REPORTER: Nick Lazaredes
It's already midday in San Francisco and Mackenzie Green is getting anxious. But soon, the bail bonds agent and her all-woman team are ready to pounce.
Mackenzie guaranteed this man's bail after he was charged with bashing his wife. He failed to show up at court and has spent the last few months on the run.
If Mackenzie doesn't deliver him to the police soon, she'll have to pay the court $20,000.
At 60 years old and just five feet tall, Mackenzie Green is at the top of her profession. In 18 years of hunting crooks, she's only ever lost one.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You don't have any because you gotta warrant out for your arrest.
Mackenzie says she has an instinct for tracking people on the run and takes devilish delight in catching them.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Maybe it's like being a kid and jumping out from a closet to scare somebody, you know. It's something weird about being a bounty hunter.
It looks like a strip of sex clubs, but in San Francisco they call this "bail bonds row".
Here among the gaudy advertisements offering the chance to get out of jail is the headquarters of Mackenzie Green Bail Bonds. Bail bonds agents perform a unique role in America's justice system by relieving pressure on the country's overloaded prisons. If you're arrested and can't afford bail, a bail bonds agent might be your only chance of getting released.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Now that makes sense. I have judges to fight with. I have causes that I believe in, you know, to fight for and to me, a very small part of that is sticking a gun up somebody's ass.
Mackenzie is having a bad day.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I'm so angry I can't talk anymore. I just can't.
Earlier this year, the prestigious 'New Yorker' magazine wrote about Mackenzie's reputation as America's most successful woman bounty hunter. It's generated a media feeding frenzy.
MACKENZIE GREEN: There's no way in hell that I would put a camera crew, let a camera crew follow me around when I have $100,000 on the line! That's insanity, Harry.
But despite the fuss, Mackenzie seems to enjoy the media's attention.
MEDIA PERSON 1: As a bounty hunter or a bail recovery agent as they're sometimes called, she is one of the few in this country. Her office is located in San Francisco and she joins me here today in studio. Welcome to Viewpoint, Mackenzie Green.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Thank you. It's nice to be here.
Mackenzie's had an unusual career path. She started in more traditional female professions, first as a telephone operator and then as an air stewardess flying around the world with American military carriers.
But at the age of 42 she broke the mould, entering the male-only domain of the bounty hunter.
MEDIA PERSON 1: How does that work?
MACKENZIE GREEN: When I was growing up as a kid it was very difficult for me to hear the word 'no', and I usually tried to find a way around it. So there's a challenge in tracking somebody. There's an adrenaline high that comes with it.
MEDIA PERSON 2: Bounty hunters make 30,000 arrests every year.
Despite the bounty hunter's romantic image, the industry carries a battered reputation.
WOMAN 1: They both came rushing through the door. One of them stood at the foot of the bed where my children were and held a gun pointed at them.
For 150 years, bounty hunters have enjoyed extensive protection under the law, with more powers than state police. But in 1996, the US Congress put the profession under the spotlight, hearing from people who were falsely arrested and detained.
WOMAN 2: And I knew in my heart that I had done nothing wrong, yet I had been abducted, chained and dragged from my home in New York city through states I had never been in before.
As a result of the investigations, more controls on bounty hunting were established but Mackenzie says it's all about commonsense.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You have to be very careful today that you don't infringe on somebody's rights. If you're going to their house and you know for a fact that they're in there, then you can go in, but you better be sure that they're in there.
Mackenzie's working methods can seem erratic. Journalists have described her as 'Mr Magoo' and her driving skills certainly bear that out.
Today Mackenzie is on the trail of a client whose disappearance a few months back has left her in the lurch. Dennis Damasen was arrested last year at his mother's San Francisco home and charged with possessing two kilograms of crack cocaine. Damasen never showed up at court. If Mackenzie can't find him soon, she'll have to pay the total of Damasen's bail.
MACKENZIE GREEN: He isn't due for like four months and if I can't find him in four months, I'll kill myself.
REPORTER: And how much is the bail worth?
MACKENZIE GREEN: $100,000.
REPORTER: $100,000?
MACKENZIE GREEN: But you know what - if I were a betting person, I'd bet on me.
Recently, Mackenzie nearly had Damasen cornered, but one of his neighbours lied to her and put her off the scent.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I wanna see this piece of chicken shit here.
Back in the neighbourhood, Mackenzie decides to let him know how she feels.
MACKENZIE GREEN: This guy - you lied! You know him! Yes you do!
BOY: No he doesn't.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You don't know him either, huh? You lie too, kiddo, already so young? Huh? You tell stories too? You tell stories? How old are you?
BOY: Ten.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Ten. You know that guy because he used to live right there.
BOB SHANDREW: She's a stubborn little old lady that doesn't listen to me when I tell her, "Don't break the windows, you know."
MAN: Yeah, I don't know these guys. But no, the other guy who rented the apartment, he got long hair.
Bob Shandrew is one of Mackenzie's assistants. He's tracking another wanted man in a different part of town. Bob fits the traditional image of the burly bounty hunter but he's much more laid back than his boss.
BOB SHANDREW: She's a very aggressive, very aggressive person. She has very limited patience, you know. She doesn't like to sit and wait. She wants to go and do something.
REPORTER: Does that work for her?
BOB SHANDREW: You know, believe it or not, it does. I mean, I cringe when I watch her because it's like, you don't want her to get burned out here you know.
Still on the trail of Dennis Damasen, Mackenzie reckons the best way to catch him is by applying pressure to his family. She pays a visit to his brother and mother.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Jessie.
BROTHER: How you doin'?
MACKENZIE GREEN: How are you?
BROTHER: I'm fine.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Hi - you're the mom. What's going on with your brother? You guys think I should have to pay off $100,000 because I'll come after you big time. I cannot afford it or afford to lose my business. Do you understand that? Do you understand that? I'm a lone woman. I work just like you guys do. I understand the deal about your son, but if he doesn't come back...
For Mackenzie, catching a crook on the run is a game of psychological warfare with their family and friends. If her appeals to their better nature don't work, she quickly turns the screws.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You know something, you have to know this - I've never done this before but I'm gunna do this and I don't even know if I can do it, but I think I can do it - I'm going to put a claim on your house.I swear to you guys, it's not a threat. It is not a threat. I'm begging you, don't do this.
MACKENZIE GREEN, MEDIA INTERVIEW: The biggest mistake that people make is it's very difficult for any of us to just drop out of sight and not have any contact with brothers, sisters, mothers, girlfriends, your old buddies that you ran around with. You have to be totally isolated. It's almost like you'd have to go into a witness program and let the rest of your life go, and that's almost an impossibility for people.
With the time to catch her man running out, Mackenzie's threats are getting nastier.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I'm just trying to say to you, please gimme a call, don't let me do this, 'cause if they dig into this house and they can prove it was bought with drug money, you'll lose it. You will lose it. I dunno - just have your mum give me a call.
Having delivered her warning, Mackenzie backs off for today. But if the fugitive's family think that she's bluffing, they ought to think again.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Was it Winston Churchill said - "Never, never, never, never, never, never, never quit", and usually if you really do that in life, whatever the problem, you'll come out on top. So we really haven't messed with them at all but I'm about to start.
It's already midday in San Francisco and Mackenzie Green is getting anxious. But soon, the bail bonds agent and her all-woman team are ready to pounce.
Mackenzie guaranteed this man's bail after he was charged with bashing his wife. He failed to show up at court and has spent the last few months on the run.
If Mackenzie doesn't deliver him to the police soon, she'll have to pay the court $20,000.
At 60 years old and just five feet tall, Mackenzie Green is at the top of her profession. In 18 years of hunting crooks, she's only ever lost one.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You don't have any because you gotta warrant out for your arrest.
Mackenzie says she has an instinct for tracking people on the run and takes devilish delight in catching them.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Maybe it's like being a kid and jumping out from a closet to scare somebody, you know. It's something weird about being a bounty hunter.
It looks like a strip of sex clubs, but in San Francisco they call this "bail bonds row".
Here among the gaudy advertisements offering the chance to get out of jail is the headquarters of Mackenzie Green Bail Bonds. Bail bonds agents perform a unique role in America's justice system by relieving pressure on the country's overloaded prisons. If you're arrested and can't afford bail, a bail bonds agent might be your only chance of getting released.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Now that makes sense. I have judges to fight with. I have causes that I believe in, you know, to fight for and to me, a very small part of that is sticking a gun up somebody's ass.
Mackenzie is having a bad day.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I'm so angry I can't talk anymore. I just can't.
Earlier this year, the prestigious 'New Yorker' magazine wrote about Mackenzie's reputation as America's most successful woman bounty hunter. It's generated a media feeding frenzy.
MACKENZIE GREEN: There's no way in hell that I would put a camera crew, let a camera crew follow me around when I have $100,000 on the line! That's insanity, Harry.
But despite the fuss, Mackenzie seems to enjoy the media's attention.
MEDIA PERSON 1: As a bounty hunter or a bail recovery agent as they're sometimes called, she is one of the few in this country. Her office is located in San Francisco and she joins me here today in studio. Welcome to Viewpoint, Mackenzie Green.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Thank you. It's nice to be here.
Mackenzie's had an unusual career path. She started in more traditional female professions, first as a telephone operator and then as an air stewardess flying around the world with American military carriers.
But at the age of 42 she broke the mould, entering the male-only domain of the bounty hunter.
MEDIA PERSON 1: How does that work?
MACKENZIE GREEN: When I was growing up as a kid it was very difficult for me to hear the word 'no', and I usually tried to find a way around it. So there's a challenge in tracking somebody. There's an adrenaline high that comes with it.
MEDIA PERSON 2: Bounty hunters make 30,000 arrests every year.
Despite the bounty hunter's romantic image, the industry carries a battered reputation.
WOMAN 1: They both came rushing through the door. One of them stood at the foot of the bed where my children were and held a gun pointed at them.
For 150 years, bounty hunters have enjoyed extensive protection under the law, with more powers than state police. But in 1996, the US Congress put the profession under the spotlight, hearing from people who were falsely arrested and detained.
WOMAN 2: And I knew in my heart that I had done nothing wrong, yet I had been abducted, chained and dragged from my home in New York city through states I had never been in before.
As a result of the investigations, more controls on bounty hunting were established but Mackenzie says it's all about commonsense.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You have to be very careful today that you don't infringe on somebody's rights. If you're going to their house and you know for a fact that they're in there, then you can go in, but you better be sure that they're in there.
Mackenzie's working methods can seem erratic. Journalists have described her as 'Mr Magoo' and her driving skills certainly bear that out.
Today Mackenzie is on the trail of a client whose disappearance a few months back has left her in the lurch. Dennis Damasen was arrested last year at his mother's San Francisco home and charged with possessing two kilograms of crack cocaine. Damasen never showed up at court. If Mackenzie can't find him soon, she'll have to pay the total of Damasen's bail.
MACKENZIE GREEN: He isn't due for like four months and if I can't find him in four months, I'll kill myself.
REPORTER: And how much is the bail worth?
MACKENZIE GREEN: $100,000.
REPORTER: $100,000?
MACKENZIE GREEN: But you know what - if I were a betting person, I'd bet on me.
Recently, Mackenzie nearly had Damasen cornered, but one of his neighbours lied to her and put her off the scent.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I wanna see this piece of chicken shit here.
Back in the neighbourhood, Mackenzie decides to let him know how she feels.
MACKENZIE GREEN: This guy - you lied! You know him! Yes you do!
BOY: No he doesn't.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You don't know him either, huh? You lie too, kiddo, already so young? Huh? You tell stories too? You tell stories? How old are you?
BOY: Ten.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Ten. You know that guy because he used to live right there.
BOB SHANDREW: She's a stubborn little old lady that doesn't listen to me when I tell her, "Don't break the windows, you know."
MAN: Yeah, I don't know these guys. But no, the other guy who rented the apartment, he got long hair.
Bob Shandrew is one of Mackenzie's assistants. He's tracking another wanted man in a different part of town. Bob fits the traditional image of the burly bounty hunter but he's much more laid back than his boss.
BOB SHANDREW: She's a very aggressive, very aggressive person. She has very limited patience, you know. She doesn't like to sit and wait. She wants to go and do something.
REPORTER: Does that work for her?
BOB SHANDREW: You know, believe it or not, it does. I mean, I cringe when I watch her because it's like, you don't want her to get burned out here you know.
Still on the trail of Dennis Damasen, Mackenzie reckons the best way to catch him is by applying pressure to his family. She pays a visit to his brother and mother.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Jessie.
BROTHER: How you doin'?
MACKENZIE GREEN: How are you?
BROTHER: I'm fine.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Hi - you're the mom. What's going on with your brother? You guys think I should have to pay off $100,000 because I'll come after you big time. I cannot afford it or afford to lose my business. Do you understand that? Do you understand that? I'm a lone woman. I work just like you guys do. I understand the deal about your son, but if he doesn't come back...
For Mackenzie, catching a crook on the run is a game of psychological warfare with their family and friends. If her appeals to their better nature don't work, she quickly turns the screws.
MACKENZIE GREEN: You know something, you have to know this - I've never done this before but I'm gunna do this and I don't even know if I can do it, but I think I can do it - I'm going to put a claim on your house.I swear to you guys, it's not a threat. It is not a threat. I'm begging you, don't do this.
MACKENZIE GREEN, MEDIA INTERVIEW: The biggest mistake that people make is it's very difficult for any of us to just drop out of sight and not have any contact with brothers, sisters, mothers, girlfriends, your old buddies that you ran around with. You have to be totally isolated. It's almost like you'd have to go into a witness program and let the rest of your life go, and that's almost an impossibility for people.
With the time to catch her man running out, Mackenzie's threats are getting nastier.
MACKENZIE GREEN: I'm just trying to say to you, please gimme a call, don't let me do this, 'cause if they dig into this house and they can prove it was bought with drug money, you'll lose it. You will lose it. I dunno - just have your mum give me a call.
Having delivered her warning, Mackenzie backs off for today. But if the fugitive's family think that she's bluffing, they ought to think again.
MACKENZIE GREEN: Was it Winston Churchill said - "Never, never, never, never, never, never, never quit", and usually if you really do that in life, whatever the problem, you'll come out on top. So we really haven't messed with them at all but I'm about to start.