One of the DEA’s first female undercover agents, Patricia Naughton sits down with Giovanni and Dutch to talk about her experience inside the life. While bonding over the risks they were all willing to take, Naughton describes how she went from small narcotics buys as a city police officer to infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs and the Detroit Mafia as a woman in the 1980s. During an incredibly violent era in Detroit’s history, Naughton had the unique experience of crossing paths and fostering relationships with some of the city’s most influential and powerful criminals.

Beginning her career in law enforcement as a police officer in the 1970s, Patricia Naughton graduated as Indiana’s first female class president and worked undercover narcotics for both her own agency and other jurisdictions throughout the state. In 1978, she joined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of the one percent of female agents. She began working clandestine labs and went on to become the DEA’s first female weapons instructor, training her own division as well as a guest instructor for the FBI and DEA agents at the FBI Academy at Quantico, while also acting as her own hazardous response team’s weapons trainer. She later assisted in the creation of DEA’s National Trauma Team, serving as one of its first members, responding to all critical incidents in the field.