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An Ex-Cop in La La Land |
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UNVARNISHED TRUTH |
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He helped the mob run
Chicago, then reformed
of TheColumnists.com
“When Corruption Was King,” written by Robert Cooley with Hillel Levin (Carroll & Graf, $15.95), is the story of a poor Irish boy from a big family on Chicago's south side. The boy became a Chicago cop, then a lawyer, then an undercover investigator for the FBI's strike force unit in Chicago.
Though he had a rough start in life, including some unlawful behavior, he eventually got his life straightened out and became a law-abiding citizen. His undercover work is nothing short of sensational. Cooley makes Serpico look like a hall monitor. His work helped to send a large group of very bad and very connected guys to prison. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. And that’s not just a line from one cop trying to help another sell his book; it’s the truth.
“When Corruption was King” is a real page-turner because Robert Cooley has a real story to tell. He’s no saint, but he’s many levels away from the men his testimony convicted. The subject matter and locations are ones that I knew well from my own life as a cop in Chicago. In fact we frequented a lot of the same places, so our paths crossed on occasion.
In my part time job as director of security at the Ambassador East & West Hotels, I often had occasion to observe Cooley in the company of some bad guys. It was my business to know as many of the people who came into the hotels as possible. I soon learned that Cooley was a former cop who became a lawyer. That explained why he was in the company of bad boys now and then. Lawyers often have social meetings with their clients so this was not a big deal.
I also think the cop in Cooley spotted me eyeballing him a time or two and made me as a copper. At any rate, I kept my distance because he never seemed overly friendly.
We also lived across the street from one another and parked our cars in the same garage. I lived at Two East Oak Street back then and had a parking deal in the building garage across State Street, which was where Robert’s apartment was. Back in the disco days I was a regular at Faces Disco and the Buttery. I dined often at the Pump Room, Arnie’s, Morton’s, Oak Tree, Milano’s and numerous other Rush Street haunts where I'd seen Cooley.
I recalled that he wore the tinted eyeglasses at night long before they were in fashion, and he always looked like he was in deep thought. After reading his book I now know why he looked this way. You might say while we might have been in the same places we were doing different things. Back in those disco days I thought I was John Travolta in the dancing department. Cooley’s book tells us he was doing more important things, like getting the goods on the bad guys. He wore a court-approved wire for three and a half years while obtaining evidence against some of the worst guys to ever come out of Chicago.
As he tells us in his book, there are those who may have called Cooley a rat, but I would not. I always thought as long as a guy was a cop first, all the information he brings forth later about bad guys is considered work-related. So, my advice to those name callers is to “stop it” because the guy did a terrific job flushing a big filthy toilet that was operating in the great City of Chicago.
The fact that both Cooley and I love Chicago is clear. That we both had fathers who were honest cops is a fact. Sure, we both knew that Chicago had a judicial system with crooks operating from within. After all, most cities do. But because he was not without sin, Cooley was in a rare position to do something about it. And did he ever!
He was driven by courage not to tarnish his family’s good name and to clean up his own act while also putting the bad guys away. He did this, all the while knowing it would wreck his “living high off the hog” lifestyle as he knew it then, and that it could be deadly…as in terminal.
Particularly gratifying to me was to read how Cooley got the goods on a judge named Maloney. As a detective, I had a strong case in Maloney’s courtroom that he unexpectedly dismissed on me. At the time I strongly suspected he had tanked us. He not only displayed bad judgment in tossing out the case, but added insult to injury with his fresh mouth towards me. So when I read in Cooley’s book that Judge Maloney had been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, I thought my suspicions were well founded. I tip my hat to the former Chicago cop for a fine piece of undercover work in nailing the crooked Maloney.
I hope that Maloney will use the time he has in prison to think about how he sold out a lot of well meaning people. We were not all in the “club”. Many of us were just hard working slobs trying to do a job for the sake of justice. Maloney sold everyone out, especially his own family.
I strongly recommend this book even if you don’t have an ax to grind. This book alerts citizens on how their political and judicial systems get corrupted. Non-cops and cops alike will find this book most enlightening. I intend to make it a “must read” for my son, who intends to be a fine lawyer one day.
Robert Cooley opened himself up by changing horses midstream to do the right thing for his family name. Therein we find a great lesson for our kids. It’s one thing to suffer the consequences of one’s initial entry into adult life, but it’s quite another to have to do it until you die. I believe people can change their ways for the better if they truly want to. When someone comes along who is willing to risk everything, he can teach by his own example and it makes for the best possible impact on young minds. The guy who’s teaching and risking his life in this case is Robert Cooley.
At a time when people yak in the media circus about saving the life of a convicted murderer, the likes of a Tookie Williams, I have to ask this burning question. “Where the hell are all of you well meaning people when it comes to a Robert Cooley?” After he did the right thing are we to just leave him behind to be dealt with by some thugs?
I ask all you “peace and love” folks to get behind Cooley and men like him who put their lives on the line for the rest of us. As it stands now, his reward for coming clean and helping us get rid of bad men is that he has to worry about being killed or, even worse, possibly being tortured to death.
Though Cooley uses an assumed name these days and most likely has disguised his appearance, he still has to be on guard 24/7 especially when he goes home to Chicago to visit relatives and friends. One slip up could be his last. Cooley must move his residence as often as his cop instincts tell him to. He is not safe anywhere. All this just to keep from getting killed by a pack of outlaws. It all sounds very much like the Wild West days are still with us.
They could at least make his story into a big screen film. It certainly has the makings of one. It would be great to see the Hollywood do-gooders stick up for someone who was willing to straighten out his own life and do well by society instead of sticking up for convicted bad guys like “Tookie” Williams.
I’m often asked what it was like being a cop in Chicago. Well, my friends, just read “When Corruption Was King” and you will know exactly what it was like and much, much, more. If you want the truth, here it is in book form.
©2006 by Andy Murcia. The caricature
of Andy Murcia is ©2003 by Jim Hummel. The book cover illustration
is courtesy of Carroll & Graf. This column first posted Jan.
9, 2006.
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