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Title: Chicago Police Corruption Case
Source:
Chicago Tribune
URL Source: [None]
Published: Sep 19, 2009
Author: Anne Sweeny, et al
Post Date: 2009-09-19 08:11:52 by Turtle
Keywords: None
Views: 189
Comments: 6
Four former Chicago police officers implicated in the Special Operations Section scandal have been charged in the case, a sign that the state and federal probes of one of the city's biggest police corruption scandals ever is coming to a head, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation. Bart Maka, 30; Brian Pratscher, 35; Donovan Markiewicz, 38; and Guadalupe Salinas, 41, turned themselves in at a police station Thursday. They are scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court Friday to be arraigned on a host of charges, including robbery, home invasion and official misconduct, according to court records. The four are expected to eventually plead guilty in exchange for cooperating with the investigation. They would testify at trial and have already provided grand jury testimony about their alleged involvement in a ring led by former Officer Jerome Finnigan. The group is accused of making false arrests, committing robberies and home invasions for several years, acting under the guise of busting street gangs and rounding up guns. More police officers swept up in the probe have also cooperated and may have charges and plea deals announced in the coming weeks, a law-enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said. The cooperating officers were part of a group of more than a dozen officers who were implicated in the scandal but not originally charged when the case broke in September 2006. Chicago police officials declined to comment. Before this week's developments, six officers had been indicted with Finnigan. Charges against two of the officers were dropped this year, partly because victims mistook them for other officers involved. The new cases against the four men in Circuit Court signal that federal indictments in a parallel investigation run by the U.S. attorney are finally ready to be filed, sources said. Federal prosecutors and the FBI entered the case in 2007 to investigate whether there was a coverup by Chicago Police Department supervisors. Federal indictments, expected in coming weeks, could include charges against several ranking officers, sources said. SOS was once one of the department's elite crime-fighting units, praised by department brass as the best at making gang and drug arrests. But while they were racking up arrests in the late 1990s and early 2000s, they were also tallying thousands of complaints of false arrest and thefts. When the scandal broke, it was the first and biggest domino in a line of misconduct cases that led to the early retirement of then-Supt. Philip Cline, whom Mayor Richard Daley replaced with Jody Weis, an ex-FBI official. The unit was disbanded in October 2007. The city has settled numerous lawsuits against SOS officers connected to the alleged Finnigan crew, but several pending suits have been delayed by the criminal investigation. Soon after federal authorities entered the case, they developed information that Finnigan was trying to hire a hit man to murder one of the SOS officers who was cooperating with investigators, officials said. Finnigan was arrested in September 2007 in that case and remains in the federal jail downtown without bail.
Poster Comment: One of the police officers tried to hire someone to hire another so he could't talk. "Two people can keep a secret, if one of them is dead." Only four people involved in a conspiracy, and it falls apart. Yet "Truthers" (sic) think thousands of people can keep their mouths shut for their entire lives. Every cop knows, find one of them, press them, and they immediately sing to get the least punishment. Talk about deluded...that's the defining characteristic of a conspiracist.
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#1. To: Turtle (#0)
"Two people can keep a secret, if one of them is dead." Only four people involved in a conspiracy, and it falls apart. Speaking from police corruption (conspiracy) experience, it took the Serpico testimony (he only went straight because he was short changed on the monthly nut) to expose the multiple thousands of NYC cops who were on the take. They had a well oiled corruption machine in place since the days of Tammany Hall. And call me crazy, but Serpico was but a bump in the road for the cash conspiracy machine. Google cops and corruption and you'll find your current day conspirators. They, my hard shelled friend, represent but a small tip of the current day corruption/conspiracy ice berg that still exists in police departments. As for 9-11, and other events, if we could all go back in time, lets say 20 years, you and others like you, would never have believed the Casandra's warning of the big brother, police state that is now part of our lives. You'd have called them KooKs in 1990 had they warned you of GPS systems in cell phones, black boxes in cars that record speed, distance and location, global war waged on tactics (terror) rather than nations, and Americans herded into "free speech zones" when cowardly politicians come to town. I could go on and on, but I'm sure you'll neither answer or care what I and others write in reply to your vanities. Your mind has snapped shut and that isn't an attribute I'd wish on anyone.
ping
If one doesn't fit neatly into some government category, they're different and must be fixed.-jethro tull
My #1 Fav.
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole a bike and asked him to forgive me.
The Delusions of a Narcissist A pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance and ambition.
Yet 9/11 Deniers think that the attacks would have required thousands of people if they were highly trained well funded politically connected insiders but only a few dozen if they were poorly trained poorly funded unconnected illegal alien outsiders. That makes NO sense. You are denying quite a few conspiracy theories as you defend a conspiracy theory while you bash conspiracy theorists. That makes NO sense.
when you realize that the short bus is mass-transit on turtle island you'll understand.
One of the police officers tried to hire someone to hire another so he could't talk.
#2. To: Turtle, *libertarians*, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
#3. To: Jethro Tull (#1)
Americans herded into "free speech zones" when cowardly politicians come to town.
#4. To: Turtle (#0)
#5. To: Turtle (#0)
Yet "Truthers" (sic) think thousands of people can keep their mouths shut for their entire lives.
Talk about deluded...that's the defining characteristic of a conspiracist.
#6. To: Patriot Henry, Turtle (#5)
The best gun to have, is the gun you have, when you need a gun.
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