scared and paranoid, that allowed you to do this?
- Jake, why do you think there are millions of downloads, what is resonating with people?
- With COVID-19 and a divisive political climate, this story has mass nostalgic and escapist appeal
- Ned, what is it about Jake’s story-telling that is so special? What did you learn from him?
- Ned’s ex-wife witnessed him bringing burdens of work home with him; their marriage story is the most powerful element of the narrative
- Jake, you also have a movie called Secrets of the Temple coming out; when is that being released?
- Thank you for watching this episode of the Open Mike podcast!
FAQs
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What is the podcast Deep Cover about?
Halpern describes the premise, drawn from Ned Timmons’s fictionalized memoir: an FBI agent goes undercover into a biker gang in the early 1980s, flips a few bikers, infiltrates a massive drug smuggling ring and works his way up, finding that the man at the very top is Manuel Noriega. That gets blown up in congressional hearings, which expose Noriega and lead to the invasion of Panama.
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How did Jake Halpern verify Ned Timmons's story before turning it into a podcast?
Halpern says he told Timmons he would need to vet every aspect of the story that was possible: dig up the agents he served with, find the kingpins in the smuggling operation, find court and FBI records, and question Timmons again and again. Pushkin, the production company that funded the project, hired three producers and a fact checker. Halpern says Timmons even introduced him to people whose memories differed from his own.
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Does Ned Timmons think an undercover operation like his could happen again?
Timmons says that although he was based out of the Detroit division, he was assigned to Tampa, North Carolina, Louisiana and Colorado, and the Detroit division didn’t even know where he was. He says he doesn’t think the FBI will ever again give an agent that much latitude; his case was so big that every division wanted him there, along with his source, to go over all the evidence.
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How did winning the Pulitzer Prize change Jake Halpern's career?
Halpern says that after winning the 2018 Pulitzer for Welcome to the New World, his New York Times comic series about a refugee family, “your calls get answered much faster,” Yale immediately agreed to a raise he asked for, and people began approaching him with projects, letting him be “a lot more picky and choosy.” He says agreeing to work on Ned’s story came from that position of choice.
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What role did Ned Timmons's ex-wife Kathy play in the Deep Cover story?
Halpern says Ned’s ex-wife Kathy, who was also an FBI agent, had a phenomenal perspective: she saw what Ned brought home as a husband, including the stress from the field, and she also had the perspective of an FBI agent. He calls her in a way the co-narrator, and says the storyline of their marriage is the most powerful story in the narrative.
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