The Snitch | The Atavist Magazine
In Scott Kimball, the FBI thought it had found a high-value informant who could help solve big cases. What it got instead was lies, betrayal, and murder.
Jordan Michael Smith is a journalist, ghostwriter, and speechwriter. He is the author of Humanity: How Jimmy Carter Lost an Election and Transformed the Post-Presidency. Listen to him discuss “The Snitch” on the Creative Nonfiction podcast. Editor: Jonah Ogles Art Director: Ed Johnson Copy Editor: Sean Cooper Fact Checker: Kate Wheeling Illustrator: Zoë van Dijk Published in May 2021.
Carle Schlaff wanted more out of his job. As an FBI agent, he’d spent more than ten years working low-level drug cases in the bureau’s Denver office. He eventually moved up to investigating organized crime—only to be transferred to the violent-crimes squad and made the liaison to a low-security prison called Englewood, in Littleton, Colorado. It was the sort of job that was good for a rookie, not a veteran. “I was kinda pissed,” Schlaff said.
Schlaff was 42, with two kids, an easy smile, and an unpretentious manner. He was the type of FBI agent who read crime novels in his spare time. He’d grown up watching Hawaii Five-0. He wanted to take down mob bosses, catch serial killers, expose international drug cartels.
