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In the late 70s, in an Atlanta hotel room, Mitch Werbell himself demonstrated the MAC 10 to a friend of mine. As it happened, my friend was a businessman who was then also operating overseas under deep cover for US Army intelligence. My friend was back stateside for a while and, at Werbell's request, he had arranged a quiet, off the record lunch for them with a senior FBI official. Werbell was trying to peddle information and covert assistance in an effort to resolve some of his legal issues with the federal government.

The lunch went reasonably well, and Werbell was in an expansive mood when my friend drove him back to his hotel. Werbell insisted that my friend then go up to his room for a few minutes to "see something interesting" and get the terms for a potential investment. Once the door was closed, Werbell pulled a briefcase out from under the bed, opened it, and quickly assembled the contents into a MAC-10 and silencer while reciting his sales pitch.

Werbell, without slowing his sales patter, piled up the room's telephone books on the floor -- and fired off a full clip into the stack. Empty shells ejected and flew off in all directions, pinging against the walls, the TV set, and furniture. With the MAC-10 empty and a blizzard of confetti still falling about the room, Werbell turned toward my friend, grinning: "How do you like it? Do you want to try a clip?"

My friend declined and said that instead they needed to leave. Werbell shrugged his shoulders and agreed, then swiftly disassembled and stowed the MAC in the briefcase and put a hundred dollar bill under the ashtray by the bed. Since Werbell had already checked out and stowed his luggage, he and my friend took the nearest exit, shook hands, and parted. For the next few weeks, my friend half expected a call or visit from the FBI or ATF.