European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Muchiel Levins infiltrated underworld organizations Lor the Federal drug enforcement administration. Deep cover Federal agent leaves underworld after 21 years by Peter kerb new York times ome drug traders Lisl saw him As a Horom smuggler in Thailand others Mot him As a cocaine buyer in Buenos Aires and others As a gun runner in Bullaro . He can recall How they All looked Inlo his eyes trusted him and As a result Well to prison. So As Michael Levine a special agent of the Federal drug enforcement administration sat Down to dinner Al a restaurant in Greenwich Village in Manhattan his eyes shifted from table to Able in search of a familiar face he was armed with a Boyish smite under a thick Mustache and a 9mrn automatic pistol under his Pant leg. Levino is described by his Agency As an expert in deep cover an agent who assumes invented characters to penetrate underworld organizations. It Means living among criminals Tor weeks or months unable to return Homo or admit 0 anyone one s real Nemo you create the person they want you to  said Lovino 46, speaking of suspected criminals it s a slow process because lust you have to know who they want  after playing the port of Underwood figures Loi the Federal government for 21 years. Levins now works As a supervisor in the drug enforcement administration s now York Soltice. His eyes Are dark. His words recall the past in the Tough cadences of his native Bronx. Sometimes i be thought i be got nothing but this Job he said. My wife would say. I did t sign up or this. I married an accountant " deep cover specialists play a crucial Tola in ih9 Agency s Long term narcotics investigations As Well As saturday. July 26, 1986 in  investigations of the  Bureau of investigation. The durum of alcohol tobacco and firearms of the Tioar. Dupar Lmont and Sonu local Puhac Dopa a meals Over several Hoins Levins outlined How i . N up a career As an Mccoun Tinl to become a ill Viil a pal. How he teamed to in Cril and portray chiir.irtnr1  criminals would Trust and How or Narf Coll Narvik rope with the psychological Strain Ollil Noah in and Oil of deep cover you have to Divide your brain in . 1 Como  " ins half is the character you am playing always a Federal agent to Coidin Iho Delair that 15 a  official in us Roc in if can Cost you your  Letine. Who Lias acted in Community  productions. Said acting in the Thimler  easy compared with playing roles undercover the audience is sometimes Sik inches any from your Laca and far More critical to said he admits thai his career involves som Elhine like an addiction to the last paced and deadly Way of lilo known Only to International drug traffickers and the people who try to apprehend them but to says it is also an acl o vengeance on Buchal of his younger brother who died a heroin addict. At one Point i foil that if i could till the ails i could Chic him. " he said of his brother who died in 1977 but there was nothing i could do his salvation was in his own  Lovic was born to polish jewish immigrants m the Bronx in 1939. During his nil re Good Blacks and puerto Picans were moving into the neighbourhood As jews and Kali ans Var pro moving Oul to fit in and survive he joined n Loen age gang dominated by puerto Picans eventually to grow Inlo a Lough Streel fighter 6 feet 1 and weighing More than 200 pounds with a keen ear Tor Spanish dialects to 969, in his his Dusl map deep cover of radon As an agent for alcohol tobacco and firearms he pined a Bulla Sci motorcycle gang the Knight  that was believed to be soiling drugs and arms. At the end of three months a dozen gang members wore Aries cd for soiling guns drugs and explosives in 1973, Levino became in agent of the drug enforcement administration Over Iho years fio has been stationed in new York Washington Miami Buenos Aires and West Germany and has followed  to Asia South America and the Middle East. Otten they required deep cover Idon lilies in Thailand Levine used Hall of a torn photograph of himself and an american drug buyer to Gam entry to a major heroin Syndicate Ailer two weeks the heroin wholesalers Weso arrested by thai police from Argentina Luvino sent informers Anlo Bolivia to put out the word that a puerto rican named Miguel was in Buenos Aires ready to buy cocaine Lor a major american organized Crima family. An emissary of Roberto Suarcz Gomez. The Hoa Dol a bolivian cocaine Empire Camo to Argentina to negotiate a Deal the representative. Marcello Ibanez Velez Mel Miguel Over dinner in Buenos Aires. To was very much a family Man Levine recalled he did t drink. His profession was cocaine As i sat there i created a character a Palm Man a family Man. A businessman. He docs l drink he is soft spoken. Someone you can Trust very decent " the two men became friends and Lovinc invited Banoz to Miami to see his Homo family and Coamo processing operation. When Ibanez arrived in Miami he saw Miguel s lilo As constructed by the Medcraf government and acted Oul by agents a Wile servants. Pilots a luxurious Beach House limousines in air plane. A cocaine processing Plant and a $9 million Roll of Cash. Ii was a seduction Levine said. There was a real relationship happening the feelings Are genuine. They have to be taken in Ibanez agreed to Fly to the bolivian Jungle with Levine s Pilot to sell them Coamo Bui As he was about to Board the plane Ibanez turned of him Levine recalls and said if some hmm is wrong Miguel you arc a few incurs later the agents seized 854 pounds of cocaine i Canez and another cocaine dealer eventually were returned to the United states and sentenced to 13 years in prison. According to informers Suarcz. Iho fiend of the cocaine Empire up out a $150,000 contract on Levine s life. The stars and stripes Page 13