In this episode of Gangland Wire, I sit down with Keith Grounsell, a veteran lawman whose career spanned patrol, specialized units, and high-stakes undercover work with the DEA. Keith takes us inside the hidden world of narcotics investigations, sharing stories that reveal both the danger and the human toll of living a double life.

We talk about how Keith’s upbringing as the son of a Marine pushed him toward public service, and how his path eventually led him into the shadowy world of drug traffickers. He recalls the adrenaline of undercover drug deals, the razor’s-edge risks, and the constant challenge of protecting his cover while keeping his integrity as a cop intact.

Keith also reflects on the strain this life put on his family and the psychological pressure of staying in character for months at a time. His advice to new officers is candid and practical—emphasizing the need for physical fitness, community ties, and strong mental health to survive the demands of the job.

Our conversation widens to the broader impact of drug trafficking on crime and communities, and the need for law enforcement to adapt to ever-changing threats. Keith also shares his writing journey, a four-book series titled Narc’s Tale, which chronicles his undercover assignments and the lessons he carried forward.

This episode offers both gripping stories from the field and a rare inside look at the toll—and the nobility—of narcotics enforcement.

Subscribe to Gangland Wire wherever you get your podcasts, and join us each week as we uncover the stories buried beneath the headlines—and the bodies.

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0:04 Welcome to Gangland Wire

1:07 Becoming a Police Officer

3:33 Life as an Undercover Agent

6:08 Tales from the Trenches

8:41 The Depths of Undercover Work

12:39 Surviving Dangerous Encounters

16:29 The Art of Blending In

21:06 The Challenges of Undercover Props

25:58 Navigating the Drug Underworld

28:14 Building Trust in Dangerous Situations

33:58 The High Stakes of Undercover Operations

36:58 Major Drug Busts in Kansas

42:08 Lessons from the Cartel

45:27 Advice for Young Law Enforcement

48:29 Writing and Reflection in Law Enforcement

[0:00 ] Well, hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in the studio at Gangland

[0:02 ] Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. I am a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Detective, as most of you know, because I’ve got a lot of regular listeners. And those that don’t know, that’s who I am. And I have another copper here with me today. I’ve got Keith Grounsel. Keith, welcome. Hey, Gary. Thanks for having me on the show. I’ll tell you what, Keith. I love talking to and interviewing, but then our conversations before and after talking to these other coppers that have worked around the country. It’s always fun. We talk the same language, I’ve noticed. And that’s around the world, too. I haven’t worked internationally. We’re a universal group of people that always collaborate together and get along in different environments. Yeah. And then we start telling stories and it really gets good.

[0:49 ] That’s right. But we can’t record all those stories. So we don’t want to record some. We don’t want to record. All right, Keith. Now you became a cop, you know, where are you from originally?

[1:04 ] And then what, what, what made you think that you wanted to be a police officer? Me, I wanted to be a cowboy.

[1:10 ] And so that was a close job to being a cowboy. So how about you? Yes. It’s kind of funny. My dad was a United States Marine, 22 years. So I was raised by a career Marine. I was actually born in Beaufort, South Carolina at Parris Island at the Beaufort Naval Hospital there. And so I always knew I wanted to do some sort of service. I didn’t want to sit behind a desk. I either wanted to go in the military, in the United States Marines, or do something else. And then I saw law enforcement probably around middle school when I really got interested in law enforcement and ended up going to college on a soccer scholarship, majored in sociology and criminal justice and got a job in law enforcement just in my local town right there and just fell in love with it and kind of found a knack in my career for going after drug traffickers. That was kind of my thing. More local level, not traffickers as a rookie cop, more just local bust and some occasional dealers and users and things like that. I really found it was giving me a natural high chasing them. It’s like hunting humans. And I was like, man, this is what I want to do right here. So I emphasized that and I studied my tail off. I learned a lot about drug dealers, drug trafficking, drug users. And I led the department for a couple of two of the last three years in the first department in drug arrest.

[2:29 ] So I went from there and transferred to a much larger agency, one of the top largest agencies in the state of South Carolina in Greenville, South Carolina. And it was pretty much day one orientation. They yanked me out of orientation. I take me to the captain’s office, say, from now on, you’re not allowed to associate with police officers. Now, granted, I’ve been a cop three years at this time.

[2:51 ] And you need to work in the vice narcotics unit. You’re going to report it this time. This is your sergeant. This is who your supervisor is and just go with them. And I had some older gentlemen in there that kind of took me under his wing and a female that worked undercover and another undercover. And they taught me the ropes, man. It was trial by fire. I really didn’t know what I was doing. I made a lot of mistakes to tell you the truth. And thank God, didn’t get indicted, didn’t get in any big trouble and left there after a year, went to the sheriff’s office, much larger agency, did three years undercover there. Then I wanted to reach that pinnacle in my career, I felt, in drug enforcement.

[3:30 ] And I worked really hard and was hired on as a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and did that. Man, I spent about a total of six years deep undercover. And that’s taxing on a family is taxing on you as an individual. And I had an opportunity to, I tried to actually.

[3:49 ] Transfer from out where I was in Kansas with the DEA back to South Carolina, where I had a support system for my family and I couldn’t get a transfer. So I had an opportunity to do some Department of State contracting and I left the DEA and went to Afghanistan for a few years. That’s where I got into contracting. I did that for a few years, got injured in Afghanistan, came back, worked my way back up, became a chief investigator, became a chief of police, I quickly learned the political realm and fighting corruption as a chief is very tough in a small town.

[4:23 ] I lost my job early on getting in for 14 months, came back, indicted the mayor for public corruption. He got convicted in a three day trial of two or three crimes against moral turpitude and invited invited the head of investigations for a rape and murder cover up. And he pled guilty in that and then indicted the chief of police before me for extortion and his charges were dismissed on technicality. So I went through a gamut of different things and I came back, lasted about four years total and two more years after that. And we went from number 28, number one, safest city in the entire state. We went after the drug traffickers. I trained my whole entire department in drug enforcement and community policing. And it drastically helped the community and made it a safer place. But politics rared its ugly head again and the people that weren’t indicted, they brought some people in to run to oust me as a chief and I had to go and that’s why I got back into contracting. I went to Haiti for two years I went to West Africa for a couple years. I went to India Jordan, different places like that doing contract work and then I came back became a chief again. I was glutton for that punishment.

[5:33 ] I probably shouldn’t have done it a second time to be honest with you because I feel like i ran into the same thing i i helped the city drop 100 safety rankings in about a year period things were going really good until i uncovered some some corruption uh involving some police o