WEBVTT - Episode 10: The Witness 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:44.236 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. 0:00:45.156 --> 0:00:48.716 Bob Cooley fled Chicago in November of nineteen eighty nine. 0:00:49.396 --> 0:00:52.476 Bob's life as he knew it was over. He had 0:00:52.516 --> 0:00:56.476 rejected the witness protection program and instead opted to improvise. 0:00:56.916 --> 0:00:59.596 He took on a new identity and planned to hide 0:00:59.636 --> 0:01:05.116 out Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Bob's efforts resulted in charges 0:01:05.196 --> 0:01:10.116 against at least two dozen men, lawyers, judges, cops, and politicians. 0:01:10.836 --> 0:01:14.036 Chief among them was Pat Marcy, who effectively ran the 0:01:14.076 --> 0:01:17.076 first ward, the Mob's political stronghold. 0:01:17.316 --> 0:01:19.916 So this is like a not just a cascade, it's 0:01:19.916 --> 0:01:26.956 an earthquake on Chicago politics. This is a staggering revelation 0:01:27.636 --> 0:01:31.596 involving a lawyer. Virtually no one outside of a circle 0:01:31.636 --> 0:01:35.116 of real insiders knew at all. 0:01:35.156 --> 0:01:37.956 Bob's days as a covert operative may have been over, 0:01:38.436 --> 0:01:40.956 but he still had work to do. He would be 0:01:40.996 --> 0:01:44.956 the prosecution's star witness in a series of trials. This 0:01:45.116 --> 0:01:49.356 was the final stage of Operation Gambad, the goal break 0:01:49.436 --> 0:01:59.116 the chokehold the Mob had on Chicago. There's a little 0:01:59.156 --> 0:02:02.036 story Bob told me that kind of sums up what 0:02:02.116 --> 0:02:05.396 his life was like after he fled Chicago and It's 0:02:05.436 --> 0:02:07.796 about of all things furniture. 0:02:08.156 --> 0:02:10.756 I started off I first, when I first left town. 0:02:10.796 --> 0:02:13.036 I started off with all my own furniture and all 0:02:13.036 --> 0:02:13.716 the rest of it. 0:02:14.036 --> 0:02:16.116 And all the rest of it, you know, like a 0:02:16.156 --> 0:02:20.716 toaster and a can opener and a TV. Not just that. Initially, 0:02:20.756 --> 0:02:24.276 Bob built a little nest for himself. After bouncing around 0:02:24.276 --> 0:02:27.916 from east to west, he settled down in Richmond, Virginia 0:02:28.396 --> 0:02:30.116 and started getting all domestic. 0:02:30.556 --> 0:02:32.276 I had met a girl who had moved in with me. 0:02:33.316 --> 0:02:35.956 She thought maybe we'd get married, but that wasn't my idea. 0:02:36.076 --> 0:02:38.116 But she had just moved in with me about a 0:02:38.156 --> 0:02:42.076 week before, and I went to Chicago for a trial. 0:02:42.916 --> 0:02:45.916 That was the rhythm of Bob's life. Now, hide out, 0:02:46.156 --> 0:02:49.676 keep a low profile, and then every so often, hop 0:02:49.716 --> 0:02:52.436 on a plane back to the Chicago area, show up 0:02:52.476 --> 0:02:56.916 in court, take the witness stand, and then poof vanish again. 0:02:57.916 --> 0:03:02.796 All told, Bob would end up testifying in nine trials. Anyway, 0:03:02.996 --> 0:03:05.596 After one of his court appearances, Bob is ready to 0:03:05.636 --> 0:03:08.796 head home back to Richmond, where his girlfriend is waiting 0:03:08.796 --> 0:03:12.196 for him. But first Bob needs to stop by an 0:03:12.316 --> 0:03:14.476 FBI office just to check in. 0:03:14.756 --> 0:03:18.156 They had six agents standing there with machine guns and 0:03:18.196 --> 0:03:21.276 with vests on, and they told me to put a 0:03:21.356 --> 0:03:24.556 vest on. And they said, you can't go back home. 0:03:24.636 --> 0:03:28.236 And I said why. They said, supposedly somebody was on 0:03:28.276 --> 0:03:29.436 the way out there to kill me. 0:03:31.716 --> 0:03:34.436 Bob tries to digest all of this. I mean, things 0:03:34.436 --> 0:03:37.116 were going pretty well for him back in Richmond, but 0:03:37.396 --> 0:03:39.756 apparently it was time to move again. 0:03:40.396 --> 0:03:42.836 I said, well, I've got some stuff i'd like to get, 0:03:42.916 --> 0:03:47.956 you know, back home, at my house. And so the 0:03:47.996 --> 0:03:51.636 next day I flew into Richmond. A couple of agents 0:03:51.676 --> 0:03:54.236 met me there. We went to the house and my 0:03:54.316 --> 0:03:57.916 girlfriend I forgot her name now, wasn't home. She was 0:03:57.956 --> 0:04:00.796 at work, and I just packed up a bunch of 0:04:00.836 --> 0:04:03.396 stuff and left her a note. You know, I got 0:04:03.396 --> 0:04:05.916 to leave. Something came up. I'm not coming back. You know, 0:04:05.996 --> 0:04:07.796 everything here is yours. 0:04:08.116 --> 0:04:13.876 And that was that the end of one of Bob 0:04:13.956 --> 0:04:17.716 Cooley's many lives. So he started over in North Carolina, 0:04:18.196 --> 0:04:21.156 where he stayed until there was another scare and he 0:04:21.196 --> 0:04:26.636 had to flee again. It had been twenty years since 0:04:26.716 --> 0:04:30.076 Bob first got involved with the Mob. Ever since then, 0:04:30.476 --> 0:04:33.636 he had been haunted by his relationship with its political czar, 0:04:34.076 --> 0:04:37.476 Pat Marcy and one of its hit men, Harry Elmann. 0:04:38.836 --> 0:04:42.556 Now they would both be prosecuted. This was the reckoning, 0:04:42.996 --> 0:04:45.196 the moment when Bob would have to stare them down 0:04:45.556 --> 0:04:49.356 in court, tell the world what they'd done, and explain 0:04:49.436 --> 0:04:53.036 his own role in it all. This would happen in 0:04:53.116 --> 0:04:56.276 two separate trials that took place in the nineteen nineties. 0:04:56.916 --> 0:05:00.436 These trials would in many ways to find the success 0:05:00.596 --> 0:05:04.756 or failure of Bob's mission, and through it all, Bob's 0:05:04.756 --> 0:05:08.356 main challenge was to stay alive so he could finish 0:05:08.396 --> 0:05:43.116 what he started. I'm Jay Colburn and this is Deep 0:05:43.196 --> 0:06:05.836 Cover mob Land, our final episode the witness. Before Pat 0:06:05.876 --> 0:06:09.836 Marcy was indicted, prosecutors invited him to their off for 0:06:09.876 --> 0:06:13.236 a little visit. Tom Durkin was there for that meeting. 0:06:13.836 --> 0:06:16.636 Today he's a federal judge, but at the time he 0:06:16.716 --> 0:06:18.316 was an assistant US attorney. 0:06:18.756 --> 0:06:21.396 Pat Marcy came in with his lawyer. The attorney explained 0:06:21.396 --> 0:06:22.516 what the charges would be. 0:06:23.316 --> 0:06:26.156 Marcy was older now, he was in his seventies and 0:06:26.236 --> 0:06:29.036 not in the best of health, and he was in 0:06:29.076 --> 0:06:32.956 hot water. Marcy was about to be charged on multiple counts, 0:06:32.996 --> 0:06:38.476 including racketeering, bribery, and extortion. The prosecutors wanted to see 0:06:38.516 --> 0:06:40.636 if Marcy might cooperate. 0:06:40.636 --> 0:06:43.996 And I distinctly remember Pat Marcy saying good luck to 0:06:44.036 --> 0:06:47.236 you and standing up and walking out. 0:06:47.196 --> 0:06:52.116 In other words, go to hell. So Tom and the 0:06:52.156 --> 0:06:55.236 other prosecutors had to build their case, and they had 0:06:55.236 --> 0:06:57.796 a lot to work with. For starters, they had all 0:06:57.836 --> 0:07:00.676 those secret recordings that Bob had made, which they could 0:07:00.676 --> 0:07:03.836 play for the jury. These would prove that Marcy had 0:07:03.916 --> 0:07:08.756 orchestrated bribes. Sure, sometimes Marcy spoke in code, but that's 0:07:08.756 --> 0:07:11.436 where Bob would come into play. He could get on 0:07:11.476 --> 0:07:15.316 the witness stand and offer context, almost like a translator, 0:07:15.476 --> 0:07:20.676 decoding mob speak. The prosecutors also wanted to prove that 0:07:20.716 --> 0:07:23.476 Marcy had arranged to fix court cases in the more 0:07:23.556 --> 0:07:28.316 distant past before Bob had flipped, like that notorious murder 0:07:28.356 --> 0:07:32.796 case back in the seventies involving the reputed hitman Harry Elaman. 0:07:33.636 --> 0:07:36.236 The Feds wanted to prove that Marcy had schemed to 0:07:36.236 --> 0:07:39.116 fix that case, that he was the one who'd recruited 0:07:39.116 --> 0:07:42.996 Bob Cooley to bribe the judge. But proving this would 0:07:43.036 --> 0:07:46.396 be much harder. Sure, Bob could testify, but there were 0:07:46.396 --> 0:07:49.436 no secret recordings to back him up. So who could 0:07:49.436 --> 0:07:53.076 corroborate Bob's story. The judge on the case, Frank Wilson, 0:07:53.156 --> 0:07:56.596 was now dead. He had taken his own life, and 0:07:56.636 --> 0:08:01.196 that left only one person, Catherine Fleming. If you recall 0:08:01.396 --> 0:08:04.956 in nineteen seventy seven, the year of the Harry Elamann trial, 0:08:05.476 --> 0:08:09.636 she was Bob's secretary and lover, but she knew little 0:08:09.636 --> 0:08:11.236 about his shady dealings. 0:08:11.516 --> 0:08:14.396 I wasn't looking to figure it out because it was 0:08:14.436 --> 0:08:15.556 none of my business. 0:08:15.756 --> 0:08:19.396 But Catherine was with Bob at the restaurant when he 0:08:19.436 --> 0:08:22.916 made the payoff to Judge Wilson. She didn't see the 0:08:22.956 --> 0:08:25.876 actual payoff or even know about it at the time, 0:08:26.396 --> 0:08:29.556 but afterwards the judge had told her, you look like 0:08:29.596 --> 0:08:34.836 a nice girl, stay away from him. Tom Durkin, the prosecutor, 0:08:35.196 --> 0:08:38.756 felt that if he could persuade Catherine to testify, she 0:08:38.956 --> 0:08:43.196 could be the lynchpin. Everything she witnessed indicated that Bob 0:08:43.356 --> 0:08:47.876 was telling the truth. Catherine agreed to cooperate, but her 0:08:47.916 --> 0:08:50.756 family was unhappy, especially her mom. 0:08:51.116 --> 0:08:55.036 Oh, she went nuts. She had a fit, lots of screaming. 0:08:56.156 --> 0:09:00.516 She demanded that I'd not testify, that it had nothing 0:09:00.596 --> 0:09:03.796 to do with me, that Bob was wrong to do this, wrong, 0:09:03.916 --> 0:09:06.916 to involve me. She felt that he was a horrible person. 0:09:07.596 --> 0:09:10.636 She felt that everyone was you me, and the mafia 0:09:10.676 --> 0:09:11.196 would kill me. 0:09:11.676 --> 0:09:14.956 Even so, Catherine felt she had to do something. 0:09:15.156 --> 0:09:18.996 I thought that it's very wrong for judges to get 0:09:19.076 --> 0:09:22.276 paid off so that hitman can continue to murder people, 0:09:23.036 --> 0:09:26.596 and nobody wants to testify because their mothers scream at 0:09:26.596 --> 0:09:31.196 them that you're going to get murdered. And I wanted 0:09:31.196 --> 0:09:32.036 to do the right thing. 0:09:33.036 --> 0:09:36.356 Catherine's testimony would be a huge boost for Tom Dirkin 0:09:36.476 --> 0:09:40.956 and the prosecution, especially because she had no reason to lie. 0:09:41.516 --> 0:09:44.836 She was just a regular civilian, a bystander caught up 0:09:44.836 --> 0:09:48.356 in a tangled scheme of corruption, and by testifying she 0:09:48.476 --> 0:09:52.156 would in effect be taking on the mob. In short, 0:09:52.436 --> 0:09:55.196 she bolstered Bob's credibility big time. 0:09:55.556 --> 0:09:58.676 It was remarkable corroboration from a witness who had no 0:09:58.756 --> 0:10:01.396 motive to lie. I thought that was the best piece 0:10:01.396 --> 0:10:03.956 of corroboration I've ever had in any case I ever prosecuted. 0:10:04.396 --> 0:10:07.756 So that was that the prosecution's case was coming together. 0:10:08.356 --> 0:10:11.996 They had Bob, they had his secret recordings, and they 0:10:11.996 --> 0:10:17.036 had Catherine Fleming, the stalwart secretary who would not be intimidated. 0:10:19.476 --> 0:10:22.596 The trial of Pat Marcy kicked off on December fourteenth, 0:10:22.716 --> 0:10:26.796 nineteen ninety two, almost exactly three years after Bob Cooley 0:10:26.836 --> 0:10:31.356 fled Chicago, and on trial alongside him as co defendant, 0:10:31.476 --> 0:10:36.476 was one of Marcy's associates, the first word Alderman Fred Roady. 0:10:36.516 --> 0:10:40.996 In his opening statement, Marcy's defense lawyer Ed Jensen told 0:10:41.036 --> 0:10:44.676 the jury quote, Robert Cooley is a liar who will 0:10:44.716 --> 0:10:48.236 say or do anything to convict Pat Marcy. He's an 0:10:48.396 --> 0:10:51.316 envious man who has spent his whole life lying and cheating, 0:10:51.476 --> 0:10:53.636 and he has decided to put these talents to work 0:10:53.796 --> 0:10:57.876 for the government. So that was the game plan. Smear 0:10:57.956 --> 0:11:01.556 Bob before he even took the stand. Make Bob Cooley 0:11:01.596 --> 0:11:05.836 look like the rat of all time. Eventually, Bob arrived 0:11:05.836 --> 0:11:08.716 at the courthouse to testify, and for the first time 0:11:08.756 --> 0:11:12.156 in year, he came face to face with Pat Marcy. 0:11:12.796 --> 0:11:14.676 I was brought into the courtroom. I was put up 0:11:14.716 --> 0:11:18.596 in the chair. I'm sitting up there in the witness chair. 0:11:19.516 --> 0:11:21.876 I see Pat over there and he's glaring at. 0:11:21.716 --> 0:11:26.756 Me, Bob says. Marcy's lawyer approached him. The two men 0:11:26.836 --> 0:11:29.676 knew each other brushing shoulders in the city's courts. 0:11:30.156 --> 0:11:33.036 Jensen comes walking up to me while the jury is 0:11:33.076 --> 0:11:35.636 being brought in and he says, how are you doing, Bob? 0:11:35.676 --> 0:11:37.876 You know you look good? Everything okay, I get the 0:11:37.996 --> 0:11:38.796 fuck out of here. 0:11:44.436 --> 0:11:47.956 Bob was a witness for the prosecution, so they got 0:11:47.996 --> 0:11:51.916 him first for the direct questioning. Tom Dirkin, the prosecutor, 0:11:52.196 --> 0:11:55.316 asked Bob to tell his story, the whole saga of 0:11:55.396 --> 0:11:56.996 how he got mixed up with the mob in the 0:11:56.996 --> 0:12:00.316 first place, how he met Pat Marcy, and what Marcy 0:12:00.396 --> 0:12:04.476 asked him to do. Bob was calm and collected, clarifying 0:12:04.516 --> 0:12:08.196 the smallest of details. As a former criminal defense lawyer, 0:12:08.316 --> 0:12:11.676 Bob knew exactactly what he needed to do. Tom says 0:12:11.676 --> 0:12:14.476 Bob's performance as a witness was one of the best 0:12:14.516 --> 0:12:15.196 he ever saw. 0:12:15.716 --> 0:12:18.916 Every question I had was answered directly by him. The 0:12:19.116 --> 0:12:22.196 evidence we were able to play the tapes. We put 0:12:22.236 --> 0:12:25.076 up pictures of the main players as he was talking 0:12:25.076 --> 0:12:26.036 about people. 0:12:26.516 --> 0:12:29.436 All the while Pat Marcy sat there as if none 0:12:29.476 --> 0:12:31.036 of this had anything to do with him. 0:12:31.436 --> 0:12:33.756 You couldn't get any emotion out of him. He wasn't 0:12:33.876 --> 0:12:36.956 grimacing or rolling his eyes or muttering under his breath 0:12:37.036 --> 0:12:38.676 or anything like that. He's very stony faced. 0:12:39.156 --> 0:12:44.076 Bob says he also remembers Marcy's cold, hard gaze. 0:12:44.196 --> 0:12:47.436 Pat Marcy is staring at me. When he's staring at me, 0:12:47.556 --> 0:12:49.596 I give him a wink. I give him a wink 0:12:49.636 --> 0:12:53.716 and a smile, and he starts coughing. He started coughing 0:12:53.756 --> 0:12:57.156 and wheezing, almost uncontrollably. 0:12:57.236 --> 0:13:00.876 As all this is happening. Tom has his back to Marcy, 0:13:01.116 --> 0:13:04.716 so we can't see him, but he remembers hearing coughing 0:13:05.316 --> 0:13:08.156 in the moment. Tom didn't think much of it, but 0:13:08.436 --> 0:13:11.156 turns out it was an omen of what was to come. 0:13:11.796 --> 0:13:15.036 A day or so later, Marcy's lawyers announced that he'd 0:13:15.076 --> 0:13:15.916 had a heart attack. 0:13:16.876 --> 0:13:20.196 Tonight, Pat Marcy is in critical condition in the cardiac 0:13:20.276 --> 0:13:23.796 care unit of West Suburban Hospital in oak Park. Despite 0:13:23.836 --> 0:13:26.796 defense objections that the seventy nine year old Marcy should 0:13:26.836 --> 0:13:28.996 not be tried at all due to poor health. 0:13:29.396 --> 0:13:33.196 The plan was to prosecute Marcy again when his health improved, 0:13:33.636 --> 0:13:37.196 but it never did. The case against Marcy ended in 0:13:37.236 --> 0:13:51.476 a mistrial. A short while later, Marcy died. Now you 0:13:51.556 --> 0:13:54.756 might think that Bob would be devastated by this. I 0:13:54.796 --> 0:13:57.116 mean he risked his own life and spent the last 0:13:57.196 --> 0:13:59.636 three years on the run, all in the hopes of 0:13:59.756 --> 0:14:03.396 nailing this guy and sending him to prison. And now this, 0:14:04.156 --> 0:14:06.876 but that's not the way that Bob saw it. Bob, 0:14:07.076 --> 0:14:11.356 in classic Bob fashion, credit for Marcy's death. Wait, are 0:14:11.396 --> 0:14:13.316 you saying that you think you caused him the heart attack? 0:14:13.756 --> 0:14:15.996 I have no doubt in my mind. I have no 0:14:16.036 --> 0:14:19.596 doubt in my mind. But I was gonna say, because 0:14:19.716 --> 0:14:23.916 this man had so much hatred towards me in this system. 0:14:24.076 --> 0:14:26.876 The truth is, there's no real proof that Marcy had 0:14:26.916 --> 0:14:30.556 a heart attack right there in the courtroom while Bob 0:14:30.676 --> 0:14:34.676 was winking at him. But as Bob tells it in 0:14:34.756 --> 0:14:39.516 his mythology, that's how it all played out. In other words, 0:14:40.276 --> 0:14:45.476 he won, though arguably Marcy lived by his own rules 0:14:45.716 --> 0:14:48.796 to the right bold age of seventy nine and checked 0:14:48.796 --> 0:14:53.316 out just in time. I asked Tom, the prosecutor, if 0:14:53.316 --> 0:14:56.356 he felt that Marcy had basically escaped justice. 0:14:57.236 --> 0:15:00.156 He didn't escape justice. He was indicted. He was held 0:15:00.236 --> 0:15:02.316 up to the public as a person who had fixed 0:15:02.396 --> 0:15:05.036 murder cases. He was on trial in a courtroom in 0:15:05.036 --> 0:15:07.156 front of a jury. A lot of the secrets of 0:15:07.196 --> 0:15:10.636 his life were exposed. So he didn't escape justice. Did 0:15:10.636 --> 0:15:14.436 he escape going to jail, sure, but at what price 0:15:14.476 --> 0:15:14.876 he died? 0:15:15.676 --> 0:15:19.356 Pat Marcy's death was a mortal blow to the First Ward. 0:15:20.116 --> 0:15:23.716 Marcy was more than just the boss in so many ways. 0:15:23.956 --> 0:15:27.476 He was the first Ward. He'd been there for decades, 0:15:27.996 --> 0:15:31.796 and his connections, his know how, and the fear that 0:15:31.876 --> 0:15:36.036 he conjured it all died with him. No one could 0:15:36.076 --> 0:15:40.476 really fill his shoes, and the other possible candidates, well, 0:15:40.916 --> 0:15:44.636 they went down with him. Fred Roady was convicted on 0:15:44.716 --> 0:15:48.476 multiple counts of racketeering and extortion. He was sentenced to 0:15:48.516 --> 0:15:52.476 four years in prison. As for John Diarco Junior, the 0:15:52.516 --> 0:15:55.876 poet and state senator, his case also went to trial. 0:15:56.316 --> 0:15:59.676 He was convicted of extortion and sentenced to three years 0:15:59.716 --> 0:16:07.516 in prison. In the years since Marcie's death, the political 0:16:07.556 --> 0:16:11.316 boundaries of Chicago's war Words have been redrawn and then 0:16:11.436 --> 0:16:15.996 redrawn again, and the old First Ward, in both shape 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:22.636 and power, is no more. Bob may rightly claim credit 0:16:22.796 --> 0:16:25.756 for the downfall of the First Ward, but his most 0:16:25.796 --> 0:16:29.676 defining moment would come in another trial where he would 0:16:29.676 --> 0:16:33.036 face off with the hit man Harry Alaman and try 0:16:33.036 --> 0:16:36.756 to atone for his own original sin. More on that 0:16:37.276 --> 0:16:57.196 after the break, after the trial of Pat Marcy and 0:16:57.236 --> 0:17:01.116 Fred Roady, much of Bob's story became public, and one 0:17:01.196 --> 0:17:04.476 of the biggest revelations was this Bob had bribed a 0:17:04.596 --> 0:17:09.356 judge and helped Harry Alamann, the hit man, go freely. 0:17:09.396 --> 0:17:13.316 That but Catherine Fleming, Bob's secretary, had provided some corroboration, 0:17:14.276 --> 0:17:18.196 And this, among other things, raised the question would prosecutors 0:17:18.236 --> 0:17:22.156 go after Harry again some twenty years later. Mind you, 0:17:22.276 --> 0:17:25.596 doing this wouldn't be easy. Harry had a very powerful 0:17:25.596 --> 0:17:28.156 ally on his side. And I don't mean the mob. 0:17:28.556 --> 0:17:31.556 I'm talking about the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. 0:17:32.436 --> 0:17:35.436 It said that no one could be placed in double jeopardy, 0:17:35.716 --> 0:17:38.676 meaning you can't be prosecuted for the same crime twice. 0:17:39.436 --> 0:17:43.516 But turns out state prosecutors came up with a clever workaround. 0:17:44.156 --> 0:17:47.036 They argued that because the original trial appeared to have 0:17:47.116 --> 0:17:50.036 been fixed, well, then Harry had never really been in 0:17:50.116 --> 0:17:53.756 jeopardy in the first place. Hattie. This question was actually 0:17:53.756 --> 0:17:56.276 appealed all the way up to the US Supreme Court. 0:17:56.796 --> 0:18:00.756 In the end, the decision was Harry could be retried. 0:18:02.756 --> 0:18:02.956 Now. 0:18:02.996 --> 0:18:06.156 To give you a quick refresher. The first trial of 0:18:06.236 --> 0:18:10.116 Harry Alamann occurred back in nineteen seventy six. There were 0:18:10.156 --> 0:18:13.836 two eyewitnesses, both of whom identified Harry as the killer. 0:18:14.676 --> 0:18:17.716 The public and Chicago media were shocked by the not 0:18:17.796 --> 0:18:22.156 guilty verdict, but no one was more deeply impacted than 0:18:22.196 --> 0:18:26.876 the family of the victim, Billy Logan. Billy's niece, Johanna 0:18:26.996 --> 0:18:30.636 Santanello says her relatives were haunted for years by what 0:18:30.716 --> 0:18:31.276 had happened. 0:18:31.756 --> 0:18:35.916 They have nothing but this memory of how they last 0:18:35.956 --> 0:18:42.036 seen their family member laying on a street full of 0:18:42.076 --> 0:18:43.556 bull of the hole's moaning. 0:18:44.356 --> 0:18:47.636 They wondered how exactly that trial had ended in an acquittal, 0:18:47.956 --> 0:18:50.796 and they held on to the hope that somehow justice 0:18:50.836 --> 0:18:55.036 still might be served. And then finally, in nineteen ninety seven, 0:18:55.316 --> 0:18:59.396 two decades later, Harry was put back on trial, thanks 0:18:59.396 --> 0:19:02.076 in part to Bob Cooley and the fact that he 0:19:02.116 --> 0:19:06.676 would testify. But the whole thing left Johannah feeling worried. 0:19:06.756 --> 0:19:10.196 Because I just felt, what if he walks again, you know, 0:19:12.676 --> 0:19:15.996 how would my family handle that or could they handle 0:19:16.036 --> 0:19:16.676 any more of this? 0:19:20.396 --> 0:19:24.196 In many ways, this retrial was a culmination, a moment 0:19:24.196 --> 0:19:27.516 of truth not just for the Logan family or even 0:19:27.556 --> 0:19:31.756 for Operation Gambat, but for everyone in Chicago who'd witnessed 0:19:31.876 --> 0:19:37.236 untold decades of judicial corruption. The credibility of the judicial 0:19:37.276 --> 0:19:40.236 system itself seemed to be on the line, because in 0:19:40.276 --> 0:19:44.316 the end, laws and judges and courthouses don't mean a 0:19:44.436 --> 0:19:52.396 damn thing if no one has faith in them. As 0:19:52.396 --> 0:19:55.876 the trial got underway, the prosecution called its witnesses to 0:19:55.916 --> 0:19:59.036 the stand, many of the same people who testified twenty 0:19:59.116 --> 0:20:01.756 years earlier. It was a bit like the reunion of 0:20:01.796 --> 0:20:04.836 an old TV show, with the same actors and a 0:20:04.836 --> 0:20:08.036 few new twists. There was the neighbor who said he'd 0:20:08.076 --> 0:20:11.276 witnessed the murder, the accomplice who said he'd helped Harry 0:20:11.316 --> 0:20:14.156 plan the whole thing. And there were new witnesses too, 0:20:14.596 --> 0:20:18.156 including Bob Cooley. Bob says he showed up with his 0:20:18.196 --> 0:20:19.596 own security detail. 0:20:19.876 --> 0:20:23.036 Well, I guess it was like the mayor or the 0:20:23.276 --> 0:20:26.956 rising coming in. They were so worried about my security 0:20:27.556 --> 0:20:30.556 because of obviously this was going to be a case 0:20:30.596 --> 0:20:31.796 that would be making history. 0:20:32.316 --> 0:20:34.036 It's a very big deal. 0:20:34.796 --> 0:20:39.396 Investigative reporter Carol Marine covered the trial. She also remembers 0:20:39.436 --> 0:20:41.156 all the fanfare surrounding Bob. 0:20:41.436 --> 0:20:47.316 They're surrounded by agents. They're in bulletproof vests. They're guarding you. 0:20:47.516 --> 0:20:51.556 They've got automatic weapons everywhere. 0:20:51.676 --> 0:20:56.316 Yes, you are the center of the universe. 0:20:57.036 --> 0:21:00.036 When he finally took the stand, Bob told the courtroom 0:21:00.076 --> 0:21:03.076 how in the past he'd been a fixer for Pat 0:21:03.156 --> 0:21:06.516 Marcy and the first ward he was in effect a 0:21:06.556 --> 0:21:09.036 tool of the outfit who'd been asked to protect when 0:21:09.196 --> 0:21:14.116 of their most valuable assets, Harry the hook Alaman. Bob 0:21:14.156 --> 0:21:17.636 explained how in the original trial he'd bribed the judge, 0:21:17.836 --> 0:21:21.516 Frank Wilson, and how later after the not guilty verdict 0:21:21.516 --> 0:21:25.316 came out, the judge had told him, you destroyed me. 0:21:27.596 --> 0:21:29.796 Carol was there in the courtroom for this moment. 0:21:30.356 --> 0:21:33.636 You know, Bob Cooley does not demonstrate much emotion at all. 0:21:33.676 --> 0:21:36.556 He's got a pretty flat affect. But there was a 0:21:36.596 --> 0:21:41.916 point in his testimony talking about really almost forcing Frank 0:21:41.956 --> 0:21:47.116 Wilson to take the money in a men's bathroom. I mean, 0:21:47.316 --> 0:21:52.036 he choked with emotion and had to kind of swallow 0:21:52.116 --> 0:21:52.956 hard and. 0:21:53.036 --> 0:21:54.196 Keep talking. 0:21:55.436 --> 0:22:00.356 Because he knew that he was one of the instruments 0:22:01.356 --> 0:22:06.876 of Frank Wilson's demise. He couldn't have been other. Yes, 0:22:06.996 --> 0:22:12.596 the outfit ruined Frank Wilson. Yes, Frank Wilson ruined Frank Wilson, 0:22:13.316 --> 0:22:17.516 But ultimately all of the players in the surround sound 0:22:17.676 --> 0:22:22.796 of that were responsible for the death of Frank Wilson. 0:22:27.516 --> 0:22:31.156 Afterwards, Harry's lawyer had a chance to cross examine Bob. 0:22:31.716 --> 0:22:35.236 His strategy from the start was to discredit him, to 0:22:35.316 --> 0:22:39.116 dredge up Bob's checkered past. He asked Bob if during 0:22:39.116 --> 0:22:42.876 his days as a cop he'd ever been paid off. Yes, 0:22:42.916 --> 0:22:46.596 said Bob, He'd taken so called street money that typically 0:22:46.676 --> 0:22:50.196 meant tips or payoffs from businesses, you know, like bars 0:22:50.196 --> 0:22:53.116 that want to cozy up with the cops. The defense 0:22:53.196 --> 0:22:56.396 lawyer kept hammering away at Bob, portraying him as a 0:22:56.436 --> 0:23:01.556 shifty and shadowy character. In response, Bob was remarkably candid. 0:23:01.956 --> 0:23:06.316 He didn't make elaborate arguments or justifications. He just kind 0:23:06.316 --> 0:23:09.556 of took it on the chin. At one point, he said, quote, 0:23:10.276 --> 0:23:13.276 I'm not making any excuses for what I did. I 0:23:13.316 --> 0:23:15.316 did what I did, but it was an easy way 0:23:15.316 --> 0:23:17.836 to get to the top during that time, and I 0:23:17.916 --> 0:23:18.876 took the easy route. 0:23:19.316 --> 0:23:21.076 This guy is trying to make me out to be 0:23:21.236 --> 0:23:25.196 somebody who's you know, who's a crooked cough passing out bribes. 0:23:25.276 --> 0:23:26.876 Because I guess what he's trying to do is the 0:23:26.916 --> 0:23:29.676 classic I'm going to turnish your reputation and credibility. But 0:23:29.716 --> 0:23:32.916 the whole purpose of you appearing today as as a 0:23:32.956 --> 0:23:36.156 guy who fixes cases in places bribes. 0:23:35.756 --> 0:23:38.076 It's given me credibility in that sense. 0:23:38.916 --> 0:23:42.476 The whole process was tricky for Bob. He wanted to 0:23:42.516 --> 0:23:46.036 be seen as the guy who'd cleaned up Chicago, but 0:23:46.356 --> 0:23:49.356 in order to do that, he had to admit publicly 0:23:49.436 --> 0:23:52.756 to all the most questionable and unsavory things that he'd 0:23:52.796 --> 0:23:57.356 ever done. The danger was that these admissions would define 0:23:57.436 --> 0:24:01.796 who Bob really was because everyone was trying to make 0:24:01.876 --> 0:24:06.036 up their minds about Bob. In his closing statement, the 0:24:06.036 --> 0:24:10.196 prosecutor told the jury quote, I'm telling you you have 0:24:10.276 --> 0:24:13.036 to like Bob Cooley. You don't have to like him, 0:24:13.196 --> 0:24:16.516 but you know what. Bob Cooley faced what he was. 0:24:19.476 --> 0:24:23.396 As the jury finished its deliberations, onlookers packed into the 0:24:23.436 --> 0:24:27.596 gallery to hear the verdict. Johanna Santanello was there with 0:24:27.636 --> 0:24:31.556 the other members of a Logan family, hoping that maybe 0:24:31.876 --> 0:24:36.316 finally there'd be justice for Billy. The jurors came into 0:24:36.316 --> 0:24:40.916 the courtroom and then the verdict was announced for the. 0:24:40.956 --> 0:24:46.396 Murder of William Logan guilty, and it was like, oh 0:24:46.476 --> 0:24:53.316 my god, it's happening. All these years they waited my 0:24:53.436 --> 0:24:58.876 aunt and my uncle and my mom to hear that guilty, 0:24:59.836 --> 0:25:05.036 and it was finally like a burden was lifted off 0:25:05.036 --> 0:25:10.236 of them. Of course, their brother could never be replaced, 0:25:10.716 --> 0:25:15.716 no matter, you know, but to see him actually have 0:25:15.836 --> 0:25:20.756 to pay for what he did meant the world to them. 0:25:20.796 --> 0:25:35.356 So, according to the Chicago Tribune, when the verdict was announced, 0:25:35.596 --> 0:25:39.756 Harry Alamann didn't flinch. He simply blinked his eyes and 0:25:39.796 --> 0:25:44.356 stared straight ahead. Harry was eventually sentenced to one hundred 0:25:44.356 --> 0:25:51.556 to three hundred years in prison. He died behind bars 0:25:53.356 --> 0:25:57.036 after the trial. As reporters clamored for quotes and comments, 0:25:57.236 --> 0:26:01.716 one prosecutor proclaimed, quote, this will close the books on 0:26:01.756 --> 0:26:04.916 an ugly era in Cook County. It's a great day 0:26:04.996 --> 0:26:17.516 for American justice. The one person who was conspicuously absent 0:26:17.556 --> 0:26:22.276 at that moment was Bob Cooley. After testifying, Bob flew 0:26:22.276 --> 0:26:28.236 off to another undisclosed destination, vanishing once again even so 0:26:28.636 --> 0:26:32.476 Bob's presence loomed large in the courtroom that day. After all, 0:26:32.676 --> 0:26:35.596 he was the man who'd both started and finished this saga, 0:26:36.036 --> 0:26:38.556 the fixer who bribed the judge in the first trial 0:26:38.876 --> 0:26:41.556 and then exposed his own trickery at the second trial. 0:26:42.396 --> 0:26:45.236 He was a rat or a hero, depending on who 0:26:45.276 --> 0:26:50.836 you asked. But one thing was clear. Bob's work in 0:26:50.916 --> 0:26:55.196 Chicago is now done. He hadn't expected to survive this process, 0:26:55.716 --> 0:26:58.516 but he had. In fact, he was just fifty five 0:26:58.636 --> 0:27:02.796 years old. So now what what kind of life could 0:27:02.836 --> 0:27:06.236