Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 10/30/2024.
What do you do when all that you know and hold dear is jeopardized due to a false accusation from your own government? In this talk, Michael McGowan shares his surreal and harrowing ordeal and his road back to redemption.
One minute you’re going undercover as a mobster, drug trafficker, contract killer or international crime boss. Just a short drive home later, you’re a typical parent: coaching sports, doing yard chores and training puppies, with no one (not even your spouse) suspecting how you’ve really spent your day. As one of the FBI’s most senior, experienced, and accomplished Undercover Agents, McGowan’s work put him in the darkest and most dangerous situations one can imagine. Not exactly your typical “day at the office.” Keeping the nature of your real work a secret from your spouse and family and having to be away for months at a time can take its toll on any relationship, but McGowan was committed to both, as stressful as it was. McGowan gives audiences insight into what it’s like to truly live a double life, a “True Lies” movie scenario that, in McGowan’s case, was all too real.
Infiltrating the world of the most evil, dangerous and cunning men on earth takes skill and knowledge beyond what many of us can imagine. It means learning to think, act, dress, talk and manipulate like them. It’s remembering that bad guys have no rules to follow, while the good guys have legal and Constitutional requirements to consider. It’s trying to convince real bad guys, murderers and killers in some cases, that someone who has spent his whole life on the straight and narrow to become an FBI agent, is as bad (or even worse) than they are. The danger of being exposed while on an covert FBI mission was all too real, a daily walk on a tightrope without a safety net with potential life-or-death consequences. In this talk McGowan shares some of the most intricate moves of this real life chess match between good and evil, where losing is not an option.
From infiltrating three separate Mafia Families over 10 years, to pursuing infamous drug lord “El Chapo” Guzman into the depths of Mexico’s drug cartels, to investigating the Boston Marathon bombings, Michael McGowan has been on the front lines of some of the most notorious cases in the headlines. As an undercover FBI agent successfully infiltrating criminals from Italian and Russian organized crime groups to outlaw motorcycle gangs and contract hit men and corrupt public officials, McGowan has been recognized at the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice both domestically and internationally. He also used his invaluable experience to lead and help train the next generation of FBI Undercover Agents, serving as an instructor at the FBI Undercover Certification School in Quantico, Virginia and providing instruction at the FBI’s academy in Budapest, Hungary. In this talk, McGowan shares his unique firsthand perspective of how these and other cases went down as well as the strategy and skills used to bring these criminals to justice.
Michael R. McGowan is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Falsely Accused, The Life of an FBI Undercover Agent, Good vs. Evil: The Ultimate Chess Match and FBI: The Real Story Behind the Headlines. The estimated speaking fee range to book Michael R. McGowan for your event is available upon request. Michael R. McGowan generally travels from Torrance, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Alex S. Vitale, Agnieszka Fryszman, Dan Kovalik, Daniel Markovits and Andrew Leon Hanna. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Michael R. McGowan for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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