Like an episode out of a television crime drama, Christina Asp was slowly welcomed into the fold of a powerful criminal organization.

She went from meeting a pair of underlings at a Calgary mall to passing an unmarked envelope to a mystery man, before eventually helping smuggle weapons across the border, being paid as much as $1,000 a month for her work and rent.

Asp believed she had been accepted into a powerful family with the skills and connections to help her clean up any problems she may have with the police.

But rather than spending her time with people attempting to evade officers, Asp had in fact been surrounded by undercover RCMP officers.

The smuggled weapons she saw were fakes, and every person she interacted with was not a criminal but a police officer, the court heard.

Based in part on what the RCMP learned during these many undercover scenarios, Asp now stands charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gordon Seybold.

Seybold's body was discovered when his Ibex Valley cabin burned to the ground on March 26, 2008.

The jury in the Yukon Supreme Court trial was given more details on the undercover Mr. Big operation that led to Asp's arrest nearly 16 months after the fire.

One of the Alberta RCMP officers involved in co-ordinating the case took the stand Tuesday to give the jury an outline of some of the events that were part of the undercover operation.

Other RCMP members will be testifying in more detail later in the trial, the jury was told.

The identities of all the undercover officers are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

The officer told the jury of 12 women and two men that his undercover team tries to base its faux-criminal organization on real-life situations officers have dealt with in their careers.

The plan is based on making the target — in this case, Asp — believe the organization she is joining values trust, honesty and loyalty above all else, the officer said.

In each Mr. Big scenario, a hierarchy of fake criminals is created, with an all-powerful crime boss at the top.

Asp was led to believe this powerful boss, who is rarely seen, is held in high regard by all of the underlings because of her ability to fix any problems as long as she is told everything about them, the officer testified.

The trial began in March with a secretly-recorded videotape of Asp discussing the night of Seybold's death with the undercover officer acting as the all-powerful boss of the organization.

In the tape, Asp can be seen telling the undercover officer about hitting Seybold in the head with a bat three times on the day died.

The boss repeatedly assures the now-34-year-old that her problems are something that can be taken care of.

At the time of the Mr. Big operation — between February and August 2009 — police had concerns about using this style of undercover investigation, the officer said.

The Alberta RCMP had conducted a similar operation in connection to the 2005 deaths of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alta. and had received intense media attention as the case made its way through the courts.

To help dissuade suspicion in this case, police chose to make this organization based on a female hierarchy, the officer testified.

It was an idea they got from an episode of the TV show The Sopranos.

"We watch a lot of TV,” the officer told the court.

This is the first case he knows of where all the major undercover officers were female, he said.

Police conducted a total of 46 undercover scenarios involving Asp in the months before she and her boyfriend, Norman Larue, were arrested for Seybold's murder while in Strathmore, Alta.

The scenario began with Asp taking part in fake surveillance and passing an unmarked envelope to an undercover officer portraying a businessman.

She later helped deliver an expensive Cadillac to another undercover officer pretending to be a high-ranking member of the crime syndicate who had just been released from jail.

Asp was told the car was a gift from "the boss,” the court heard.

Later, she took part in what she believed was a smuggling ring to get weapons across the U.S. border, the officer testified.

After the recorded meeting with the crime boss, Asp was taken back to the Yukon.

She was under the impression the trip was to help the organization "clean up” after her crime, the officer said.

Asp was never able to take the faux-criminals to the scene of the fire, though she did point out other sites where evidence was found, he said.

The officer told the court Asp made various admissions throughout the investigation, though he provided no details.

Asp was often paid for her "work” with the crime organization and was put up in hotel rooms as the group travelled around the country by plane, train and bus.

In the months leading to her arrest, she was being paid $1,000 a month, which included $700 a month to rent a Calgary apartment, the officer said.

Asp's defence has suggested since the beginning of the trial that officers were attempting to woo Asp, who had just recently been released from a half-way house, with the perceived benefits of a life of crime.

The officer told the court that police always give their targets ways out of scenarios that appear to involve criminal activity.

Officers are also trained to test a subject's mood and ability to be honest, he said.

Not all of the investigation went to plan, the officer testified.

In the days before her arrest, officers left Asp, Larue and Asp's mother alone in a house together, hoping to gather more evidence by recording their conversations.

The recording device did not function, the officer testified.

After six months of undercover investigation, both Asp and Larue were arrested separately in Strathmore – Asp in a Walmart parking lot.

Larue is also facing a murder charge and is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

The Asp trial, being heard in front of Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower, resumed today and is expected to continue until June.