Ready for some good news from the feds for a change? A&E has it. On Dec. 9, the network that redefined unscripted television debuts its newest effort, Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force.
The series is the result of exclusive access granted to A&E by the United States Department of Justice, allowing the network to film real-life manhunts led by the New York/New Jersey unit of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. The force, mandated by Congress in the wake of 9/11, combines 92 federal, state and local agencies into a single crime-fighting unit with nationwide jurisdiction. Since its inception in May 2002, the force has plucked a jaw-dropping 28,000 murderers, rapists, terror suspects, drug runners and other felons from America’s streets.
And, says head ‘hunter Cmdr. Lenny DePaul, it’s high time you and I realized it.
“The American people need to know what’s happening out there — nobody knows,” DePaul laments. “And it’s important for us, being congressionally funded. So we were approached by a couple of producers who said, ‘Let’s showcase what you guys are doing. Taking violent people off the street — what better way to spend the American taxpayers’ dollars? Best bang for your buck!’ I ran it up the flagpole to our folks in Washington and they said, ‘Let’s run with it.'”
Once those producers realized exactly how far up the crime-fighting food chain they’d landed, however, they were inclined to do some running of their own — far, far away from DePaul’s office. “They had no idea what they had here; they thought we were a parole office and we were looking for absconders,” DePaul chuckles. “Once they figured out they hit the mother lode, they were like, “Uh, we don’t really do that kind of stuff …” and I was like, “Sit down, guys. Let me talk to you.”
DePaul admits that marshalling a round-the-clock, revolving roster of cops and cameramen is something of a task in itself, but nothing like the day-to-day dangers his investigators call just another day at work. “When you’re hitting a door at 5 o’clock in the morning, don’t think there’s not somebody on the other side wanting to kill you,” the commander says. “There’s quality control for us. You have to have your mindset where it’s, ‘OK, guys, there’s a camera there, but don’t get distracted because we’ve got work to do.'”
And, OK, ladies, if all this tough talk has you thinking you’ll hit the sheets early on Tuesdays, you might want to think again. Two of DePaul’s top partners in crime fighting are girls with guns: Deputy U.S. Marshal Michelle “Michy” Mendez — who accompanies her bosses on a west coast hunt and has their gangster in handcuffs by the time the men make the scene — and Deputy U.S. Marshal Roxanne Lopez, a tiny firecracker who lightens up the night watch with a tale about her mother’s unwitting friends spotting her in disguise, er, working a street corner.
“The camaraderie is amazing; it’s a force multiplier,” DePaul says of his team. “We’re a worldwide operation — we’re on the ground in several countries — and this web of investigators, this camaraderie has really proved itself.
“I mean, years ago to make a phone call to Davenport, Iowa, and try to get somebody on the line who knew anything about the man-hunting business,” he explains “and then a week later, somebody gets back to you? It really works well when you can call Fort Lauderdale and say, ‘Hey, Buddy, how’s things been? Good. Listen, do me a favor … ‘ and five minutes later, he’s knocking on the door of the place you’re looking for some information. It’s good to have everybody on board.”
But if you’re worried about everybody’s cover being blown by the TV cameras, don’t be. “The local detectives that have done undercover work know they are now being exposed,” DePaul says firmly. “Everyone that is being filmed will not have an issue with being filmed.”
In fact, the pairing has worked so well that DePaul is not above a little good-natured ribbing of his A&E partners. “You know what our biggest problem is?” he teases. “I don’t want to sound like an idiot here, but we arrest people so fast that they don’t get their commercial breaks. I can’t tell you the countless times that we’ve been filming and we wrap it up in a day. They’re like, ‘Gawd … !! Lots of B-roll! Move on to the next one!'”
