Louis Diaz
American undercover agent, author, actor

Louis Diaz (born Luis Diaz; February 25, 1946 – May 12, 2025) was an American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who was largely responsible for the arrest and conviction of New York drug kingpin Nicky Barnes. He was also instrumental in dismantling "The Council," Barnes's drug trafficking organization. As an undercover agent, he also brought down members of the Medellin Cartel. Diaz was also an author and actor.
Life and career
Diaz was born in New York City on February 25, 1946 and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He was the son of Spanish parents from the north of Spain. Diaz attended Most Holy Trinity High School in Brooklyn. After he graduated, he studied at St. Francis College, also in Brooklyn and at Queens College in Queens, New York, where he received his B.A. degree. In 1964, Diaz was a welterweight boxing finalist in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves.
The public source identifies “Louis Diaz” as american undercover agent, author, actor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Louis, Diaz and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q45818367. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 2025 and 1964.
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This entry incorporates text from “Louis Diaz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.