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Chicago Cops Busted

By TChris, Section Misconduct
Posted on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:04:45 AM EST
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by TChris

Federal prosecutors filed a complaint yesterday charging four Chicago police officers with "shaking down" drug dealers for their cash, drugs, and guns. One of the officers had already been assigned to desk duty while internal affairs investigated a complaint that he helped a suspect avoid capture for a shooting.

The officers' shake-down scheme began to unravel when they tried to take drugs and guns from a snitch who was cooperating with (and under surveillance by) other cops.

Any arrest the officers were involved in could now be called into question, [Chicago Police Supt. Phil] Cline said.

The officers have been suspended without pay pending their termination. TalkLeft reported on similar behavior by Los Angeles police officers here.

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    • Chicago Cops Busted | 28 comments (28 topical)
    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#1)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:32:36 AM EST
    Kudos to the good officers who took them down.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:39:51 AM EST
    Now, you have to ask yourself: Would this have happened if the black market in illicits were replaced with a controlled and regulated means of purchasing? There would be vastly less incentive for the kind of corruption this story illustrates...

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:49:36 AM EST
    Another glorious byproduct of prohibition, rampant corruption.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:14:24 AM EST
    Word is the killing in 2001 of a Chicago cop who worked the same area and was with 2 of the crooks when he was shot will now be reopened. A man was convicted of the murder in 2004. However, his public defender was prevented from going into the backgrounds of those 2 crooked cops who testified against the defendant. Methinks the PD knew something didn't make sense in the cops account and their reputations may have preceded them. Stay tuned.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:22:18 AM EST
    Interesting silo. I feel if a drug dealer shoots a cop during a shakedown he is acting in self-defense, and the shooting may be justified.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 08:47:30 AM EST
    Posted by kdog at January 28, 2005 09:22 AM Interesting silo. I feel if a drug dealer shoots a cop during a shakedown he is acting in self-defense, and the shooting may be justified. This statement is just sick. The drug dealer is breaking the law. Nothing the cop does justifies the dealer shooting him. If the dealer does not want to pay, he should quit selling ILLEGAL drugs. Both the dealer and cop need to be in prison. I don't think the war on drugs is working either, but I am never going to side with the dealers, who are in most cases vicious thugs. kdog, go snort another line and smoke another joint. Your value as an American is non-existant until you grow up and quit drugs.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#8)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 09:07:01 AM EST
    K-dog, If you could use deadly force to prevent a "shakedown" I would agree with you, but since it seems to be excessive force regardless of the players, I would have a problem with it.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#9)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 09:09:52 AM EST
    Nemo, People are still robbed in California for their medical marijuana which is legal, and fairly easy to obtain with a prop 215 card which costs $175 for a guaranteed diagnosis... Hey, a guarantee, how can that be?

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 09:36:35 AM EST
    Nothing the cop does justifies the dealer shooting him
    Not even robbing him at gunpoint? I would agree SOME, maybe most drug dealers are thugs, but so are cops who rob people. Another reason to legalize and regulate, stop giving thugs a way to make a lot of money. I say, make them get regular jobs. Pat, If the cop had his gun pulled and said "Gimme all of your money" instead of "You are under arrest", the shooting may be justified. If the cops gun wasn't pulled and he said "Gimme the loot", not justified. Definitely impossible to say for sure unless you were there. FWIW, My reefer man is actually a very nice guy who works full time and sells to supplement his income. You know, pulling himself up by his bootstraps. I don't mess with the white stuff. I thought America was all about entrepenuership.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 10:17:33 AM EST
    Patrick, I've pointed out numerous times before that so long as cannabis remains illegal at the Federal level, it invites the unscrupulous to attack and steal from those who have only, only, only local permission to use it. MMJ patients are NOT considered as being legitimate in the Federal government's eyes; look at all the raids conducted by the DEA under the Bush Administration in California on patient cooperatives; hardly indicative of it being 'legal'. This argument is both disingenuous and threadbare, but like most prohibitionists, it doesn't prevent you from repeating it ad nauseum. There's an old saying that if you repeat an untruth often enough that people will believe it (a certain German gentleman with a funny mustache codified that one long ago). That's how we got into this DrugWar mess, and partly why we stay in it.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#12)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 11:21:51 AM EST
    Nemo, Of course, I forgot that the criminals are so versed in federal law that they know the difference. I mean there are so many federal cases as compared to the 1000's or 10,000's of people who are growing it for "medical purposes' in California. Ya know what? No, I think you're wrong.... There are bad people in the world and they will do bad things regardless of the laws. Changing the laws doesn't make their actions better, it just weakens what we can do about them.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 11:26:28 AM EST
    If I haven't been clear before, I will endeavor to be so now: Making something illegal (nationally, cannabis wasn't prior to 1937) creates black markets. Black markets take advantage of the illegality and officially mandated scarcity of the product to inflate it's actual value - it's price. This makes something that is nothing but a weed become as - or more - valuable than gold. The Feds are maintaining its' illegality on a national level. They are providing, in essence, 'price supports' for dealers. So long as it remains illegal on the Federal level, the artificially high price of cannabis provides an incentive to steal from the locally legal but still Federally unsanctioned MMJ patients. So long as this happens, the theft you mentioned will continue. Plain, and unfortunately, brutally simple, economics.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#14)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 12:14:21 PM EST
    So it's your contention that people only steal it because it's illegal and therefore the associated prices are artifically high? I think they steal it cause they are greedy and it's the easy way to get it. I mean alcohol isn't illegal and still people rip it off all the time. Money isn't illegal (although it's arguably artificially inflated), yet people still rip it off... I agree with the reason for the high prices, I disagree that it's the motivation behind the thefts/robberies/violence associated with it in California.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:03:40 PM EST
    Patrick, I believe we are reaching a point where we are moving into supposition, rather than fact. You agree with me about the artificial price support that the laws create. Which in turn creates the black market. Which makes a literally common-as-dirt product much more valuable than even a 'precious metal'. Which draws the criminal element out to make a buck. Since they can't go to an outside arbitrator to settle any differences amongst thmeselves, resort to violence and theft on the sick people legally allowed to grow it for themselves. Which is where your job comes into play. Are you saying that if the weed were legal at all levels of government, Fed State and local, and you could buy it in a regulated manner from a licensed distributor, and that there were no economic incentives to engage in a black market, that the grow-rips would take place anyway, with the same level of violence attendent in it? I hold that the problem here is one of magnitude of incentive to make like a thieving bastard and steal a sick person's medicine. How big an incentive would the would-be thieves have with completely relegalized cannabis? They wouldn't have much, as the price would be considerably lower than it is now. At that point, anyone growing their own cannabis would run roughly the same risk as someone who grew tobacco in their back yard. And I haven't heard of tobacco farmers being bludgeoned to death or held at gunpoint by a nicotine addict; those poor souls can get their fix from any drug store. Which is the entirety of my point.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#16)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:10:20 PM EST
    You agree with me about the artificial price support that the laws create. Which in turn creates the black market. Which makes a literally common-as-dirt product much more valuable than even a 'precious metal'. CA illegal pot price: ~$20/gram LINK Amsterdam legal pot price: ~$18/gram LINK

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#17)
    by pigwiggle on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:16:32 PM EST
    “I don't think the war on drugs is working either, but I am never going to side with the dealers, who are in most cases vicious thugs.” The thought of one thug killing another suits my sense of parity and justice just fine. What you sow …

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:27:55 PM EST
    Hey man can someone order a pizza?

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:32:39 PM EST
    Right on pigwiggle.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#20)
    by pigwiggle on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:40:26 PM EST
    Comparing CA and Amsterdam’s prices doesn’t quite work. In Kansas you would need to add another $3.50/gram for state tax, federal tax would likely be of the same magnitude $5-$10. I can assume California would be roughly the same, so you are looking at ~$30/gram. Don’t even think about paying taxes on what Kansas considers a controlled substance, $200/gram! If it is in doses like LSD or X, an additional $40/ dose; that is something like an 800% increase for LSD. All here .

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 01:42:53 PM EST
    In the course of my career I traveled extensively throughout North America and Chicago was one of only 2 places I was ever solicited by cops for a bribe. The other was at the Mexican border. "Kudos to the good officers who took them down. " How about all the cops in their precinct that didn't report them?

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 02:02:37 PM EST
    Patrick, weed is still illegal in the Netherlands, and I ought to know, I've been there plenty of times. (No, not for that reason; in the 1980's my military unit went there every year for REFORGER and WINTEX, and I spent a lot of time with their Marechaussee, their top-notch military police.) I was in the Liaison section of my unit, which meant I was a go-between. I had to learn as much as I could about their way of doing things, as we were guests in their country. Dutch cannabis is priced almost on par with US cannabis because both are illegally procured. The 'coffeeshops' there are selling openly out the front door, but it's being carried in through the back door like any illicit. The Dutch police simply don't have much incentive to really put their foot down, because they know that politically it would be suicide. The Dutch tolerate cannabis sales because they have even less tolerance for the kind of battering rams\masked invaders\innocents shot by police as happens here in the States. They've already had one dose of that courtesy of the Nazis, and are mindful of that kind of slippery slope.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#23)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 02:02:38 PM EST
    PW - you are discussing something quite different than what nemo is claiming and what I responded to. Broadly speaking, the illegality and black market of MJ in the US has not made it's price exhorbitantly high compared to it's legal price elsewhere. Your point about what the price point of pot might be if the US legalized it is well taken, however.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 02:07:33 PM EST
    And as to why it's lllegal in Holland? The 1961 UN Single Convention treaty, solely proposed by the US and rammed down the throats of every signatory with threats of economic sanctions for non-compliance. This keeps weed almost universally illegal...but many nations, particularly in Europe, are tiring of this non-productive Treaty and are quietly edging away from it.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 02:12:42 PM EST
    So, Patrick, without belaboring the point: It's the bad laws that created the even worse crime. Which brings us back to what caused this latest incident of police corruption. Relegalize, control and regulate the drug trade, and you can go back to chasing real criminals, like murderers, rapists, child molestors, etc.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 04:18:49 PM EST
    Steve - Everyday Patriot at January 28, 2005 09:47 AM Nothing the cop does justifies the dealer shooting him. what a a$$hole, you mama should not have skipped her daily vitamin, or better yet your dad should have just flushed you down the toilet... Your value as an American is non-existant until you grow up and quit drugs. your value as a human is non-existant until you get a brain. stupid motherF@@@er your on permanent ignore. Rocker at January 28, 2005 02:42 PM ..."Kudos to the good officers who took them down." How about all the cops in their precinct that didn't report them?" most concerned law abiding public servants, cops particularly, refuse to acknowledge the obvious. The obvious being large percentages of their colleagues have supplemented their incomes with like activities. Just google "Police Drug Corruption" and you'll get pages of statistics and incidents. And sadly its accepted, by good cops, thus no one in the precint "ratted". Patrick if I may ask you a personal question? What was your course of action the first time you observed one of your colleagues "bending the rules"? And yes, I do assume you have witnessed this first had.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#27)
    by Patrick on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 05:09:40 PM EST
    Nemo, Yes! Peanut, I've never witnessed anything at that level and would gladly arrest anyone who did such an act. I have reported misconduct and have investigated misconduct as a supervisor, with varying degrees of sucess or failure depending on your POV, and I will continue.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#28)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 06:23:45 AM EST
    “Your point about what the price point of pot might be if the US legalized it is well taken, however.” The price of pot in the US if it was legal? TLC, water, and miracle-grow. I was pointing out that your street price is hardly the real price. I don’t even smoke pot and I’m paying my share of regulation costs right now; a kind of drug subsidy.

    Re: Chicago Cops Busted (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 29, 2005 at 09:44:13 AM EST
    More reports about this case, per the Chicago papers and my criminal courthouse pals: The crooked cops are apparently affiliated with street gangs, who used them to drive away competition to the gangs' drug dealings. For some reason, they summoned the officer (mentioned in my post above) to an alleyway, where he was ambushed and murdered. The evidence against the man convicted of the murder was not strong; hence the judge did not impose the death penalty. The defendant's PD repeatedly tried to get access to the 2 crooked cops internal records, but those requests were denied. There are increasing calls for reopening the investigation, as many are now believing that an innocent man was convicted of the officer's murder...or at least a less culpable man. A set up? Stay tuned.

    Chicago Cops Busted | 28 comments (28 topical)