By Kelli Arena, Scott Bronstein and Jim Spellman
CNN

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MESA, Arizona (CNN) -- In a parched, secluded desert, a brutal killing is caught on videotape. A member of the feared and violent Mongol motorcycle gang is shot in the head at close range. His body is dumped in a shallow grave.

That murder was Jay Dobyns' ticket for membership into the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, Dobyns said.

"I had committed, like the ultimate deed, the ultimate act of loyalty to these guys," Dobyns said in an exclusive CNN interview.

But that murder was a fake, complete with special effects, cow guts for brains and artificial blood. What's more, Dobyns had a dark secret he was keeping from his fellow Hells Angels gang members: He was actually an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and was infiltrating the gang to help bring them down. (Read about Dobyns' complaints against the ATF)

For nearly two years, from 2001-2003, Dobyns abandoned his old life, his family and his friends to wear the Hells Angels trademark vest and to simultaneously build a case against the most feared motorcycle gang in the world. If he'd been caught, he figured he would be dead.

The undercover plot was elaborate: Dobyns even had to fake a romantic relationship with a fellow biker played by a female agent, so he had an excuse not to sleep with other women.

Dobyns saw what few outsiders have ever seen -- the inner workings of the Hells Angels. He says that included gun and drug trafficking, extortion, rape and even murder. And Dobyns testified about it all in court.

One of the alleged murders happened on Dobyns's home turf at the time, Mesa, Arizona.

"Cynthia Garcia was a young woman who partied with the motorcycle gang. One day she said something one of them didn't appreciate, according to a Hells Angels informant for the government.

She was allegedly beaten unconscious, driven to the desert, and stabbed more than two dozen times, her head nearly severed from her body, according to government records. Dobyns testified about it in court.

Going deep undercover in the Hells Angels was only the latest installment of Dobyns' hard-living persona. In college, Dobyns was a star wide receiver at the University of Arizona.

After school, he went into law enforcement, getting shot through the chest and even run over by criminals in his first few years on the job. Fellow agents say he was among the best in his rough-and-tumble field.