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This undercover FBI agent lived in his van in B.C. during a "completely illegal" mission

Before and after photos of special agent?, taken from his book, Deep Cover Researching for our BC Was Awesome show leads me down some interesting rabbit holes on the internet, and this week I was down one I came across a new history blog as well as a

 Before and after photos of FBI special agent Cril Payne from his book, Deep CoverBefore and after photos of special agent?, taken from his book, Deep Cover

Researching for our BC Was Awesome show leads me down some interesting rabbit holes on the internet, and this week I was down one I came across a new history blog as well as an offbeat story I hadn't heard before.

The Kütne Reader blog is a project by Greg Nesteroff (of the Kootenays, of course). Launched in March of this year, in it he expands on all variety of historical tidbits from the southwestern corner of our province.

One story that caught my eye is about an FBI special agent by the name of Cril Payne who came to British Columbia in 1973 using the pseudonym Bill Lane.

Disguised as a hippie living in a van, his mission was to gather information on a group called the Weathermen, a "militant organization that wanted to overthrow US imperialism and claimed responsibility for bombing the US Capitol, Pentagon, and other government buildings".

Payne's story has many twists and turns, and he wound up writing a book called Deep Cover where he blew the lid off all of it.

Read THIS POST on the Kütne Reader blog for a look into the story.