WEBVTT - Episode 5: The Babe in the Woods 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:23.476 Pushkin Jake Alpern here before we get started, I wanted 0:00:23.516 --> 0:00:26.276 you to know that deep Cover Season two will be 0:00:26.356 --> 0:00:31.436 dropping weekly on Mondays, but the full season is available 0:00:31.796 --> 0:00:36.356 right now ad free for Pushkin Plus subscribers. That's all 0:00:36.396 --> 0:00:40.956 ten episodes right away. Fine Pushkin Plus on the deep 0:00:40.996 --> 0:00:52.996 Cover show page in Apple Podcasts, or at Pushkin dot Fm. 0:00:53.036 --> 0:00:57.076 Previously on deep Cover. I had a couple of lawyers, 0:00:57.076 --> 0:00:59.356 but I would always say Bob Coole he was the best. 0:01:00.076 --> 0:01:02.356 I mean, he was good at pukskin cases, and they 0:01:02.436 --> 0:01:04.956 knew how good he was, and he was the fixture 0:01:05.036 --> 0:01:07.676 he was to be with the guy. By the early 0:01:07.796 --> 0:01:12.516 nineteen eighties, Cooley had established himself as mister Fixett, a 0:01:12.596 --> 0:01:14.676 guy the mob called if one of their own was 0:01:14.716 --> 0:01:18.156 in trouble, and Bob was also learning that working for 0:01:18.196 --> 0:01:23.516 the mob came with rules, but sometimes Bob broke them. 0:01:23.596 --> 0:01:26.556 I said, if anybody thinks for one second, I'm gonna 0:01:26.556 --> 0:01:30.316 even take up beating. I said, you know they're thinking wrong, 0:01:30.796 --> 0:01:32.756 I said, And if I think I got a problem 0:01:32.756 --> 0:01:34.316 with you, who I said, You're going to have the 0:01:34.316 --> 0:01:38.996 fucking problem. And eventually they would have a problem with Bob, 0:01:39.436 --> 0:01:43.236 a very big one, but for the time being, Bob 0:01:43.636 --> 0:01:51.436 was still their guy. In the nineteen eighties, Chicago was 0:01:51.476 --> 0:01:56.436 corruption city, USA. Corruption was so insidious that over time 0:01:56.796 --> 0:02:00.796 some people stopped thinking about bribery itself as even being wrong. 0:02:01.556 --> 0:02:04.596 It was kind of like a stop sign that fades 0:02:04.796 --> 0:02:08.476 and rusts and gradually gets ignored until no one even 0:02:08.516 --> 0:02:12.156 thinks about slowing down at the intersection anymore. No one, 0:02:12.356 --> 0:02:18.436 that is, except for this guy. I believed in God, 0:02:18.676 --> 0:02:23.716 motherhood in the flag and thought crime and corruption could 0:02:23.756 --> 0:02:27.996 be dealt with. This is mort Friedman. He's in his 0:02:28.036 --> 0:02:31.516 eighties now and long retired, but back in his heyday, 0:02:31.796 --> 0:02:35.476 he was a prosecutor at the Cook County States Attorney's Office. 0:02:35.596 --> 0:02:39.556 I doubt if anyone ever entered that office more naive 0:02:39.676 --> 0:02:43.716 than I was. I thought I could do good. I 0:02:43.836 --> 0:02:47.436 thought I could help clean up crime. I thought I 0:02:47.476 --> 0:02:50.596 could make the streets safe for women and little children. 0:02:51.156 --> 0:02:55.636 And I went in there just a babe in the woods, 0:02:55.956 --> 0:03:01.596 absolute babe in the woods. His job was basically prosecuting 0:03:01.596 --> 0:03:05.756 criminals for a range of misdeeds, anything from theft to murder. 0:03:06.436 --> 0:03:09.756 Morton never tried a case against Bob, but he easily 0:03:09.796 --> 0:03:13.876 could have. They were cogs in the same machine grinding away. 0:03:14.556 --> 0:03:17.396 Mort says he remembers his early days as a prosecutor 0:03:17.836 --> 0:03:22.116 very fondly. Oh, it was wonderful. I had a courtroom 0:03:22.116 --> 0:03:26.916 with a judge who was soft spoken, polite. I was 0:03:26.996 --> 0:03:30.916 doing exceptionally while as a trial lawyer. And yet it 0:03:30.956 --> 0:03:34.796 wasn't all perfect. There was this one defense lawyer that 0:03:34.916 --> 0:03:37.796 Mort kept on going up against. I knew I was 0:03:37.836 --> 0:03:41.996 going to lose. It didn't matter how well I prepared 0:03:42.076 --> 0:03:45.556 the witnesses, how well I argued emotion I knew I 0:03:45.636 --> 0:03:48.916 was going to lose. Mort began to suspect the judge 0:03:48.996 --> 0:03:52.236 was being paid off. After all, this was Chicago, and 0:03:52.316 --> 0:03:56.316 this particular defense lawyer allegedly had mob ties. Even so, 0:03:56.756 --> 0:04:00.196 More kept trying his best to win. And then one 0:04:00.276 --> 0:04:06.716 day after work he had this epiphany. I was alone 0:04:06.756 --> 0:04:09.356 in the courtroom. It was a way past quitting time. 0:04:09.716 --> 0:04:13.396 I was preparing for the next day, and it suddenly 0:04:13.476 --> 0:04:17.036 dawned on me and I stood there thinking, I'm a pimp. 0:04:18.236 --> 0:04:21.396 The better I prepare, the harder I try. All I 0:04:21.436 --> 0:04:23.596 can do is drive up the price of the bribe 0:04:23.596 --> 0:04:29.036 to the judge. And it was a heartbreaking and devastating thought. 0:04:29.676 --> 0:04:34.076 A realization it was just heartbreaking. Mort couldn't stomach it 0:04:34.116 --> 0:04:39.156 any longer, and apparently his frustration showed, because shortly after this, 0:04:39.756 --> 0:04:42.996 the judge leaned over the dais and looked at me 0:04:43.036 --> 0:04:46.196 and said, Mart, you've been acting surly lately. I don't 0:04:46.236 --> 0:04:52.636 think I care for your attitude. And I said to him, well, Judged, 0:04:53.316 --> 0:04:55.556 I don't care for the way you jump all over me. 0:04:55.756 --> 0:05:00.756 When this lawyer walks into the courtroom, I named him. 0:05:00.916 --> 0:05:04.236 The judge, quiet and soft spoken as ever, said Mort, 0:05:04.316 --> 0:05:07.476 I think you ought to get another courtroom. I said, Judge, 0:05:07.516 --> 0:05:11.116 I think you're right, and put my files down and 0:05:11.156 --> 0:05:16.196 walked out. Corruption City, USA be damned. Mort was going 0:05:16.236 --> 0:05:19.396 to try to change the system, So get ready. In 0:05:19.476 --> 0:05:21.756 this episode, I'm going to tell you the story of 0:05:21.796 --> 0:05:25.596 the crusaders who tried to end corruption in Chicago years 0:05:25.676 --> 0:05:29.756 before Bob ever tried. It was a massive undertaking. The 0:05:29.876 --> 0:05:34.036 FBI eventually got involved, marshaling hundreds of agents. They were 0:05:34.156 --> 0:05:37.436 going to war, and in a way, this all set 0:05:37.476 --> 0:05:40.316 the stage for Bob to make the most important decision 0:05:40.356 --> 0:06:08.796 of his life to switch sides. I'm Jake Halbern and 0:06:09.476 --> 0:06:14.636 is deep Cover mob Land. Episode five, The Babe in 0:06:14.716 --> 0:06:39.196 the woods. In the Hollywood version of this story, when 0:06:39.236 --> 0:06:42.516 Mort Friedman squared off with that judge in the courtroom, 0:06:42.636 --> 0:06:45.876 you'd hear the inspirational music and then you'd seem Mort 0:06:46.356 --> 0:06:49.996 hatching his plan to change the world. But it didn't 0:06:49.996 --> 0:06:54.836 happen like that. Instead, Mort just switched courtrooms, kept trying 0:06:54.836 --> 0:06:57.476 to do his best as a prosecutor, to win the 0:06:57.516 --> 0:07:00.636 cases he could and to be honorable in a system 0:07:00.676 --> 0:07:05.316 that he knew was fundamentally corrupt. I was absolutely convinced 0:07:05.316 --> 0:07:08.076 at that point, did you share this with anyone, like 0:07:08.156 --> 0:07:11.036 even your wife? Did you shared this with anyone? With 0:07:11.236 --> 0:07:15.396 no one? Why is that a certain cowardice on my part, 0:07:15.876 --> 0:07:18.596 need to keep a job and not wanting to rock 0:07:18.716 --> 0:07:22.476 the boat, not wanting to be an outcast. The trial 0:07:22.556 --> 0:07:28.476 courts at that point were a white Christian enclave, and 0:07:28.556 --> 0:07:32.476 there were one or two other assistants who didn't care 0:07:32.516 --> 0:07:35.636 for this jew on the floor. Mort says he overheard 0:07:35.636 --> 0:07:39.556 a few colleagues make anti Semitic remarks. As he saw it, 0:07:39.956 --> 0:07:43.076 this only added his sense that he shouldn't rock the 0:07:43.116 --> 0:07:46.996 boat and make enemies. Even so, I asked him if 0:07:46.996 --> 0:07:51.396 his decision to stay quiet left him feeling guilty or 0:07:51.396 --> 0:07:56.556 worse yet complicit. Certainly. In fact, I still feel that way. 0:07:56.756 --> 0:07:59.436 There were things I could have done much better. In 0:07:59.436 --> 0:08:02.276 this way, Mort is kind of the opposite of Bob Cooley, 0:08:02.836 --> 0:08:10.676 constitutionally incapable of giving himself a pass. Mort eventually became 0:08:10.716 --> 0:08:14.476 the chief of the Criminal Division for Cook County. By population, 0:08:14.676 --> 0:08:17.476 Cook County is the biggest in Illinois and the second 0:08:17.516 --> 0:08:21.516 biggest in the United States. Mort oversaw the prosecution of 0:08:21.556 --> 0:08:24.756 thousands of felonies and misdemeanors each year. It was a 0:08:24.916 --> 0:08:29.476 huge job. Then one day in nineteen seventy three, Mort 0:08:29.556 --> 0:08:32.116 was hard at work at his desk when a young 0:08:32.196 --> 0:08:37.076 police officer appeared silently in his doorway, waiting to be noticed. 0:08:38.236 --> 0:08:42.556 And when I looked up, he said, mister Friedman, my 0:08:42.676 --> 0:08:46.356 supervisor ordered me to come here. I've been offered a 0:08:46.396 --> 0:08:52.876 bribe to flippercase. The CoP's name was Jose Martinez. He 0:08:52.916 --> 0:08:56.316 looked young and a bit nervous. Standing in the doorway, 0:08:56.556 --> 0:09:00.076 he gave Mort the lowdown. The case at hand involved 0:09:00.076 --> 0:09:03.636 an assault charge. Officer. Martinez was the cop who showed 0:09:03.676 --> 0:09:06.316 up on the scene and made the arrest. Now the 0:09:06.356 --> 0:09:09.796 defense attorney was asking him to pull some chinne nigans 0:09:09.836 --> 0:09:12.716 and helped make the case go away so his client, 0:09:13.036 --> 0:09:17.556 the assaulter, could get off. After hearing all this, Mort 0:09:17.676 --> 0:09:21.156 told the cop officer, I want you to do what 0:09:21.156 --> 0:09:24.396 you're told to do, and say what you're told to say, 0:09:24.516 --> 0:09:28.076 and bring me back the money. That's right. Mort told 0:09:28.076 --> 0:09:32.156 the cop to take the bribe. Officer Martinez, to his credit, 0:09:32.636 --> 0:09:35.756 pushed back. He said, mister Friedman, I can't do that. 0:09:35.876 --> 0:09:39.476 I'd be lying in court. Mort was kind of amazed 0:09:39.516 --> 0:09:42.196 that the cop stood his ground. No, not just amazed, 0:09:42.596 --> 0:09:47.916 he was secretly delighted. Here's a young Chicago cop telling 0:09:47.916 --> 0:09:50.436 the chief of the criminal Division, I don't care what 0:09:50.556 --> 0:09:53.516 you say. I'm not going to lie in court. Looking back, 0:09:53.636 --> 0:09:56.796 Mort says he should have congratulated Martinez for wanting to 0:09:56.796 --> 0:10:00.076 do the right thing. But that's not what I did. Wait, 0:10:00.596 --> 0:10:05.476 what did you do? In a conversation that was very 0:10:05.556 --> 0:10:11.316 loud and replete with upset of these, I told him 0:10:11.356 --> 0:10:13.436 what I would do to him and his career if 0:10:13.476 --> 0:10:16.316 he defied me. Why did you do that? I had 0:10:16.396 --> 0:10:21.356 handed up to my eyeballs with corruption. I knew something 0:10:21.476 --> 0:10:28.516 had to be done. See. Mort had a plan right 0:10:28.556 --> 0:10:31.756 there on the spot. Totally spontaneously. He'd come up with 0:10:31.796 --> 0:10:35.876 an idea for a sting operation. It was both inspired 0:10:36.236 --> 0:10:39.476 and a bit reckless. Mort didn't bother to get permission, 0:10:39.636 --> 0:10:43.196 didn't map out all the possible consequences. He just wanted 0:10:43.196 --> 0:10:45.036 to do something, damn it, even if he had to 0:10:45.076 --> 0:10:49.076 put Officer Martinez in a very uncomfortable situation. Did you 0:10:49.156 --> 0:10:55.436 have any sense that maybe you'd opened to Pandora's box 0:10:55.596 --> 0:10:58.436 or started something that might end up being a big deal. 0:10:59.356 --> 0:11:02.156 I didn't care. It didn't matter at all to me 0:11:02.236 --> 0:11:05.156 at that point. I wasn't going to be a kemp. 0:11:05.916 --> 0:11:09.116 Now for his plan to work, he needed Officer Martinez 0:11:09.236 --> 0:11:12.916 Is to take the money and lie in court. That way, 0:11:12.996 --> 0:11:16.156 the government could prosecute the lawyer who made the payoff. 0:11:16.716 --> 0:11:20.476 Did Officer Martinez understand what your game plan was? Did 0:11:20.516 --> 0:11:23.756 he understand that you were out to catch corruption or 0:11:23.756 --> 0:11:26.836 did he think that you were corrupt yourself? I don't know. 0:11:27.396 --> 0:11:29.916 I mean, in retrospect, I shouldn't have done that. I 0:11:29.956 --> 0:11:36.116 should have just patiently explained to him what I wanted done. Eventually, 0:11:36.316 --> 0:11:39.316 Officer Martinez figures out what mord Is up to, so 0:11:39.476 --> 0:11:43.356 he plays a long lies in court and instructed, and 0:11:43.396 --> 0:11:46.716 then afterwards, when he goes to collect his bribe, he 0:11:46.756 --> 0:11:51.516 wears a wire and the result was a tape recording 0:11:52.156 --> 0:11:56.876 a dead bank crime on tape, a deadbang crime on tape. Bingo. Right, 0:11:57.276 --> 0:12:00.676 Mark went up for the good guys, only not really. 0:12:01.476 --> 0:12:04.956 The dirty defense lawyer was convicted of bribery. But more 0:12:05.116 --> 0:12:10.196 strategy backfired. And let me explain why Mort was in 0:12:10.276 --> 0:12:13.756 effect tampering with the justice system. He was affecting the 0:12:13.796 --> 0:12:17.236 outcome of a real, live case. The irony, of course, 0:12:17.316 --> 0:12:19.316 was that this happened all the time anyway in a 0:12:19.316 --> 0:12:22.916 corrupt system. But the fact remained that Mort was breaking 0:12:23.036 --> 0:12:26.036 the law. He pushed a cop to accept a bribe 0:12:26.076 --> 0:12:29.356 in a single case in an attempt to stop bribery 0:12:29.516 --> 0:12:35.236 in general. The powers that be noticed what Mort had done, 0:12:35.516 --> 0:12:38.636 and now they set out to make an example of him. 0:12:38.836 --> 0:12:41.996 It was just, you don't do things like this to lawyers. 0:12:43.156 --> 0:12:48.556 It's not nice. And besides, Friedman, you're allowing you're really 0:12:49.036 --> 0:12:51.476 a much bigger center than they because you allowed a 0:12:51.476 --> 0:12:55.436 police officer to lie. Mort was ordered to appear before 0:12:55.436 --> 0:12:59.556 the Disciplinary Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court. They said 0:12:59.716 --> 0:13:03.436 he was quote guilty of conduct tending to bring the 0:13:03.516 --> 0:13:08.676 legal profession into disrepute. For someone like Mort, this was 0:13:08.716 --> 0:13:12.716 a blow. I was mostly sad at the fact that 0:13:12.796 --> 0:13:16.196 I had thought I had failed. Why do you think 0:13:16.676 --> 0:13:19.356 you cared so much? If you knew her, you were right. 0:13:20.756 --> 0:13:23.636 I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. 0:13:25.676 --> 0:13:29.956 It was just like, this is insane, this is a circus, 0:13:30.796 --> 0:13:33.116 and I'm in the middle of it. And as for 0:13:33.196 --> 0:13:37.236 the circus, well, the show went on. By the time 0:13:37.316 --> 0:13:40.716 Mort was chastised by the court for his actions, Bob 0:13:40.756 --> 0:13:43.436 Cooley had fixed the big murder trial for Harry Alaman. 0:13:44.076 --> 0:13:46.036 He was already well on his way to being the 0:13:46.076 --> 0:13:49.556 mob's go to guy, and the lesson from the Babe 0:13:49.556 --> 0:13:53.116 in the Woods seemed to be, Yes, the system is corrupt, 0:13:53.676 --> 0:13:56.396 and don't you dare try to change it, or you'll 0:13:56.516 --> 0:14:01.676 end up like Mort Friedman. Mort's story became a legend 0:14:01.716 --> 0:14:05.276 in Chicago. Everyone I talked to seemed to know about it, including, 0:14:05.396 --> 0:14:08.756 of course, Bob Cooley. I asked Bob whether he'd ever 0:14:08.796 --> 0:14:12.276 cross passed with Morden, if he knew him. I didn't 0:14:12.316 --> 0:14:14.756 know him personally, know when you heard what he was 0:14:14.876 --> 0:14:17.356 up to, did you think it would succeed. No, I 0:14:17.436 --> 0:14:20.556 knew it wouldn't, he says. He knew it wouldn't, not 0:14:20.636 --> 0:14:24.916 just because the legal system protected itself, but because ultimately 0:14:25.356 --> 0:14:28.676 the mob was just too powerful, had too much of 0:14:28.716 --> 0:14:33.196 a stranglehold on the judicial system. They had control over everything. Right, 0:14:33.556 --> 0:14:36.276 this doesn't seem to register, and I don't. I'm not 0:14:36.276 --> 0:14:38.636 getting mad at you. I'm just saying you are like 0:14:38.836 --> 0:14:42.396 most people. You think, well, it couldn't be that. Believe me, 0:14:42.556 --> 0:14:46.756 it was that powerful, and then some they were everything. 0:14:48.236 --> 0:14:50.876 This was one of those moments, by the way, where 0:14:51.076 --> 0:14:54.476 I could sense Bob's mounting frustration with me that I 0:14:54.596 --> 0:14:58.196 was so naive or perhaps thickheaded, that I just couldn't 0:14:58.196 --> 0:15:02.076 grasp the most fundamental law of his world. A system 0:15:02.196 --> 0:15:06.276 that is corrupt will stay corrupt, kind of like an 0:15:06.276 --> 0:15:11.676 object in motion will stay in motion until, of course, 0:15:12.236 --> 0:15:16.396 someone stands in its way. And, as it turns out, 0:15:16.676 --> 0:15:19.796 over at the FBI, some of the gmen were getting 0:15:19.796 --> 0:15:22.876 ready to make a stand. They had taken notice of 0:15:22.916 --> 0:15:26.716 mort Friedman's failed crusade, and they were marshaling their agents, 0:15:27.036 --> 0:15:30.636 preparing an army of sorts. More on that when we 0:15:30.676 --> 0:15:55.956 come back after the break. Sometime after mort Friedman got rebuked. 0:15:56.356 --> 0:15:59.156 He says he got a call from the FBI. They 0:15:59.156 --> 0:16:02.236 had questions for him. They wanted to know how exactly 0:16:02.316 --> 0:16:05.956 bribes were being placed in Chicago's courthouses and who the 0:16:05.996 --> 0:16:09.716 culprits were. Of course, mort would be the logical to ask. 0:16:10.316 --> 0:16:13.316 Even though his crusade had failed, he was still known 0:16:13.356 --> 0:16:17.116 as the guy who dared to take on corruption. Now. 0:16:17.236 --> 0:16:20.396 Little did Mort know, the FBI had hatched a major 0:16:20.476 --> 0:16:24.436 plan to expose corruption in Chicago's courts. They called it 0:16:24.756 --> 0:16:29.796 Operation Gray Lord, and ultimately the success of this operation 0:16:30.236 --> 0:16:34.356 would hinge on a young lawyer named Terry Hake. I 0:16:34.396 --> 0:16:37.916 didn't want to be a lawyer anymore. It seemed like 0:16:37.956 --> 0:16:41.956 a big game with what went on and what I 0:16:42.036 --> 0:16:45.036 thought was going on in the corporals. This tape is 0:16:45.076 --> 0:16:48.476 from a TV interview he did years ago. Terry actually 0:16:48.556 --> 0:16:50.996 gave it to me. We chatted by phone a bunch 0:16:50.996 --> 0:16:53.436 of times, but he preferred not to be interviewed on 0:16:53.476 --> 0:16:57.196 the record. Terry was a prosecutor. He was young and 0:16:57.276 --> 0:17:00.756 sincere and principled. People who knew him well said he 0:17:00.876 --> 0:17:04.516 was like a boy scout, almost like two point zero, 0:17:05.396 --> 0:17:08.116 and he would try to succeed where mort had failed. 0:17:08.636 --> 0:17:13.436 He told the TV interviewer, my perception of the corruption 0:17:13.716 --> 0:17:16.556 was that it was an old boys club. If you 0:17:16.636 --> 0:17:19.436 wanted to be one of the boys, you went along 0:17:19.436 --> 0:17:21.916 with the way things were done, and you paid money. 0:17:22.436 --> 0:17:24.676 Terry was so fed up that he was prepared to 0:17:24.756 --> 0:17:28.316 risk his entire career in order to do something about corruption. 0:17:29.116 --> 0:17:33.076 So the FBI convinced him to go undercover, posing as 0:17:33.076 --> 0:17:37.116 a corrupt lawyer. But the FBI was determined not to 0:17:37.156 --> 0:17:40.356 repeat the mistake that Mort Friedman had made, so instead 0:17:40.356 --> 0:17:43.956 of bribing officials in real cases, the FBI would stage 0:17:44.116 --> 0:17:48.956 bogus crimes with bogus criminals, like a big charade. They 0:17:49.036 --> 0:17:53.476 started with DUIs Now. The way we would do this 0:17:53.636 --> 0:17:56.236 is we would drive like ten miles over the speed 0:17:56.276 --> 0:18:01.516 limit on the Dan Ryan Expressway. This is Bill McGarry. 0:18:01.916 --> 0:18:04.756 He was the FBI case agent in charge of Operation 0:18:04.876 --> 0:18:08.196 Gray Lord starting in nineteen eighty one. Bill would tell 0:18:08.236 --> 0:18:10.836 his undercover agent to get in the car and break 0:18:10.876 --> 0:18:13.196 the speed limit in the hopes that they get pulled over. 0:18:13.996 --> 0:18:18.956 We would pour liquor on the shirt of the undercover 0:18:19.036 --> 0:18:22.876 agent so that the police officer immediately detected and smelled 0:18:22.876 --> 0:18:26.196 the odor of alcohol, and then the undercover agent would 0:18:26.196 --> 0:18:31.396 feign intoxication, you know, would slur his speech, stumble around, 0:18:31.436 --> 0:18:36.356 and sell and so forth. The thinking was the undercover 0:18:36.436 --> 0:18:39.196 agent would get arrested, spend a night or two in jail, 0:18:39.676 --> 0:18:43.916 then hire Terry as their lawyer. Terry would then attempt 0:18:43.916 --> 0:18:48.196 to place a bribe and document the whole thing. Pretty innovative, right, 0:18:48.796 --> 0:18:53.676 But there was one serious problem. So what would happen 0:18:53.836 --> 0:18:56.876 is the police officers something would just not arrest the people. 0:18:57.476 --> 0:19:00.196 They'll remembers one time the cop took the car keys 0:19:00.196 --> 0:19:03.116 of an undercover agent and just threw them down the sewer. 0:19:03.876 --> 0:19:06.356 Another time, the cops pulled over one of his guys 0:19:06.516 --> 0:19:09.556 who was posing as a drunk driver, and they buscated 0:19:09.556 --> 0:19:12.836 his keys and locked them in his car, but they 0:19:12.836 --> 0:19:16.236 did not arrest him. Bill says his agents had a 0:19:16.276 --> 0:19:19.916 really hard time getting arrested, in part because the cops 0:19:20.036 --> 0:19:23.236 knew how corrupt the system was. They knew that most 0:19:23.276 --> 0:19:25.916 of the time the people they arrested could just buy 0:19:25.956 --> 0:19:28.436 their way out of it. So what was the point. 0:19:31.476 --> 0:19:34.396 Bill did finally manage to get one of his undercover 0:19:34.476 --> 0:19:38.156 agents arrested for a dui but when they showed up 0:19:38.156 --> 0:19:40.996 in court to try the case, the presiding judge had 0:19:40.996 --> 0:19:43.996 too much to drink at lunch and court was adjourned. 0:19:44.636 --> 0:19:47.276 And this is how it went for months and months. 0:19:48.036 --> 0:19:52.036 Eventually the FBI decided to try staging more serious crimes, 0:19:52.396 --> 0:19:56.116 including felonies. So we'd have an agent who would be 0:19:57.476 --> 0:20:00.476 walking down the street carrying back In those days, you 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:05.556 had men who would wear these purses. Then another undercover agent, 0:20:05.636 --> 0:20:08.956 playing the role of the thief would steal the aforementioned 0:20:09.156 --> 0:20:12.036 and purse. There'd be other undercover agents playing the role 0:20:12.076 --> 0:20:15.276 of witnesses who just happened to be standing around when 0:20:15.316 --> 0:20:18.436 the crime was committed. One of these witnesses would wrestle 0:20:18.476 --> 0:20:21.116 the thief to the ground, the cops would get called. 0:20:21.396 --> 0:20:23.956 Then it'd be here's the thief, we have them for you, 0:20:24.316 --> 0:20:29.596 and the whole scheme it actually worked. That's when Terry 0:20:29.636 --> 0:20:32.236 Haig entered the scene, playing the role of the dirty 0:20:32.236 --> 0:20:35.876 defense lawyer. Terry would go into the courtroom wearing a wire. 0:20:36.396 --> 0:20:38.956 Then he'd placed a bribe to get his client off. 0:20:39.836 --> 0:20:42.276 Here's a recording Terry made in which he paid off 0:20:42.316 --> 0:20:46.676 the bagman for a judge named John Divine Well here's 0:20:46.676 --> 0:20:49.996 a one fifty for roll behind okay, and verse fifty 0:20:50.036 --> 0:20:53.436 for you, oh you ceb in it? That okay? Good? 0:20:54.396 --> 0:20:57.356 And then they had it, a dead bang crime on tape, 0:20:57.636 --> 0:21:01.716 a cleanly executed sting operation. And the FBI just kept 0:21:01.796 --> 0:21:05.076 staging these bogus crimes. There was even an office where 0:21:05.116 --> 0:21:08.836 agents sat around cooking up storylines and fake crimes, like 0:21:08.916 --> 0:21:10.996 a bunch of TV guys in a writer's room out 0:21:10.996 --> 0:21:14.196 in Hollywood. They came up with fake bios and phony 0:21:14.236 --> 0:21:18.116 IDs for everyone involved. They thought of every detail. They 0:21:18.156 --> 0:21:21.236 even rented apartments to back up the fake IDs, so 0:21:21.356 --> 0:21:25.156 if anyone got suspicious and started poking around, they'd find 0:21:25.156 --> 0:21:28.716 an actual door to knock on. And the scale of 0:21:28.756 --> 0:21:33.196 this was enormous. Bill, the case agent, says that when 0:21:33.236 --> 0:21:36.236 all was said and done, he used over three hundred 0:21:36.316 --> 0:21:40.516 undercover agents, and the evidence poured in. Scores of bribes 0:21:40.556 --> 0:21:47.116 were documented, thousands of hours of conversations were taped, incriminating cops, judges, lawyers, 0:21:47.156 --> 0:21:51.756 and bag men, and it seemed like maybe finally the 0:21:51.796 --> 0:21:54.716 city of Chicago was going to get cleaned up. And 0:21:54.756 --> 0:21:58.356 then one night in August of nineteen eighty three, three 0:21:58.436 --> 0:22:01.916 years after Great Lord began, word got out and the 0:22:01.956 --> 0:22:17.956 operation was secret no more. Bob Cooley remembers this August 0:22:18.076 --> 0:22:22.036 night when news of Operation Gray Lord broke because, as 0:22:22.036 --> 0:22:24.836 it turns out, he was throwing a bachelor party for 0:22:24.916 --> 0:22:31.556 his younger brother, Dennis. Bob says he invited two hundred people, 0:22:31.836 --> 0:22:35.436 mainly lawyers and judges, to his favorite haunt counselor's row. 0:22:36.316 --> 0:22:39.396 Terry Hake, the lawyer who went undercover for Operation Gray Lord, 0:22:39.716 --> 0:22:44.276 he was there too, still very much undercover. Anyway, beer 0:22:44.476 --> 0:22:48.716 was flowing, glasses were clinking, and somewhere in the background 0:22:48.996 --> 0:22:53.316 a TV was on ron. The investigation has code named 0:22:53.356 --> 0:22:57.396 Gray Lord. It's the largest undercover investigation ever started by 0:22:57.436 --> 0:23:01.796 the United States Justice Department. Undercover FBI agents have methodically 0:23:01.796 --> 0:23:05.516 and systematically penetrated the criminal justice system in Cook County. 0:23:05.876 --> 0:23:09.956 And then suddenly the partygoers were clamor around the TV 0:23:10.356 --> 0:23:12.916 to hear what was being said. They announced on the 0:23:12.996 --> 0:23:16.516 TV that somebody was working undercover and had been for 0:23:16.556 --> 0:23:18.716 a couple of years, and there was going to be 0:23:18.756 --> 0:23:22.236 major indictments coming down on the court system there in Chicago, 0:23:22.516 --> 0:23:24.236 and all the people that are going to be indicted 0:23:24.236 --> 0:23:27.556 are standing right there alongside of US. At this point, 0:23:27.596 --> 0:23:30.236 it was unclear who exactly was going to be indicted, 0:23:30.676 --> 0:23:33.996 nor was it clear who this undercover agent was, but 0:23:34.156 --> 0:23:37.236 this much was certain. The ship was about to hit 0:23:37.276 --> 0:23:43.556 the fan. Bob says. The rollicking bachelor party got serious 0:23:43.756 --> 0:23:48.876 quick when they announced that on TV. Holy Christ, and 0:23:48.916 --> 0:23:52.196 we're all standing there. Who's standing right next to me 0:23:52.316 --> 0:23:55.716 but Terry Hack. Bob was literally standing next to the 0:23:55.716 --> 0:23:58.476 guy at the center of this whole thing. Of course, 0:23:58.516 --> 0:24:00.956 at the time, Bob didn't know that Terry Hack was 0:24:00.956 --> 0:24:04.316 the mole, the very undercover agent being mentioned on TV. 0:24:05.036 --> 0:24:08.476 Bob just thought Terry was another defense attorney. A few 0:24:08.476 --> 0:24:12.156 months later, the full story came out. The FBI uncovered 0:24:12.196 --> 0:24:15.036 a system of bagman. These are the people who insulate 0:24:15.076 --> 0:24:17.716 the judges from the dirty money. Most of the time, 0:24:17.756 --> 0:24:21.116 the bagman are lawyers, cops, and court bailiffs. Terry Hack 0:24:21.236 --> 0:24:24.356 was out at as the mole, and then the indictments 0:24:24.436 --> 0:24:26.996 began to roll. Some of the investigators have called the 0:24:27.036 --> 0:24:30.436 Cook County judicial system the most corrupt system they've ever seen. 0:24:31.196 --> 0:24:35.436 In total, ninety two officials were indicted, including seventeen judges, 0:24:35.676 --> 0:24:40.676 forty eight lawyers, ten deputy sheriffs, eight policemen, eight court officials, 0:24:40.876 --> 0:24:44.116 and a partridge in a pear tree. Yep, it was 0:24:44.156 --> 0:24:48.996 like Christmas Day at the FBI. So you might think, 0:24:49.036 --> 0:24:51.356 in light of all of this that Bob was biting 0:24:51.356 --> 0:24:54.156 his nails like he just dodged a bullet or something, 0:24:54.636 --> 0:24:58.476 or maybe his bullet was still coming. Nope, I was 0:24:58.676 --> 0:25:02.156 ultra careful when I did things, and I realized nobody 0:25:02.196 --> 0:25:07.436 would dare you to cooperate against us. Terry Hag never 0:25:07.756 --> 0:25:12.396 fowned any information about me from anybody, because nobody would 0:25:12.516 --> 0:25:15.476 dare say something about me for fear of the something 0:25:15.476 --> 0:25:18.996 would happen to him. Bob says that Operation Gray Lord, 0:25:19.076 --> 0:25:21.676 as grand as it was in scope, did not indict 0:25:21.716 --> 0:25:24.716 a single first word operative, as he called them. The 0:25:24.836 --> 0:25:28.236 key guys at the Mob relied upon Gray Lord, bagged 0:25:28.236 --> 0:25:30.676 a whole lot of public officials, but it did not 0:25:30.876 --> 0:25:34.676 break the outfits choke hold on the city. I talked 0:25:34.716 --> 0:25:37.756 to Bill McGarry about this. The FBI agent in charge 0:25:37.796 --> 0:25:41.236 of Operation Gray Lord asked him, did you suspect that 0:25:41.276 --> 0:25:44.396 the Mob was funneling its money into corruption? So we 0:25:44.436 --> 0:25:48.036 always suspected it, but we never, I think, had any 0:25:48.076 --> 0:25:51.756 hard evidence to suggest that you know that there was 0:25:51.876 --> 0:25:55.316 a lot of mom involvement in the corruption. So as 0:25:55.316 --> 0:25:59.356 incredibly impressive as gray Lord was in this regard, it 0:25:59.476 --> 0:26:08.476 fell short. Gray Lord indicted a whole number of people. 0:26:09.596 --> 0:26:12.356 All that happened was only a few of us could still, 0:26:12.476 --> 0:26:16.356 you know, fix major cases, and the price just went up. 0:26:17.956 --> 0:26:21.276 You heard him right. Perversely, the outcome for Bob from 0:26:21.316 --> 0:26:24.556 Operation Gray Lord was that he could now charge more 0:26:24.596 --> 0:26:27.916 money for fixing a case because many of his competitors 0:26:27.916 --> 0:26:33.596 had either been locked up or frightened away. So to recap, first, 0:26:33.636 --> 0:26:36.396 Morte Friedman, the Babe in the Woods, tried to clean 0:26:36.476 --> 0:26:40.596 things up and got crushed. Then the FBI, with its 0:26:40.716 --> 0:26:44.356 army of over three hundred undercover agents, waged its war. 0:26:45.036 --> 0:26:48.116 And still the mob seemed to have sway over the courts. 0:26:48.516 --> 0:26:54.316 They owned, politicians, they killed with impunity, They controlled the city. 0:26:54.356 --> 0:26:58.156 It seemed like they were untouchable. So what would it 0:26:58.236 --> 0:27:02.036 take to really end corruption in Chicago? Who would put 0:27:02.036 --> 0:27:04.676 an end to Bob Cooley and the corrupt system that 0:27:04.756 --> 0:27:09.716 he was part of, the answer, of course, was only himself. 0:27:19.116 --> 0:27:23.676 Next time, undeep cover what's going through your head at 0:27:23.716 --> 0:27:26.716 that moment? Keep the fight going, don't back down and 0:27:26.796 --> 0:27:30.076 don't give up, and I kept telling myself don't shoot. 0:27:53.236 --> 0:27:56.396 Deep Cover is produced by Jacob Smith and Amy Gaines 0:27:56.596 --> 0:28:00.756 and edited by Karen Shakerjey. Our senior editor is Jan Guera. 0:28:01.156 --> 0:28:04.036