The author served on Detroit Police Department as an investigator. He spent about 25 years on federal task forces. He retired in 2020.

By Ira Todd

There are few men in this business whose lives testify to courage, principle, and relentless dedication.

Christopher “Hat-Trick” Hess, who just retired from the FBI in Detroit as an assistant special agent in charge, is one of those men.

I stood shoulder to shoulder with him during Detroit’s darkest hours in the 1990s until around 2017 while working on the violent crime task force in multiple operations, in the high-stakes cases, and on what we called “APE’s” acute political emergencies in Detroit and throughout the country and on the rough streets where life and death decisions are made in a heartbeat.

In him, I saw what an FBI leader ough

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