Within the FBI, the street agent is the heart of the Bureau. He or she detects criminal activity, decides how best to attack it, and systematically dismantles the criminal enterprise.

Wayne Manis embodied that role and traveled one of the most diverse courses in FBI history. He went undercover with the violent faction of The Weather Underground on the far left, worked with the Ku Klux Klan on the far right, and also investigated the Mafia and related organized crime figures.

As a team leader of an FBI SWAT Team, he engaged bank robbers, fugitives, and terrorists, participating in shootings and killings—not of strangers, but of people he had come to know. Their stories intertwined with his and remain deeply personal.

Near the end of his fascinating career, Manis spearheaded the FBI’s largest domestic terrorism investigation prior to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Targeting a white supremacist group known as The Order, he led a team searching for terrorists who threatened members of Congress with a formal Declaration of War. They assassinated enemies, committed bombings and robberies—including a $3.6 million Brink’s truck heist—and used the stolen money to purchase advanced weaponry. This investigation became the FBI’s top case, with the Director briefed daily. As the case agent, Manis lived this war and survived a fiery gun battle with the group’s leader.

The Street Agent chronicles cases in which Manis served as the case agent, immersing listeners in the high-stakes chases, shootouts, and undercover operations he led. Events are recounted through his eyes as they unfolded with terrorists, Klansmen, mobsters, and murderers. Now free to tell his story, Manis offers an unfiltered view of an FBI that demands absolute courage and unyielding dedication at street level.