RAT by BRIAN R. LUNDIN (13 ebook reader TXT) 📖

not engaged in any form of corruption but in his second year on the department working alone he conducted his first shake down. He stopped a known drug dealer who was driving drunk, smoking a joint, on probation and had a weapon in his vehicle. Faced with a choice between going to jail and violating his parole he paid Albert five hundred dollars. Albert made a few more traffic shake downs but eventually decided it was too risky and interfered with his larcenous plans. In his third year he decided he wanted an assignment out of uniform and with the help of Uncle Rocko and a local precinct captain he was promoted to detective and assigned to Area Four Robbery Unit. Area Four was one of the largest geographic area in the city it included the 9th, 11, 12,15, 16, 17 districts from 4800 on the west, 7600 north, Belmont Avenue on the south and Cicero Ave on the east and investigated violent robbery crimes. Albert was not well liked by the other detectives and was the only detective allowed to work alone this by way of a mutual agreement between Albert, the lieutenant in charge and the other detectives. Two years later again with the help of uncle Rocko and a politician Albert was promoted to sergeant and to the relief of the detectives was transferred to the 2nd District and again with the help of his uncle was named the Vice Coordinator. Romano was in charge of the district vice unit that were responsible for enforce gambling, narcotic and prostitution laws in the district in addition to these duties Romano was also the District Commander’s bagman or payoff collector for the Commander’s Club. The Commander’s Club consisted of gamblers, pimps, night clubs, policy wheels and syndicate wire rooms each contribution depended on their operation. Policy wheel owners “Nut,” or fee was one thousand, the pimps who controlled over three girls was five hundred the large night clubs was two thousand, wire rooms was two thousand and policy station owners like Ricks was four hundred. During the course of a month the sergeant collected over fifty thousand dollars. The commander got a straight twenty-five thousand; ten thousand was sent to the boss’s downtown and the rest was divided between the three Watch Commanders, selected Field Lieutenants and sergeants and selected patrol officers and vice men. The 2nd District Vice Unit was composed of three sergeants and twelve police officers. Sergeant Romano was the Vice coordinator and Sergeant Ronald Eppilito supervised four men on the Second Watch or day shift and Sergeant Richard Novakski supervised the remaining officers on the Third Watch or afternoon shift and the power watch that worked from 1900 hours until 0300 hours. All of the officers worked in civilian dress and were assigned specific duties. Officers on the Second Watch concentrated mainly on gambling operations; policy and bookies while officers on the Third Watch concentrated on mainly prostitution, liquor licenses violations, drugs and gambling houses. Sergeant Ronald Eppilito forty and a ten year veteran of the department, clean cut and marginally handsome. He was married with two children a son six and a daughter nine. Him and his family attended Saint Columbanus church on the southwest side of the city and he was a devout catholic and family man and had served with the Marines in Korea. After joining the department he had worked with Sergeant Romano in the 5th District and had been assigned to the vice unit for three years. Richard Novakski was Polish, divorced with five children, a fifteen year veteran of the department and had a monthly child support and alimony obligation that was half of his $600 a month salary. The two sergeants were part of the “Commander’s Club,” but only six of the police officers in the Vice Unit received pay-outs from the club. Officers assigned to the 2nd District Vice Unit were considered an elite group of aggressive officers that worked in civilian dress and engaged in irregular patrol, checked the liquor establishment for licenses violation, were responsible for enforce gambling, narcotic and prostitution laws in the district. They by passes the established command hierarchy; sergeants, lieutenants and watch commander and reported directly to the district commander.

SIX

Summer had arrived in Chicago. It was a warm, humid night. Behind the Washington Park Field house located at 53rd South Parkway the three vice unit sergeants parked their unmarked squad cars side by side. Sergeants Novakski and Eppilito entered Sergeant Romano’s vehicle who gave each a list.
“These are the twenty taverns that are not in the club, I want you two to divide the list up and keep a file on each. Get their liquor license number and owner and find out if there have been any police reports on arrest or problems, but we don’t want any joints that may be problem; joints that run after hours, allow gambling, cater to prostitutes or serve minors, we want “clean joints!” Sergeant Romano said.
“How much?” Eppilito asked
“Let’s start with two hundred a month.”
“Will they be a part of the club?” Novakski asked.

Romano smiled, “Yeah, our club the “Little Club!”

The men got in their vehicles and left. The taverns that Sergeant Romano had targeted were small neighborhood taverns that barely made a profit and could not afford to pay $200 a month for police protection. Sergeant Romano sent in his vice men to make licensees premise checks, harass the customers and bar maids that drove customers away of the taverns owners that was reluctant or refused to pay, in order to stay in business many of the taverns owner agreed to pay

SEVEN

Corruption was rampant in the district officers who was not a part of the Commander’s Club hustled traffic and gamblers, prostitutes, drug dealers, rolled drunks and tavern owners when they found liquor law violations but they were absolutely forbidden from hustling club members. Any officer who violated that order was immediately transferred. Residents of the 2nd District kept a five dollar bill attached to their driver’s license in case they were stopped for a real or imaginary traffic violation. The Chicago Police Department did not face large-scale reorganization efforts until 1960 under Mayor Richard J. Daley. That year, eight officers from the Summerdale police district on Chicago's North Side were accused of operating a large-scale burglary ring. The Summerdale case dominated the local press, and became the biggest police-related scandal the city's history at the time. Mayor Daley appointed a committee to make recommendations for improvements to the police department. The action resulted in the creation of a five-member board charged with nominating a superintendent to be the chief authority over police officers, enacting rules and regulations governing the police system, submitting budget requests to the city council, and overseeing disciplinary cases involving officers.[6] Criminologist O.W. Wilson was brought on as Superintendent of Police, and served until 1967 when he retired. As a result of the Summerdale Scandal the mayor retired the police chief and the eight officers were fired and sent to prison.

EIGHT

O.W. Wilson obtained his degree in Criminology from the University of
California, Berkeley in 1924. To pay for his tuition, he joined the Berkley Police Department, serving under another famous police officer, scholar and writer, August Vollmer. O. W. Wilson went on to become influential police scholar as well as the chief of police of the Fullerton Police Department (California) and chief of police of the Wichita Police Department (Kansas); and, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a public safety officer. O.W. Wilson is the author of at least three books on policing and law enforcement: Police records: Their Installation and Use; Police Planning; and, Police Administration. O.W. Wilson’s book, Police Administration, is one of the most influential books in America on local law enforcement. Wilson attracted national attention by reorganizing the Wichita, Kansas police department initiating such innovations as marked police vehicles, two-way radio dispatch, and the use of lie detector machines and mobile crime laboratories. Wilson became known for his ethical behavior and for eliminating police corruption. He taught that the police could not prevent crime because they had little control over social causes, such as poverty and neglect. However, the police could repress and control crime through aggressive tactics such as preventive mobile patrol. Until the 1930s, foot patrol was the dominant focus for police work. As part of the professional crime-fighting model, Wilson promoted motorized patrol as being more effective than the traditional foot patrol. Officers on foot were limited in their ability to respond, especially when weather or other conditions impeded the action. It was believed that officers utilizing mobile patrol could cover more territory, respond more quickly to criminal incidents, and provide greater deterrence. Wilson did not foresee officers remaining in their vehicles for most of their shifts and becoming isolated from the public. He believed that officers would still observe, talk to, and interact with the community for whom they were responsible. Later studies (Kansas City, 1978) also showed that increased random patrol did not serve as a deterrent for criminal activity. Wilson carried out Vollmer's approach to police professionalism. He saw corruption as the by-product of poor organization, inefficient planning, and an unorganized command structure. Police managers were encouraged to separate themselves from local politics, utilize rigorous police hiring practices and training, and learn how to use the latest technological innovations available to law enforcement. At the time, these innovations included marked patrol cars, radio communication systems, and enhanced record keeping. O.W. Wilson looked like a college professor. He was tall and lanky and his suits always looked liked they needed to be pressed. But the mayor had given him carte blanche into re-organizing and cleaning up the department. Wilson was a disciplinarian who believed that organization and discipline were the hallmark of a successful police department and believed that corruption could be eliminated by instilling a new sense of professionalism and argued that the police executive should be more than a figure-head or political appointee a situation that had existed too long in Chicago. O.W. immediately went to work issuing a series of General Orders that listed a code of ethic for police officers required a psychological profile testing during the recruitment and hiring stage, hired more black police officers and assign them to black districts. He reorganizes the Internal Affairs Division which was tasked with investigating complaints against police officers and developing internal corruption control strategies. Wilson made it clear that corruption would not be tolerated and he developed Rules and Regulations that clearly defining what actions would not be tolerated and informed officers of expected standards of behavior and consequences for violating those standards and he informed the community about those standards and urged them to come forward and report instances of corruption or shake-downs. He also provided grounds for discipline and counseling of errant officers and forbid gratuities arguing they created a climate which might breed more serious corruption. He created the Police Corruption Unit that investigated police corruption and reported directly to him and appointed Louis Watson as its commander but even with all the rules and orders forbidding corruption it continued mainly because many of the big bosses in the department were corrupt.

NINE

Commander Roland Watson was a twenty-five years veteran of the department, married with two grown daughters. He was a handsome black man. He was bald-headed, over six feet tall and wiry, but had a muscular body with broad shoulders, well defined arms and a narrow waist. He was a sharp dresser and his suits were custom- made by Skeets the Tailor who had a shop under the 43rd Street CTA Elevator Station and always wore wide-brimmed stylish hats. Commander Louis Watson was working at his desk at Corruption Unit at Police