Oscar Santamaria: Welcome to the Miami PI Chronicles podcast where the world of private investigation comes alive. Joining me all is Francois McKinnon of McKinnon Investigative Group and Oscar Santamaria of Optimum Investigations as they tap into their combined 60 plus years of experience in the industry. From real-life cases to insider tips, they bring the stories, insights, and expertise that only seasoned pros can provide. So sit back, listen, and enjoy the show. Welcome back to the show. Today, we have Nick Betro of SpyRite Investigations.
Oscar Santamaria: I’ve known Nick now for about, since what, 2018, 2019? Is that correct, Nick?
Nick Betro: Yep, that sounds about right, 2018.
Oscar Santamaria: Okay, so why don’t you tell everybody how you got into the business, maybe what you did before, and what you’re doing now, name of your business, your coverage area, that type of thing.
Nick Betro: Yeah, well, I got into the business mainly, I was in security while I was going through college. What do you do when you’re in security guard in college? You go become a law enforcement officer. Did that for about a year, hated it, got out, and I had met in law enforcement a friend of mine who was a firefighter who was medically retired because he got hurt on the job and he ended up becoming a private investigator. I hooked up with him and then through him, I met you, and then I’ve started doing this ever since, and I love it.
Oscar Santamaria: Yes, I remember that day. I remember you showed up in the wrong vehicle. Do you remember that?
Nick Betro: Yes, yeah, I had one, a Dodge Charger, because we had them. I had an old, before that, a side New Jersey tags on it where I’m originally from, green Chevy Trailblazer that broke down on me. So we drove Dodge Chargers in the police department. I ended up buying one because I loved it so much. Obviously, you can’t really do covert surveillance in a cop car because they’ll say, oh, there’s a cop right there. There’s a cop behind me. Why hasn’t he pulled me over?
Oscar Santamaria: They’re all moving to the right lane!
Nick Betro: Yeah, so that was a pretty big realization. Actually, I’m going to talk about a case where I used that car for a short period of time. Luckily, it worked out, but yeah, so we had to change that, and he kind of taught me the ropes. I’m grateful for you, and it’s been very successful for me. I’m loving it. It’s been about 2018, so I opened my agency.
Francois McKinnon: What’s the part that you love so much? Because we all understand doing it for 30 years, Oscar and I, but you’re newer at this. What’s the part that you like the most about this new kind of work?
Nick Betro: Well, there’s two things. One is the freedom, the practical aspects actually of doing this for a living in the real world is I work for myself. I have my own company. No one really tells me what to do, which is nice. I have the freedom to work when I want. It just really gives you a lot of freedom and just the cool aspects of it. My guy was James Bond growing up, so I kind of get to live that out in real life now in a way because I just enjoy the espionage aspect of it. We’re private spies. That’s basically what we do for a living. We’re spies, legal spies. Sometimes it’s boring, but a lot of times you have some really exciting cases where you get to really be a Jason Bourne. It’s unpredictable. It’s exciting.
Francois McKinnon: But what about the Nick Bond girls? Do they come along with that?
Nick Betro: Of course! And his submarine Lotus also.
Francois McKinnon: That’s an awesome car. I said it’s a little flashy still, but nobody will know it’s underwater. We’ll use that for the Russians.
Oscar Santamaria: So how did you take anything from being a police officer into this job?
Nick Betro: Yes. I mean, it’s very different. I didn’t know what a PI really was. Magnum PI happened a little after my time. I know, obviously, who Tom Selleck is, but I never really knew what a PI does. I had no clue going into it what we really do.
Oscar Santamaria: Hey, Nick, he’s never done anything that PIs do, by the way!
Nick Betro: So maybe it’s good I didn’t ever watch it. I just knew the red Ferrari, and that’s about it, which is, now I know that’s no bueno.
Francois McKinnon: Red Ferrari or Charger, black Charger, whatever. I think I’d rather have the Charger, actually. Yeah, the Ferrari is too much. And he was so tall, like Oscar, he was sticking out of the roof. So if you see one head sticking out of a red Ferrari following you, I think there’s a problem.
Nick Betro: The biggest thing was like a cop is just, I didn’t know what covert surveillance even was. I learned pretty quickly. One thing I hated about it was getting up early. I did law enforcement because you didn’t have to work in the mornings; I could work midnights and afternoons. So I found out surveillance starts at 6 a.m. How’s that working out for you?
Francois McKinnon: Surveillance sometimes starts very early.
Nick Betro: In the beginning, it was hell, but Oscar said, you’re going to get used to it. For the most part, I’m up early and it still stinks, but I’ve gotten used to it.
Oscar Santamaria: It’s going to get so much easier. I used to say the same thing. I saw this guy and it was like, man, he doesn’t sometimes even go to work and he wakes up at like 4:30 in the morning. And sure enough, that’s what I’m doing now. Even if I don’t work, I’m up really, really early and it’s really not an issue anymore.
Nick Betro: Yeah, I still love sleep, but I’m able to get up and go to work. And also now that I have my own company, I have employees, so I’m not heavily in the field five, six, seven days a week. It’s like three, four tops. When I first started, it was every day, 4 a.m. wake up, 3 a.m. wake up.
Francois McKinnon: Yeah, but listen, you get used to it. If you want to be a professional private investigator and do this as a career, you have to go out and say, okay, enough of this sleeping late.
Nick Betro: I’ve got my methods now. The other thing I know, I was not very good at using a camcorder in the beginning because I’m from a different generation where we didn’t use those. I’d never actually held a camera. But following was easy once I got rid of the Dodge Charger and got something more blendable.
Oscar Santamaria: I know you’ve actually been through a few vehicles in the course of your career. Some better than others. And you learn that the vehicle does matter a little bit.
Nick Betro: Certainly. I mean, there’s certain things. I’m not going to say the name of the car because we don’t want to get sued, but the big thing is headlights. Even if the car is all over the road, if you have very unique headlights, it’s not going to work out. I had a common car for the last three months and I just was getting burned every time.
Oscar Santamaria: And then I switched out to, yeah, it was a common model, but for some reason, the one that you got looked like the Batmobile and Darth Vader had a child! It was all black and murdered out.
Nick Betro: I would avoid black cars for use by aspiring PIs out there. It just doesn’t work. It looks like a big shadow coming at you. I would suggest white, gray or silver.
Oscar Santamaria: Plus the heat in Florida!
Nick Betro: You don’t want to have the black car, but that was an adjustment. I found something that works for me now. I remember the first case we went out where we actually got some action.
Oscar Santamaria: I mean, you both had action! What’s going on?
Nick Betro: This guy lived in Connecticut or somewhere up North. He and his brothers had some company and he took his part of the company, fled to Florida, and was living with some woman. They wanted to know what he was doing and if he was ripping them off. We ended up at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. As we just talked about James Bond, here I am spying on this guy in a casino! At the poker table, he’s right in front of me, and then there’s a James Bond theme slot machine playing the theme song right in the background! I was like, I should probably just quit now because this job can’t get any cooler!
Oscar Santamaria: The next day wasn’t as fun. Me and Oscar had to follow him from South Florida all the way up to Northern Tampa Bay. We were very close to running out of gas. I had just like 10 miles left or something.
Nick Betro: How’d you find them though? You stopped in for gas and then you followed them?
Oscar Santamaria: No, it was a two car team. I told him keep following them, I’m going to get off this exit, get as much gas as I can, and then I’m going to try to catch up. Like a pit stop.
Nick Betro: I was brand new and I’m like, okay, I can’t lose him! We’re in Tampa Bay, I can’t come five hours to lose him! I followed him to the hotel, got video of him and his lady friend, and I had like six miles left on my gauge when they told us we could go home.
Oscar Santamaria: Yeah, they broke us off, which is something that everybody has to talk about to their clients. You want to make sure you have these things in writing. What happens if I follow somebody out of state? Are you going to pay me to come back? If I’m going to Orlando, at least consider that you should pay the guy travel time because it’s his time, gas, and usage of the car.
Francois McKinnon: I totally agree. If you don’t have it written down, you’re going to get screwed out of hundreds of dollars. I tell my client, listen, we’ll break off, but you do have to pay us back. “He said, she said” does not work in this business.
Oscar Santamaria: I had a case where I followed a guy from South Florida to Orlando and then suddenly I’m driving over a bridge and it says “Welcome to Savannah.” Now I’m in Georgia! He was a sexual predator, so getting him that far was important, but I called the client at 1 a.m. and they said discontinue. You can’t expect someone to drive four hours away and then just stop billing.
Oscar Santamaria: Something else you do, Nick, is retrieval of licensed surveillance cameras for certain businesses. Is that complicated?
Nick Betro: It can be. We’re not law enforcement, so we can’t compel somebody to give the video. Big corporations typically say no, but mom and pop shops might help. It takes tech savviness because sometimes they say they burned it to a disc and there’s nothing there. If you come in with confidence and act like you belong, people will work with you. Don’t ever present yourself as law enforcement because that’s highly illegal. But if you’re confident and say, “Hey, I’m investigating this crash, someone is being sued for a lot of money and they weren’t at fault,” you can sometimes be the hero. It’s all about psychology.
Francois McKinnon: It’s all about psychology! You have to believe in yourself. You have to be somewhat of an actor. Nick, what would you tell new investigators, 18 or 20 years old, that want to come into this business?
Nick Betro: Interesting, considering I just hired someone who just turned 21. They work for me. And that person would be your son! I would say my passion is the ability to be your own boss and not have to deal with corporate drama or office politics. If you’re an introvert and don’t like an office every day, there’s so many things you can do—EP work, bodyguard work, surveillance, witness statements. You just have to be passionate.
Francois McKinnon: A private investigative intern is somebody sponsored by an A-agency for two years to see their progress. It’s a big responsibility. I’ve sponsored so many who are now FBI or federal agents. It’s nice to have you on our show, Nick. Oscar, you’ve known Nick longer than I do.
Oscar Santamaria: Yeah, Nick, you’ve come a long way in six or seven years. Thank you for taking my son under your wing. I don’t think it’s good for a father to work with his son initially. If anyone is looking for an honest Miami private investigator, give Nick a call.
Nick Betro: The best way to contact me is Nick at SpyRyte.com. That’s spelled S P Y R Y T E .com. Or call the company line at 954-401-9412.
Francois McKinnon: I love the name of your company. Nick, thank you for joining us. We hope to have you again. Oscar told me he was very proud of you and what you’ve achieved. Everyone listening, please download and share the show. Good night!
Oscar Santamaria: Thanks again, Nick. Thank you for listening to the Miami PI Chronicles podcast. For all of your investigative needs in Florida, please contact McKinnon Investigative Group at 954-513-7414 or visit us at www.miginvestigations.com.
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