WEBVTT - Episode 9: The Vanishing 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:26.596 Pushkin previously on deep Cover. 0:00:27.716 --> 0:00:31.476 Bob Cooley's mission had a name. The FBI called it 0:00:31.596 --> 0:00:37.476 Operation Gambat, short for Gambling Attorney. Bob's objective was to 0:00:37.516 --> 0:00:41.276 take down Pat Marcy and his corrupt political machine in 0:00:41.316 --> 0:00:45.716 the first ward, and Bob was making great progress. He 0:00:45.756 --> 0:00:49.116 had gotten Pat Marcy on tape. But would that be enough? 0:00:50.236 --> 0:00:53.476 Every day that you continue to do this, it's a 0:00:53.516 --> 0:00:54.396 scarier day. 0:00:55.556 --> 0:00:57.316 When should you stop. 0:00:57.716 --> 0:01:01.876 To make matters more complicated? An investigative TV journalist had 0:01:01.916 --> 0:01:05.636 begun to expose what the FBI was up to. Pat 0:01:05.676 --> 0:01:09.236 Marcy and his guys now knew without a doubt the 0:01:09.316 --> 0:01:13.516 FBI was coming for them, which made Bob's work even 0:01:13.596 --> 0:01:14.756 more dangerous. 0:01:15.236 --> 0:01:18.436 Now you're scared, and he's scared, and everybody's scared. 0:01:18.556 --> 0:01:19.996 Anything could happen. 0:01:20.556 --> 0:01:22.316 We were going to do everything in our power not 0:01:22.396 --> 0:01:25.556 to make a mistake, because this guy could get killed 0:01:26.396 --> 0:01:26.876 just like that. 0:01:31.476 --> 0:01:34.556 You might recall it was Pat Marcy who asked Bob 0:01:34.596 --> 0:01:37.196 to help fix an infamous murder case back in the 0:01:37.276 --> 0:01:41.636 nineteen seventies. Bob had agreed to do Marcy's bidding, and 0:01:41.716 --> 0:01:46.076 he convinced an otherwise clean judge named Frank Wilson to 0:01:46.116 --> 0:01:51.196 take a bribe. As a result, a reputed hitman, Harry Elaman, 0:01:51.716 --> 0:01:56.276 walked free. Afterwards, the judge took a beating in the press. 0:01:56.916 --> 0:01:59.996 Rumors spread that he'd been bribed, and according to Bob, 0:02:00.356 --> 0:02:06.076 the judge told him angrily, you destroyed me. All of 0:02:06.156 --> 0:02:10.236 this old history was now suddenly relevant again. If the 0:02:10.276 --> 0:02:13.796 FEDS could prove that this case had in fact been fixed, 0:02:14.156 --> 0:02:17.996 and that Pat Marcy had orchestrated it, it'd be damning, 0:02:18.876 --> 0:02:21.836 and Bob hoped this might lead to a retrial of 0:02:21.876 --> 0:02:25.396 Harry Alamann for the murder of William Logan, which would 0:02:25.436 --> 0:02:28.076 be a big deal. It would give Bob a chance 0:02:28.196 --> 0:02:32.076 to write an old wrong. If fixing the Harry Alamann 0:02:32.116 --> 0:02:35.996 case was Bob's original sin, well here was a chance 0:02:36.036 --> 0:02:42.316 to make up for it. But how would the FEDS 0:02:42.436 --> 0:02:45.396 prove that this bribe had taken place? Sure, they had 0:02:45.436 --> 0:02:49.396 Bob's account, but in theory, what would really help was 0:02:49.476 --> 0:02:53.996 corroboration from the judge himself, Frank Wilson. He was now 0:02:54.036 --> 0:02:58.876 retired and living out in Arizona. According to Bob's handlers 0:02:58.916 --> 0:03:02.596 at the FBI, Steve and Marie, they wanted Bob to 0:03:02.636 --> 0:03:06.436 wear a wire and get the judge on tape. They 0:03:06.476 --> 0:03:09.556 say Bob was very reluctant. 0:03:09.356 --> 0:03:12.316 Because he cared about Frank. He really did care about 0:03:12.316 --> 0:03:16.636 Frank Wilson. They were old, but because Frank was, in 0:03:16.756 --> 0:03:21.236 Bob's words, a good guy. He had been lured into 0:03:21.836 --> 0:03:27.036 the mafia's hornets nest by fixing a case of a mobster. 0:03:27.716 --> 0:03:28.996 So Bob was trying. 0:03:28.756 --> 0:03:32.516 To clean that up, I think a bit with Judge Wilson, 0:03:32.676 --> 0:03:38.196 but also get him to acknowledge that he had participated 0:03:38.316 --> 0:03:38.916 in a fix. 0:03:39.556 --> 0:03:42.716 It killed him to have to do Frank Wilson. He 0:03:42.796 --> 0:03:45.196 did not want to do Frank Wilson. He really liked 0:03:45.196 --> 0:03:45.916 Frank Wilson. 0:03:48.756 --> 0:03:51.516 Bob was in a real pickle. He wanted to help 0:03:51.556 --> 0:03:54.276 the Feds build their case, and in a way it 0:03:54.356 --> 0:03:57.716 was his case too, because Bob was deeply invested in 0:03:57.756 --> 0:04:02.236 making Operation Gambat a success. Yeah, Bob says he also 0:04:02.316 --> 0:04:04.556 wanted to give the judge a heads up about what 0:04:04.716 --> 0:04:09.076 was coming, that their backroom deal might soon be exposed. Bob, 0:04:09.116 --> 0:04:11.596 I believe there were things the judge could do to 0:04:11.636 --> 0:04:16.236 protect himself. As far as I could tell, Bob seems 0:04:16.236 --> 0:04:20.036 to have convinced himself with some magical thinking that he 0:04:20.076 --> 0:04:23.716 could both expose his friend and protect him at the 0:04:23.756 --> 0:04:24.316 same time. 0:04:25.556 --> 0:04:28.076 There's no way I'm going to be the one cause 0:04:28.156 --> 0:04:31.076 of my friend the problem. I'm trying to help him. 0:04:31.636 --> 0:04:33.796 I'm trying to keep him from getting into trouble. 0:04:34.996 --> 0:04:39.036 But Bob wasn't being fully transparent because Bob would be 0:04:39.036 --> 0:04:44.356 wearing a wire secretly recording their conversation, and as it 0:04:44.396 --> 0:04:47.716 turns out, this visit would set off a chain of 0:04:47.756 --> 0:04:53.476 events that would have profound consequences for both men. At 0:04:53.476 --> 0:04:56.996 this point, Operation Gambat would be coming to a close soon. Anyway, 0:04:57.276 --> 0:04:59.636 Bob knew it, and so did his handlers at the 0:04:59.716 --> 0:05:03.916 FBI and so on. Top of everything else, Bob also 0:05:04.036 --> 0:05:07.476 had to start planning his exit because the man known 0:05:07.516 --> 0:05:37.276 as Bob Cooley would not exist for much longer. I'm 0:05:37.356 --> 0:05:42.996 Jake Halburn and this is Deep Cover Mobland, Episode nine. 0:05:43.836 --> 0:06:07.556 The Vanishing Bob didn't go out to Arizona alone. He 0:06:07.596 --> 0:06:11.796 invited his old secretariat lover, Katherine Fleming. He hoped her 0:06:11.836 --> 0:06:15.396 presence might lighten the mood. So Bob settles in at 0:06:15.396 --> 0:06:18.676 a resort and arranges to have dinner with the Wilsons. 0:06:19.076 --> 0:06:22.756 Before dinner, Bob wires up. Then he and Catherine go 0:06:22.876 --> 0:06:25.876 down to the restaurant to find the judge and his wife. 0:06:26.196 --> 0:06:29.396 We met, Hi, Frank, how are you? You know what's 0:06:29.436 --> 0:06:32.356 going on? And you know, hey, how you been just 0:06:32.556 --> 0:06:37.076 small talking? And we walked into the restaurant. We get 0:06:37.076 --> 0:06:37.636 our table. 0:06:38.236 --> 0:06:42.076 They have an uneventful dinner together. Afterwards, they take a 0:06:42.076 --> 0:06:44.996 little stroll out to the parking lot, and we know 0:06:45.196 --> 0:06:48.836 exactly what's said next because we actually got a hold 0:06:48.876 --> 0:06:53.596 of the transcript from Bob's secret recording. The conversation among 0:06:53.636 --> 0:06:57.316 the couples seems friendly. They chat about the weather, what 0:06:57.436 --> 0:07:00.676 type of suntown lotion is best, and if Bob should 0:07:00.716 --> 0:07:05.396 visit the Grand Canyon. The judge tells Catherine politely, good 0:07:05.396 --> 0:07:09.596 seeing you again. Then Bob manages to pull the judge 0:07:09.596 --> 0:07:14.476 aside for a private conversation, and ever so casually, he 0:07:14.556 --> 0:07:18.196 brings up the Harry Alamann trial. He insinuates that the 0:07:18.236 --> 0:07:23.396 authorities are looking into it, re examining it. Bob says, quote, 0:07:24.036 --> 0:07:27.196 there's probably about half a dozen people that know the 0:07:27.236 --> 0:07:30.516 whole story on that, and the trouble is a couple 0:07:30.556 --> 0:07:36.236 of them are going to cooperate. Bob is bullshitting here, 0:07:36.516 --> 0:07:38.956 making up a story about some other guys who are 0:07:38.996 --> 0:07:43.116 supposedly cooperating. In other words, he's not telling the judge 0:07:43.436 --> 0:07:46.356 I myself went to the FEDS. I'm the source of 0:07:46.396 --> 0:07:50.116 all this. Bob goes on to say, quote, if I 0:07:50.156 --> 0:07:53.036 ever get called in to testify, I'm going to testify. 0:07:53.356 --> 0:07:55.156 The only way I can get in trouble is by 0:07:55.196 --> 0:08:00.236 perjuring myself. He then adds, don't worry about me, but 0:08:00.556 --> 0:08:03.716 don't put yourself in a bad spot by perjuring or something. 0:08:03.956 --> 0:08:07.596 It's not worth it, and this is his warning to 0:08:07.636 --> 0:08:11.356 the judge. Bob also reminds him that the statute of 0:08:11.396 --> 0:08:16.036 limitations is expired on any bribery charges, meaning the judge 0:08:16.076 --> 0:08:21.756 would in theory be safe to tell the truth. Bob 0:08:21.796 --> 0:08:25.156 then asks the judge, quote, what are you going to do? 0:08:26.236 --> 0:08:31.476 The judge replies, don't worry about me. As Bob rambles on, 0:08:31.796 --> 0:08:35.196 the judge keeps saying I don't know anything about anything. 0:08:35.956 --> 0:08:39.756 He says this four times. It's almost like he knows 0:08:39.796 --> 0:08:43.756 he's being recorded. At one point, Bob tells him bluntly, 0:08:44.596 --> 0:08:46.716 I don't want you to get mad at me, but 0:08:47.036 --> 0:08:50.396 you know, if it comes right down to it. I'm 0:08:50.396 --> 0:08:53.676 not going to take the fall. Finally, Bob and the 0:08:53.756 --> 0:08:56.876 judge walk back to where the ladies are standing. The 0:08:56.956 --> 0:08:59.916 judge's wife says, well, thank you very much. It was 0:09:00.036 --> 0:09:04.796 just a delight. Bob banters a bit more. He even says, 0:09:05.276 --> 0:09:08.396 if I come back, we'll do dinner together. We'll try 0:09:08.396 --> 0:09:19.996 the same place next time. As far as the FBI 0:09:20.196 --> 0:09:23.756 was concerned, this was hardly a home run. The judge 0:09:23.756 --> 0:09:27.316 did not admit taking a bribe. For his part, Bob 0:09:27.396 --> 0:09:29.516 felt that he had warned his old friend about what 0:09:29.636 --> 0:09:34.116 was coming. Though I suppose this was like warning your 0:09:34.236 --> 0:09:39.876 friend that you just set fire to his house. But 0:09:40.676 --> 0:09:44.876 maybe the fire was inevitable. For years, Chicago had been 0:09:44.916 --> 0:09:48.796 a dark hole of corruption. So many cases had been fixed, 0:09:49.276 --> 0:09:52.716 so many people were complicit, so many lies had been told. 0:09:52.996 --> 0:09:55.836 All of it just stacked up like deadwood in the shadows. 0:09:56.316 --> 0:09:58.516 And so if one guy was going to light a 0:09:58.556 --> 0:10:01.516 match to shed some light on the whole thing, you 0:10:01.556 --> 0:10:04.036 can be damn sure there was going to be a fire. 0:10:12.036 --> 0:10:15.796 Several months later, in November of that year, an FBI 0:10:15.916 --> 0:10:19.756 agent visited Judge Wilson's house and informed him that Bob 0:10:19.836 --> 0:10:22.756 Cooley was now a government informant, and that he had 0:10:22.756 --> 0:10:26.796 secretly taped their conversation. The FBI agent also told the 0:10:26.876 --> 0:10:30.716 judge that the FEDS were currently investigating allegations that he, 0:10:31.076 --> 0:10:35.436 Judge Wilson, had accepted a bribe. Wilson was then subpoenaed 0:10:35.436 --> 0:10:39.076 to appear before a grand jury in Chicago in early 0:10:39.156 --> 0:10:44.356 December over that Thanksgiving Judge Wilson's daughter, Mary Anne Duncan, 0:10:44.556 --> 0:10:46.596 remembers getting a call from her father. 0:10:47.036 --> 0:10:50.476 He said, things are wanted to get really bad. He said, 0:10:51.356 --> 0:10:53.316 they want me to come in and do a trial. 0:10:54.476 --> 0:10:56.436 He said, if I come in and do a trial, 0:10:56.516 --> 0:11:00.516 I'll probably have a stroke. And I got off the 0:11:00.516 --> 0:11:06.076 phone and I had this terrible sense of foreboding. You 0:11:06.156 --> 0:11:10.316 know that feeling you have one You're stomach sort sinks. 0:11:11.076 --> 0:11:15.396 I just knew something really bad was going to happen. 0:11:18.836 --> 0:11:22.036 Back in Chicago, Marie Dyson and her colleagues at the 0:11:22.076 --> 0:11:24.636 FBI were getting increasingly nervous. 0:11:24.996 --> 0:11:28.796 We were constantly assessing what we had on our cases. 0:11:28.836 --> 0:11:31.756 Did we have enough? Did we need to get another conversation? 0:11:31.916 --> 0:11:32.876 Did we with this? 0:11:33.796 --> 0:11:38.476 I think he was getting to a point with everybody thought, Okay, 0:11:39.036 --> 0:11:40.076 let's start wrapping it. 0:11:40.156 --> 0:11:42.076 Up, folks. Let's Enough's enough. 0:11:42.956 --> 0:11:45.956 We don't need to have overkilled, and we don't need 0:11:45.996 --> 0:11:46.956 to get Bob killed. 0:11:48.316 --> 0:11:51.516 Bob was getting ready to pack his bags. It was time, 0:11:52.156 --> 0:11:55.036 but first he had to talk with his family, say 0:11:55.036 --> 0:11:57.916 goodbye to his mother and his siblings who still lived 0:11:57.956 --> 0:12:00.956 in town. Bob invited them all out to dinner at 0:12:00.996 --> 0:12:04.796 a fish restaurant in a way for the coolies, this 0:12:05.076 --> 0:12:09.036 would be the last supper. As the family members gathered, 0:12:09.436 --> 0:12:12.316 Bob pulled each of his brothers aside and let them 0:12:12.356 --> 0:12:14.636 in on what he'd been up to. That for the 0:12:14.716 --> 0:12:17.916 last three years he'd been working with the Feds, and 0:12:17.996 --> 0:12:21.596 that now he had to leave town. Bob promised his 0:12:21.636 --> 0:12:24.076 brothers that at some point over dinner he'd find a 0:12:24.116 --> 0:12:26.876 way to explain all of this to their mother, tell 0:12:26.916 --> 0:12:30.956 her that he was leaving and why. But he never did. 0:12:31.636 --> 0:12:34.316 Why didn't you like tell them the truth at that point? 0:12:34.356 --> 0:12:38.516 Like, I know, I just didn't say anything, and I 0:12:38.516 --> 0:12:41.236 would assume that you know, the family knowing me when 0:12:41.276 --> 0:12:44.676 they did and whatever would know that you know and 0:12:44.716 --> 0:12:46.916 would find out I did a fantastic thing. 0:12:49.316 --> 0:12:52.396 In other words, his mom and his entire family would 0:12:52.396 --> 0:12:55.276 find out the truth soon enough in the papers and 0:12:55.316 --> 0:12:58.356 in the courts, and then his mom would know what 0:12:58.396 --> 0:13:01.836 he'd done, how he'd taken great risks and essentially giving 0:13:01.956 --> 0:13:04.276 up his life in order to clean up the system. 0:13:05.636 --> 0:13:09.516 Years before, when Bob's father was gravely ill, his had 0:13:09.516 --> 0:13:12.756 beseeched him to straighten out his life, to do something worthwhile. 0:13:13.636 --> 0:13:16.556 Bob hoped to prove that he had done just that 0:13:16.636 --> 0:13:20.636 this would be his redemption story. Bob, the wayward son, 0:13:20.916 --> 0:13:23.356 the one who always caused so much trouble as a kid, 0:13:23.756 --> 0:13:27.916 breaking windows and cheating on tests, had finally made good 0:13:28.276 --> 0:13:33.276 and people would know it, or so Bob hoped so. 0:13:33.596 --> 0:13:36.756 As dinner ended that night, Bob's mother still had no 0:13:36.876 --> 0:13:40.516 idea that her son was leaving town. Bob says his 0:13:40.556 --> 0:13:43.316 brothers were angry at him for not telling his mother 0:13:43.676 --> 0:13:46.596 and not preparing her for what was to come, and 0:13:46.716 --> 0:13:50.636 perhaps they understood better than he did just how bad 0:13:50.716 --> 0:14:04.676 things were about to get. Bob coolly vanished on November 0:14:04.716 --> 0:14:09.036 twenty ninth, nineteen eighty nine, the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, when 0:14:09.116 --> 0:14:13.036 when the big moment came, he felt strangely unprepared. 0:14:13.516 --> 0:14:16.956 I had two suitcases with me. These are my belongings 0:14:18.356 --> 0:14:20.476 and I'm going to be leaving, but I have no 0:14:20.596 --> 0:14:24.476 idea where I'm going. I have no idea what I'm 0:14:24.516 --> 0:14:25.316 going to do next. 0:14:25.836 --> 0:14:29.396 Now at this point he might be thinking, what there 0:14:29.436 --> 0:14:31.916 must have been a plan. This was the FBI we're 0:14:31.956 --> 0:14:34.716 talking about. They don't just put informants on a plane 0:14:34.756 --> 0:14:37.076 and wish them good luck. I mean, wasn't Bob and 0:14:37.116 --> 0:14:41.036 the Witness Protection Program or something well that would be 0:14:41.116 --> 0:14:44.436 the path for your typical informant, But as you know 0:14:44.516 --> 0:14:49.036 by now, nothing about Bob's typical. Long before his departure, 0:14:49.156 --> 0:14:52.116 the FBI insisted that he meet with a representative from 0:14:52.156 --> 0:14:55.556 the Witness Protection Program. A guy actually came to Bob's 0:14:55.556 --> 0:14:58.316 apartment and gave a whole spiel about what his new 0:14:58.356 --> 0:14:59.156 life would be like. 0:14:59.676 --> 0:15:02.756 At some point I said, look, I'm not interested in 0:15:02.796 --> 0:15:05.756 your program. And he said to me, you don't have 0:15:05.796 --> 0:15:11.116 any choice, and and I said to myself, this is 0:15:11.156 --> 0:15:14.036 Bob Cooley you're talking to. I don't have any choice. 0:15:14.756 --> 0:15:16.276 And that was the end of that. 0:15:17.196 --> 0:15:20.476 This didn't really make sense to me, And to ask 0:15:20.596 --> 0:15:23.756 Bob why he rejected this guy and the protection he was. 0:15:23.716 --> 0:15:28.156 Offering, because then I would be classified in a lot 0:15:28.156 --> 0:15:32.356 of people's minds as a rat or a snake, because 0:15:32.396 --> 0:15:35.516 these are the people that go into witness protection because 0:15:36.116 --> 0:15:38.716 they're in fear of their own safety, and they're doing 0:15:38.716 --> 0:15:39.956 it to save their own skin. 0:15:40.196 --> 0:15:42.596 You're telling me you turned down witness protection program just 0:15:42.596 --> 0:15:44.676 because you didn't want it, you didn't like the branding 0:15:44.716 --> 0:15:46.236 that went with it, that you'd be a rat. 0:15:46.476 --> 0:15:49.956 Well, that was initially my reason, But as I thought 0:15:49.996 --> 0:15:52.236 about it, there's no way I'm going to be living 0:15:52.316 --> 0:15:54.436 like I'm in prison of some sorts. I'm in a 0:15:54.436 --> 0:15:59.036 motel with some strangers. I know how I am. I'm 0:15:59.036 --> 0:16:00.916 going to do what I damn well please, that's me. 0:16:01.916 --> 0:16:04.516 Bob also says that he didn't think the program would 0:16:04.636 --> 0:16:08.756 actually protect him. He worried that Pat Marcy, who apparently 0:16:08.756 --> 0:16:12.236 had eyes everywhere, would pay someone off or somehow figure 0:16:12.236 --> 0:16:15.796 out where they'd stashed Bob. So when it came time 0:16:15.796 --> 0:16:20.756 to flee Chicago, Bob realizes, shit, he has no real plan, 0:16:21.996 --> 0:16:25.036 But the Feds were a little more prepared. An hour 0:16:25.116 --> 0:16:28.196 before his departure, they handed him a plane ticket to 0:16:28.316 --> 0:16:32.876 Fort Myers, Florida. 0:16:33.516 --> 0:16:37.396 All they said was when you land, find yourself a 0:16:37.436 --> 0:16:41.316 hotel and then give us a call and tell us 0:16:41.356 --> 0:16:41.956 where you are. 0:16:42.796 --> 0:16:45.836 So there he was on a plane headed down to Florida, 0:16:46.436 --> 0:16:48.996 winging it. He didn't even have a gun because he 0:16:49.036 --> 0:16:51.756 knew we couldn't take one on the plane, and from 0:16:51.796 --> 0:16:55.916 the moment he lands in Fort Myers he feels exposed. 0:16:56.396 --> 0:16:58.876 I get off the plane, I look over and nurse 0:16:58.916 --> 0:17:01.476 a sign Marco Island to the right. 0:17:01.996 --> 0:17:04.916 Marco Island was a favorite destination for so many of 0:17:04.916 --> 0:17:08.556 the mobsters that he knew back in Chicago. In Bob's mind, 0:17:08.676 --> 0:17:11.676 it was pretty much Gangster Island. A few of these 0:17:11.676 --> 0:17:15.236 guys even own property on the island, and now here 0:17:15.356 --> 0:17:18.836 was Bob essentially on their turf. He couldn't believe it. 0:17:19.236 --> 0:17:21.396 He probably should have thought about this the moment he 0:17:21.436 --> 0:17:24.636 saw the plane tickets to Fort Myers, but everything had 0:17:24.676 --> 0:17:31.276 happened so quickly, and now well, here he was. So 0:17:31.876 --> 0:17:34.756 Bob checks into a local motel, calls a number that 0:17:34.796 --> 0:17:38.356 the FBI has given him. Sometime later, an agent shows 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:41.396 up offers to take Bob out to dinner. They go 0:17:41.436 --> 0:17:45.196 to a nearby restaurant, but first the agent does something 0:17:45.236 --> 0:17:46.556 that unsettles Bob. 0:17:47.276 --> 0:17:51.836 He walks over, opens the trunk, takes off his gun, 0:17:52.036 --> 0:17:56.196 puts his gun on the trunk. What are you doing? 0:17:57.476 --> 0:18:00.436 He says, I never wear my gun when I'm drinking. 0:18:01.756 --> 0:18:02.756 Here's my protection. 0:18:04.156 --> 0:18:06.676 Later that night, Bob's back at his motel. 0:18:07.156 --> 0:18:10.836 I'm in this room by myself with no weapon though 0:18:10.916 --> 0:18:13.796 nothing you know, along with everything else. Yeah, how did 0:18:13.796 --> 0:18:16.236 I sleep? I didn't sleep real well that night. I 0:18:16.276 --> 0:18:18.156 probably slept maybe half an hour if that. 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:21.636 Just A day or so later, Bob was on the 0:18:21.716 --> 0:18:32.236 run again, heading west to his next hiding spot. Meanwhile, 0:18:32.476 --> 0:18:35.836 back in Chicago, the ship was about to hit the fan. 0:18:36.596 --> 0:18:39.876 Carol Marine, the journalist, was still looking into the first ward. 0:18:40.236 --> 0:18:45.236 I'm sitting in my desk at NBC in the newsroom, 0:18:45.636 --> 0:18:47.396 and a source I hadn't talked to it in about 0:18:47.396 --> 0:18:49.796 five years, said Carol. 0:18:51.076 --> 0:18:52.676 Get a picture of Bob Cooley. 0:18:53.956 --> 0:18:57.796 He is going to break the first ward. 0:18:59.196 --> 0:19:02.316 Carol began to connect the dots, and as she did, 0:19:02.636 --> 0:19:05.596 she got a sense of the scope of operation Gambat. 0:19:06.516 --> 0:19:09.796 So this is like a not just a cascade, It's 0:19:09.836 --> 0:19:15.956 an earthquake on Chicago politics. I mean, this is a 0:19:16.036 --> 0:19:23.076 staggering revelation involving a lawyer. Virtually no one outside of 0:19:23.116 --> 0:19:27.236 a circle of real insiders knew at all. 0:19:27.356 --> 0:19:30.156 Carol scrambled to find as much as she could, and 0:19:30.196 --> 0:19:32.276 she broke the story on the evening news. 0:19:32.396 --> 0:19:33.636 The Cattle High Teams of. 0:19:33.756 --> 0:19:40.356 Ten Tonight exclusive details of a huge federal investigation into 0:19:40.356 --> 0:19:41.676 the heart of organized. 0:19:41.276 --> 0:19:42.196 Crime in Chicago. 0:19:42.516 --> 0:19:45.516 For years, Chicago's First Ward has been openly referred to 0:19:45.596 --> 0:19:49.076 as the Mobs Ward. Tonight, Carol has the exclusive story 0:19:49.076 --> 0:19:52.516 of the man who apparently infiltrated the ward's politics and 0:19:52.596 --> 0:19:53.276 its bosses. 0:19:53.996 --> 0:19:57.356 Ron For approximately five years, a Chicago lawyer has been 0:19:57.396 --> 0:20:01.156 a government informant, secretly recording conversations with some of this 0:20:01.236 --> 0:20:04.196 city's movers and shakers, some of whom have long been 0:20:04.236 --> 0:20:07.476 reputed to have organized crime connections. The identity of this 0:20:07.556 --> 0:20:10.316 informant will come as a shock to some powerful people. 0:20:10.716 --> 0:20:13.956 The man who wore the wire and infiltrated Chicago's First 0:20:14.076 --> 0:20:17.556 Ward is forty seven year old Robert J. Cooley, a 0:20:17.596 --> 0:20:21.116 former policeman the son of a policeman, Cooley became a 0:20:21.116 --> 0:20:25.356 politically well connected Chicago attorney five years ago began to 0:20:25.396 --> 0:20:29.756 go undercover for the government, taping conversations with Chicago Alderman, 0:20:29.956 --> 0:20:31.916 State senators and judges. 0:20:31.996 --> 0:20:36.316 And that was it. Bob was outed the news made 0:20:36.356 --> 0:20:40.236 a seismic impact. One FBI agent went to City Hall 0:20:40.596 --> 0:20:45.916 and witnessed an unforgettable scene involving Johnny Diarco Junior. Johnny 0:20:45.996 --> 0:20:48.556 was the poet and state senator whom Bob had bribed 0:20:48.636 --> 0:20:52.316 on tape. Johnny Junior was standing in a phone booth 0:20:52.436 --> 0:20:56.396 when apparently he got the news. The FBI agent would 0:20:56.476 --> 0:21:00.316 later recount the scene in court, saying Johnny Junior quote 0:21:00.836 --> 0:21:03.676 gasped like he was in pain, almost as if the 0:21:03.716 --> 0:21:06.316 wind had been knocked out of him. He then fell 0:21:06.356 --> 0:21:08.716 to the floor, holding his head in his hands, and 0:21:08.796 --> 0:21:20.796 called out, oh my God, almost right away. A number 0:21:20.836 --> 0:21:25.236 of newspaper articles were written about Bob. One of them began, quote, 0:21:25.716 --> 0:21:28.596 most people know Robert Cooley as a fast talking lawyer, 0:21:28.636 --> 0:21:32.116 an inveterate gambler who bragged of his political prowess and 0:21:32.196 --> 0:21:35.836 said he could fix almost any case. It described Bob 0:21:35.876 --> 0:21:38.956 as a lawyer who quote rarely opened a law book 0:21:39.516 --> 0:21:42.596 and instead relied on his friends to answer the most 0:21:42.636 --> 0:21:46.436 basic questions of law. It quoted a friend of Bob's 0:21:46.436 --> 0:21:49.556 who said his reputation was never that of a scholar, 0:21:49.996 --> 0:21:52.676 but he let it be known that he could occasionally 0:21:52.796 --> 0:21:58.316 use his contacts to move mountains. The article ended by 0:21:58.356 --> 0:22:02.956 noting that Bob, the self proclaimed mover of mountains, liked 0:22:03.036 --> 0:22:06.716 to gamble and quote, built up debts to organize crime, 0:22:06.996 --> 0:22:11.116 and feared for his life. Other journalists wrote articles in 0:22:11.156 --> 0:22:14.476 a similar vein, and soon Bob's life was being condensed 0:22:14.636 --> 0:22:17.716 into a few simple facts and assumptions. He was a 0:22:17.716 --> 0:22:21.436 corrupt lawyer and a braggart, a man unversed in the law, 0:22:21.916 --> 0:22:24.636 an opportunist who flipped to protect himself. 0:22:26.076 --> 0:22:30.356 And I'm a basket case when I see this, and 0:22:30.396 --> 0:22:34.716 I'm envisioning my mother sitting. My mother's in a convalescent 0:22:34.756 --> 0:22:38.276 home over there, a carmel aid home, and I'm envisioning 0:22:38.316 --> 0:22:41.716 her watching this and with all her friends, you know, 0:22:41.796 --> 0:22:44.476 all their friends are seeing all this, making me out 0:22:44.556 --> 0:22:45.956 to be the rat of all time. 0:22:48.756 --> 0:22:53.356 And the facts being reported weren't entirely wrong. Before he flipped, 0:22:53.636 --> 0:22:57.156 Bob did owe money to some bookies, but remember he 0:22:57.236 --> 0:23:00.076 was mostly off the hook for those debts, and at 0:23:00.076 --> 0:23:03.316 the time, as far as I can tell, Bob was 0:23:03.356 --> 0:23:08.676 in no immediate danger. In any case, Bob was absolutely 0:23:08.716 --> 0:23:13.436 pummeled in the press. He had hoped, perhaps naively, that 0:23:13.476 --> 0:23:16.036 he would emerge as a hero in the papers, that 0:23:16.116 --> 0:23:19.596 his dirty past and other shortcomings would be eclipsed by 0:23:19.596 --> 0:23:22.196 the good he'd done, that his mother would finally see 0:23:22.236 --> 0:23:26.316 him as righteous. Instead, he came across in print as 0:23:26.356 --> 0:23:35.556 the rat of all time. Bob wasn't the only one 0:23:35.636 --> 0:23:39.596 navigating this mess. His brother, Joe Cooley, was a police 0:23:39.636 --> 0:23:42.236 officer at the time. He told me he had a 0:23:42.276 --> 0:23:44.916 falling out with some of his fellow officers when they 0:23:44.916 --> 0:23:48.316 called Bob a snitch. Joe says he didn't care. He 0:23:48.436 --> 0:23:52.196 was proud of what his brother did. Bob's other brother, Dennis, 0:23:52.356 --> 0:23:55.556 the former prosecutor, says he also got an ear full. 0:23:55.996 --> 0:23:59.876 For one thing. Now, I went from mister straight, narrow, 0:23:59.916 --> 0:24:03.316 mister nice guy, to mister your brother's a fucking snitch. 0:24:03.996 --> 0:24:07.836 Dennis says his bigger concern was now that Bob had vanished, 0:24:08.036 --> 0:24:11.156 that the mob might ex act retribution on him and 0:24:11.236 --> 0:24:11.876 his family. 0:24:12.556 --> 0:24:15.316 I was afraid for my safety, and I was afraid 0:24:15.356 --> 0:24:18.996 for my wife's safety, and I was afraid for other 0:24:19.356 --> 0:24:22.556 relatives out there. You know, you didn't know, You didn't 0:24:22.596 --> 0:24:25.196 know how they were going to react. You didn't know 0:24:25.236 --> 0:24:26.716 if someone was going to come looking for you. 0:24:27.636 --> 0:24:28.076 Yeah, I was. 0:24:28.396 --> 0:24:31.556 I was concerned. Sure, I have been a full na 0:24:31.716 --> 0:24:31.876 to me. 0:24:32.996 --> 0:24:36.036 Bob says that before he ever left Chicago, he told 0:24:36.076 --> 0:24:38.716 the FBI how important it was to him that no 0:24:38.796 --> 0:24:43.076 harm come to his family. Apparently, the FED seemed confident 0:24:43.116 --> 0:24:46.676 that the Coolies would be okay, as one prosecutor told 0:24:46.716 --> 0:24:50.916 me rather surprisingly, they'd never seen a situation in Chicago 0:24:51.196 --> 0:24:55.836 where the mob had taken retribution against family members. But 0:24:55.876 --> 0:25:00.156 the FEDS could make no such promises for Bob. After all, 0:25:00.516 --> 0:25:03.676 Bob would be the prosecution's star witness and the trials 0:25:03.716 --> 0:25:08.676 against the mob, which meant for the foreseeable future, Bob 0:25:09.116 --> 0:25:12.396 he had a big, fat target on his back and 0:25:12.436 --> 0:25:26.196 would be on the run for quite some time. Before 0:25:26.196 --> 0:25:28.196 we get back to the story, I want to mention 0:25:28.556 --> 0:25:32.036 in this last segment we talk about a suicide. Just 0:25:32.156 --> 0:25:39.516 a heads up, Bob's role in Operation Gambat was far 0:25:39.556 --> 0:25:43.236 from over. After all, courts moved slowly. It would take 0:25:43.356 --> 0:25:47.036 years to prosecute Pat Marcy and other first Word targets, 0:25:47.596 --> 0:25:52.316 but the process was underway. Prosecutors began issuing subpoenas. They 0:25:52.316 --> 0:25:57.196 would end up charging at least two dozen men, politicians, lawyers, judges, 0:25:57.236 --> 0:26:01.276 and cops. In fact, just a week after Bob vanished, 0:26:01.476 --> 0:26:05.116 on December sixth, nineteen eighty nine, the wheels of justice 0:26:05.156 --> 0:26:10.596 were already turning. A grand jury was convened in Chicago. 0:26:11.276 --> 0:26:14.956 It was looking into, among other things, whether Judge Frank 0:26:14.996 --> 0:26:18.836 Wilson had been bribed in that infamous murder case. He 0:26:18.876 --> 0:26:23.396