THE EXOTIC DANCER VS THE TERRORISTS
Reader's Digest India|May 2023
USING HER WITS AND GUILE, SHE HELPED CAPTURE SOME OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MEN IN AMERICA
Jeff Maysh
THE EXOTIC DANCER VS THE TERRORISTS

At 15, Williams fell in love with an 18-year-old grocery store manager. She dropped out of high school, and they moved in together. At 19, she gave birth to a daughter. Amanda (not her real name) was deaf, autistic and unable to talk. The young parents scraped by with odd jobs until 13 months later, when they had a son, and money got even tighter.

Williams began working as a cocktail waitress at various nightclubs. With a glamorous Farrah Fawcett hairstyle, she looked like “a sailor’s dream,” said a neighbour. At Tiffany’s Cabaret, she jumped on stage during amateur night and was quickly promoted to exotic dancer. She loved the thrill of transforming each night into Stevie (after singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks), a blond bombshell who whizzed around the pole to AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. Men were obsessed.

She spent her tip money on batteries for her daughter’s hearing aids, and still longed to fight crime. In 1999, after 14 years together, the couple separated.

Fearful that the school system was failing Amanda, Williams enrolled her in a residential home for deaf children, seeing her only on weekends. By 2003, she was cleaning toilets to pay the bills and living with her teenage son in a double-wide trailer. Her brother, known to all as Krusher, lived in a smaller trailer in her backyard.

Krusher was a career criminal who, after selling drugs to an undercover officer, had agreed to go undercover with the Hells Angels.

One day federal agents came to visit Krusher and noticed Williams. “His handler asked me if I was interested in undercover work,” she recalled. “It sounded cool, sort of sexy, you know, the whole spying game.” She would not wait long for her first assignment.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM READER'S DIGEST INDIAView all
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Reader's Digest India

From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi

Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.

time-read
1 min  |
October 2024
Who Wants Coffee?
Reader's Digest India

Who Wants Coffee?

It’s bitter—but beloved around the world

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
Reader's Digest India

Prevent The Pain Of Shingles

You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Reader's Digest India

The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart

Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.

time-read
1 min  |
October 2024
ME & MY SHELF
Reader's Digest India

ME & MY SHELF

Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
SWITCHED
Reader's Digest India

SWITCHED

In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
ECHOES OF THE PAST
Reader's Digest India

ECHOES OF THE PAST

A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC

time-read
6 mins  |
October 2024
Fathers of the Bride
Reader's Digest India

Fathers of the Bride

A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood

time-read
8 mins  |
October 2024
Fiction's Foresight
Reader's Digest India

Fiction's Foresight

British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?

time-read
7 mins  |
October 2024
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
Reader's Digest India

It Happens ONLY IN INDIA

The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024