Moti Shapira served as a detective for the Central Unit of Investigation in the Israeli Police Force, serves with the Israeli Defence Force and is a private investigator who worked to recover Pamela Anderson’s home movie. He is also an author of several books including the gun-buying guide A Gun For Every Hand and his new semi-autobiographical Angel in a Foreign City. He’s pretty tough by all accounts.

What’s the closest you’ve come to death?
I’ve been chased through the streets of a city in a country where people will never find you again if you’re captured and I’ve had guns pointed at me. I can’t tell you where you these places are because I still work there.

What qualities does a good detective need to have?
You need to be loyal to your colleagues and cause, patient, sometimes outspoken, have a good memory, be a quick learner and have charisma. You also need to learn quickly as technology changes so quickly.

Are you still learning?
Definitely. I watch my 17-year-old son and how he uses a computer to gather information and it inspires me.

Are criminals and terrorists learning quickly as well?
Absolutely, and we have to be two steps ahead of them otherwise we will lose the fight.

What kind of cases are you commonly involved in?
It’s predominantly information gathering for criminal investigations, and that frequently requires surveillance, which means following people. I deal with both corporate and individual cases.

How do you gather information?
I use technology when I can but sometimes this is not possible because it may be illegal to use listening technology, so the most effective way is to use a person. I look for someone inside the target organisation or associated with the target who I can use.

How do you manage these people?
I never let them know exactly what I do or what I want the information for or why it is so important, the less they know they better. Money is a great motivation.

Tell us about some of the cases you’ve been involved in?
You know the saying; “If I told you I’d have to kill you?” Well I have a different one, it’s I’ll kill you first and then tell you everything you want to know.

We don’t want to know anything really.
But really now I can’t tell you specifics but I can tell you that the kind of corporate clients I work for include the car industry, oil, food, hotel industries. These people will pay money to know what their competitors are doing.

Has industrial espionage overtaken military espionage?
Actually they are both linked, now more so than ever before. Arms deals make billions for a country and so other countries want to know who is selling what and who is planning to buy what. The Cold War is over but there is more spying than ever before.

Are you involved in this kind of work?
Luckily no, it’s a very dark and murky world and you never really know who the good guy is.
 
What’s been one of the most unusual cases you’ve worked on?
When Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape was stolen I was hired by her lawyer to track it down. I had to no idea where to start so I immersed myself in the porn industry to learn who the big players were. I tracked the thief down in Holland and realised that there was no way anybody could stop him selling the video illegally online, so I suggested he make a deal with Pamela for the official release of the movie which meant Pamela and Tommy had some control.

And some money…
Yes, and I should have asked to be part of it because it was partly my idea, I’d be rich now, haha!

How much do you charge?
I cannot tell you exactly because every case is different. I can tell you that a typical surveillance runs at between  $75-125 per hour per person, and you need two people for effective surveillance.

Have you been asked by criminals to work for them?
Yes I have, but because many investigators have worked for law enforcement organisations we still follow that code of conduct. Sometimes it’s hard to say no to criminals because they can be dangerous but I’ve been lucky so far.

What kind of technology do you use?
Many things, I make a lot myself especially things like listening devices but it is illegal to use these in some countries and in many states in America. In one case the client was worried his daughter was taking drugs. We gave her this beautiful new phone as a gift that she loved but what she didn’t realise was that all her sms’s, emails and her location could all be checked via the internet.

What happened next?
Yes, we discovered that she wasn’t just taking drugs she was selling them, the father intervened. The phone also had the ability to allow us to listen to her calls and even when she was not making calls but he didn’t want to do that.

What is this phone called and where can I get one?
If you want to find it you can find it on the internet. There are even applications you can buy for the iPhone that will allow you to monitor the calls being made from it, the messages sent and received… there’s lots of clever technology available out there.

Your book A Gun For Every Hand suggests which gun suits people working in different professions. Isn’t that promoting gun ownership and more than a little irresponsible?
But I am not telling people to buy guns. It all started because I saw this little old granny buying a Desert Eagle, a big handgun that can knock you out with the recoil alone. She didn’t need this. So the book is trying to educate people that if they want a gun then they should get something suitable to their size and lifestyle, and not something excessive.

You’ve served in the Israeli Defence Force for many years. How do you think the Middle East problem will be solved?
There is not way that we I can give you a proper answer in a few minutes, but there can be no solution until countries are recognised and can have recognised borders. Israeli needs to be recognised by Arab states and the Palestinians needs their own country. But this conflict has been raging not for sixty years but for hundreds if not thousands, it is nothing new.

Finally, what do you do on a day off?
Every day is like a day off because I love to do what I do so much. But if I have time I will go to the beach and watch the sunset. It allows me to escape to other places.

For more information: www.shapirabook.com

Text: Henry Rimmer