CUSTOMS AGENT: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

by Kevin Power

These are the true stories of a few Special Agents from the U.S. Customs Service in Tampa, Florida during the 1990’s. When the author transferred from Key Largo to the Tampa office, he found the office heavily involved in undercover narcotics and money laundering investigations. The author soon became immersed in an aggressive new venture called Operation Ybor where agents posed as drug smugglers to seize narcotics and dismantle criminal organizations. Authorized to use the “bad guy” money, they set up elaborate undercover warehouses that were wired with hidden video and audio devices. This book shows the evolution of their storefronts from crude and humble beginnings to the ultimate “state-of-the-art” undercover facilities, complete with secret passageways.

During the same time, the author became one of the founding members of the office’s first tactical team, known at first as the Warrant Entry and Tactical Team. In addition to executing high-risk Federal search and arrest warrants, they were also used for surveillance operations and special enforcement actions across the state. The team would evolve into the Special Response Team, a premier tactical team with a reputation for creative thinking, aggression, and excellence.

With these high stakes, the author always reminded the other agents not to get too cocky by ending every elaborate briefing with the expression, “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

410 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2025

About the author

Author of Bad Day in Blackrock (Lilliput Press, 2008; Pocket Books, 2010), filmed as What Richard Did (Element Films, 2012). PhD in American Literature. Lectures in English & Creative Writing in the School of English, Dublin City University. Winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2009 and the Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction 2008. Writes regularly for The Sunday Business Post and Literary Review. Has also written for The Dublin Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, The Dublin Review of Books, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times, Strange Horizons, UCD Scholarcast, The Mailer Review, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, Emerging Perspectives, The Stinging Fly. Short fiction has appeared in Banshee, on RTE Radio 1, in Reading the Future (Arlen House 2017), in The Stinging Fly, The Sunday Business Post, The Hennessy Book of Irish Writing 2005-2015 (New Island 2015), New Irish Short Stories (Faber 2011), These Are Our Lives (Stinging Fly Press 2006), Guts, Circle & Square (Fiery Arrow 2015). New novel on the way. Tweets @KevPow3.