New Reality TV Show to Track Fugitive Recovery

Tim Fanguy, owner of Tim’s Bail Bonds in Houma, is financially backing the show “Big Easy Justice.” The show premieres at 9 p.m. today with back-to-back episodes.

Fanguy said he is backing the show because of the respect he has for the show’s star, Gene “Tat-2” Thacker. Thacker is the owner of New Orleans-based Hook ‘Em and Book ‘Em Fugitive Recovery agency, which often tracks fugitives for Fanguy’s bail bond company.

“We have the best of the best on this team,” Fanguy said, adding Thacker knows the right people to talk to when looking for a criminal.

Tat-2 has been a bounty hunter for 12 years and is credited with rounding up more than 10,000 fugitives, according to his online biography. He’s a New Orleans native, both his parents are police officers, and he’s an Air Force veteran who served in Desert Storm.

The first episode will feature Tat-2’s manhunt for a fugitive who is caught on a shrimp boat moored in south Terrebonne, according to a clip posted on Spike TV’s website. The fugitive owed over $15,000 in bonds was wanted for failure to appear, a drug charge and probation violation.

“He knew we were looking for him for a while,” said Matt Webb, a bail bondsman and bounty hunter work works for Fanguy at Tim’s Bail Bonds. “One week before Tat-2’s team came down for filming we backed off our search, hoping the fugitive would loosen up on his hiding. But that didn’t work.”

Webb said he and Thacker’s team drove for about six hours during the fugitive search, which finally ended “in the wee hours of the morning in Dulac.” He declined to provide further detail, adding that the end result is exciting and encouraging everyone to tune in.

“Nothing on this show is set up. It’s all real. It’s ‘Cops’ meets bounty hunting,” Webb said. “People are really going to get that perfect insight to what it’s like going places no one wants to go, trying to capture people who don’t want to be captured.”

Thacker was on a promotion tour Monday and unavailable for comment.