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Who was the first defendant to be found guilty in Chicago?

 · August 26, 2014 07:00 AM Lawyer disbarred for 3 decades in Greylord scandal wants license back Steven R. Strahler An attorney convicted in Operation Greylord is trying to win back his law license,...

Who was sentenced to prison in the Greylord case?

Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Chicago Police Department Internal Affairs Division and the Illinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois (the Chicago jurisdiction). The FBI named the investigation "Operation ...

Who are the deputy sheriffs charged in the Chicago Police Department indictments?

The charges allege that, beginning in 1979, Sodini took bribes to fix cases from Becker, Barnett, Davino, Jaffe, Birnbaum and attorney Dean Wolfson, …

Who was involved in the Chicago corruption scandal?

03/15/04. Today marks an important anniversary in the annals of public corruption investigations in the United States. Twenty years ago today, in a federal courtroom in Chicago, a …

Who were the FBI agents in the Chicago murder case?

Key undercover FBI agents and lawyers included: David Grossman, David Ries and Terrence Hake. As a Cook County prosecutor, Hake initially complained about the bribery and corruption in the Murder and Sexual Assault preliminary hearing courtroom in Chicago. The FBI and United States Attorneys Office learned of his complaint and recruited him to pose as a corrupt prosecutor and later as a bribe-paying criminal defense attorney. Lamar Jordan, David Benscoter, Marie Dyson, William C. Megary, and Robert Farmer were the principal FBI case agents and supervisors during the investigation. Six Internal Revenue Service agents also played key roles in tracking the money flows, including Dennis Czurylo and Bill Thullen.

Who was the first person to be found guilty of a crime in Cook County?

Indictment and trial. The first defendant to be found guilty was Harold Conn, Deputy Traffic Court Clerk in the Cook County judicial system. Conn was convicted in March 1984 and was one of the many bagmen in the ring of corruption.

What led to the formation of the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County?

The systemic corruption led to the formation of the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County, a group assembled in August 1984 to examine the problems of the Cook County courts. The group also issued recommendations that were designed to contribute to a period of reform in the courts.

Who was the last person to be convicted of murder?

The last conviction was that of Judge Thomas J. Maloney, who was indicted in 1991 on bribery charges and convicted in April 1993 of fixing three murder cases for more than $100,000 in bribes. Maloney was released from federal prison in 2008, and died the same year.

What was the first listening device in a judge's chamber?

The first listening device ever placed in a judge 's chambers occurred in the undercover phase, when after hearing tapes recorded by under cover agent/prosecutor Hake, a higher court found evidentiary probable cause and allowed the FBI to bug the narcotics court chambers of Judge Wayne Olson, one of those later convicted of corruption. In order to acquire evidence of corruption, agents obtained judicial and U.S. Department of Justice authorization to present false court cases for the undercover agents/lawyers to fix in front of the corrupt judges. The investigative phase ended when one of the fake victims of a contrived crime dropped his FBI badge, which had another name as the local Chicago beat cops noticed.

Who was undercover in the Illinois case?

The undercover phase included two local courts and two Illinois attorneys who agreed to operate undercover (and were allowed to do so by senior Illinois judges, including Harry Comerford of Glenview) as well as numerous FBI agents and cooperating local law enforcement officers.

Who wrote Operation Greylord?

Operation Greylord: The True Story of an Untrained Undercover Agent and America's Biggest Corruption Bust, by Terrence Hake, Ankerwycke Publishing, Chicago Illinois, 2015

What was the name of the man who was charged with fraud in 1980?

Sodini, who lives in the Rush Street neighborhood, was charged with two counts of racketeering, 26 counts of mail fraud and filing a false 1980 federal income tax return.

How many people have been charged with Greylord?

With the new indictments, 50 individuals have been charged as a result of the Greylord investigation into court corruption, said U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas. The indictments Wednesday were the largest single group of individuals charged in the investigation.

How much did James Lefevour get from the lawyers?

James LeFevour said he regularly picked up $2,500 from one of the lawyers for each month. He said he kept $500 and passed $2,000 on to Judge LeFevour, who was convicted in July and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He is scheduled to surrender to prison next month.

Who was the judge who patrolled the courtrooms?

James LeFevour testified that he had been assigned by Judge LeFevour, then presiding judge of the 1st Municipal District, to patrol the halls of courtrooms under his jurisdiction.

How long was Wolfson in prison?

Wolfson earlier pleaded guilty to Greylord charges and was sentenced to 1/2 years in prison. The ''hustler`s bribery club'' was first described in May, 1984, in the trial of Associate Circuit Judge John M. Murphy, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

How much money did Reynolds take from Kaplan?

Reynolds was specifically charged with taking a bribe of up to $1,000 to grant a motion to suppress, made on behalf of a client by Del Beccaro and Cirignani, and taking three $100 bribes from attorney Edward Kaplan, who had law offices at 105 W. Madison St., to influence cases. Kaplan pleaded guilty earlier to Greylord charges and was sentenced to two years in prison.

How much did Reynolds bribe?

Reynolds also is accused of accepting bribes ranging from $50 to $1,000 from Nydam, Del Beccaro and Arthur Cirignani, Del Beccaro`s law partner. The bribes allegedly were paid to Reynolds from 1979 through 1981 while he was assigned to Branch 42, a misdemeanor court at 2452 W. Belmont Ave., allegedly in return for allowing Nydam to solicit cases and for referring clients to Nydam.

What was Harold Conn guilty of?

Twenty years ago today, in a federal courtroom in Chicago, a jury found Harold Conn (top center in photo) guilty on all 4 counts of accepting bribes to be passed on to Cook County judges as payment for fixing tickets. The evidence? He had been caught live on FBI tapes.

What was the FBI tasked with in the 1970s?

By 1976, the Department of Justice had created a Public Integrity Section, and the FBI was tasked with the investigations, focusing on major, systemic corruption in the body politic.

Who said unless a man is honest we have no right to keep him in public life?

Last words: Straight from Teddy Roosevelt: “Unless a man is honest we have no right to keep him in public life, it matters not how brilliant his capacity, it hardly matters how great his power of doing good service on certain lines may be...No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.”

Who is investigated in the US?

Who’s investigated? Public servants: members of Congress and state legislatures; members of the Administration and governors’ offices; judges and court staffs; all of law enforcement; all government agencies. Plus everyone who works with government and is willing to pay for “special favors”: lobbyists, contractors, consultants, lawyers, U.S. businesses in foreign countries, you name it.

Was the Bagman caught on tape?

He had been caught live on FBI tapes. This “bagman” had been Deputy Traffic Court Clerk in the Cook County judicial system, and he was the first defendant to be found guilty in a mammoth sting investigation of crooked officials in the Cook County courts.

How many people were indicted in Operation Greylord?

A total of 93 people were indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 10 deputy sheriffs, eight policemen, eight court officials ...

Who was the assistant state attorney in the case of the crooked lawyer?

Assistant State's Attorney Terrence "Terry" Hake played a key role in the investigation, posing as a crooked lawyer and gaining inside information. Hake went undercover for more than three years, wearing a wire to catch members of the court system on the take.

Why did the FBI go to Chicago?

FBI agents from all over the United States poured into the Chicago area to help run the operation and stage phony crimes. The FBI staged fake crimes all over Chicago. To catch corrupt judges on the take, the FBI staged fake crimes. The "criminals," arresting officers and lawyers were all in on the sting.

Who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes?

Judge Richard LeFevour, left, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes. Judge John Murphy, right, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes. Convicted and sentenced. Judge John Devine was sentenced to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. A man undercover.

What was Operation Greylord named after?

Operation Greylord was named after a racehorse, picked at random out of a racing sheet on the back pages of the Chicago Sun-Times. The FBI agents and U.S. attorneys simply liked how it sounded. These images take an inside look at the key players of the investigation and some of the corrupt people it took down. ...

Who led Operation Greylord?

Operation Greylord was led by the FBI and a group of U.S. attorneys. Their three-and-a-half-year undercover investigation of the Cook County court system led to the indictment of 92 judges, lawyers, policemen and court clerks. Operation Greylord was named after a racehorse, picked at random out of a racing sheet on the back pages ...

Was Judge Olson corrupt?

Judge Olson was considered so corrupt that the FBI took the unprecedented step of bugging his chambers. Caught on tape. Transcript of an FBI recording that captured a conversation between Judge Wayne Olson and attorney Bruce Roth. Read more transcripts and dig into the case files of Operation Greylord on our exclusive documents page.