WEBVTT - Episode 6: The Breaking Point 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. Find Pushkin Plus on the deep 0:00:40.996 --> 0:00:52.796 Cover show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot Fm. 0:00:52.796 --> 0:00:57.356 Previously on deep Cover. In the early nineteen eighties, some 0:00:57.516 --> 0:01:00.876 reformers tried to clean up Chicago to rid the city's 0:01:00.916 --> 0:01:05.156 courts of corruption. One effort, known as Operation Gray Lord, 0:01:05.476 --> 0:01:09.836 involved hundreds of FBI agents and produced over ninety indictments. 0:01:10.676 --> 0:01:14.156 But in one significant way, Gray Lord came up short. 0:01:14.756 --> 0:01:18.076 It did not expose or take down the first Ward, 0:01:18.476 --> 0:01:23.436 the mob's political stronghold, and so the Chicago outfit was 0:01:23.476 --> 0:01:28.276 still at it, fixing cases and placing bribes. Gray Lord 0:01:28.556 --> 0:01:32.796 indicted a whole number of people, but all that happened 0:01:32.876 --> 0:01:36.676 was only a few of us could still fix major cases, 0:01:37.436 --> 0:01:41.476 and the price just went up. That's right, Bob Cooley's 0:01:41.476 --> 0:01:48.956 services were now more valuable than ever. Ironically, it was 0:01:49.036 --> 0:01:51.716 at this very moment the Bob says he was trying 0:01:51.716 --> 0:01:54.916 to get some distance from the Mob. In recent years, 0:01:54.956 --> 0:01:58.476 a bunch of guys he knew mobsters mainly had been murdered. 0:01:58.756 --> 0:02:01.596 Another gangster he knew had fled in fear of his life. 0:02:02.316 --> 0:02:05.196 And while Bob wasn't a mobster per se, he'd gotten 0:02:05.196 --> 0:02:08.756 caught up in many of their schemes and it seemed possible, 0:02:08.796 --> 0:02:11.756 if not likely, that eventually he might end up on 0:02:11.796 --> 0:02:15.636 the wrong side of a gun. So by the mid 0:02:15.716 --> 0:02:19.676 nineteen eighties, Bob he's tiptoeing away from the mob's grasp, 0:02:20.156 --> 0:02:23.356 or trying to anyhow. He claims he focused on winning 0:02:23.396 --> 0:02:26.116 cases fair and square. He even moved out to the 0:02:26.156 --> 0:02:29.876 suburbs to get away from the first ward guys. I'm 0:02:29.916 --> 0:02:33.636 not socialized, saying with him, I'm not gambling with him anymore. 0:02:34.276 --> 0:02:37.956 I'm basically having nothing to do with him. But it 0:02:37.956 --> 0:02:41.396 wouldn't be that easy, not by a long shot. Because 0:02:41.516 --> 0:02:43.756 just as Bob is trying to make a fresh start 0:02:43.796 --> 0:02:47.396 of it, thinking that maybe, just maybe he's gotten away, 0:02:48.236 --> 0:02:51.636 a highly sensitive case falls in his lap. And this 0:02:51.716 --> 0:02:55.796 case would present a turning point for Bob, arguably the 0:02:56.036 --> 0:02:59.076 turning point in his life, the one that led him 0:02:59.076 --> 0:03:27.076 to betray the mob. I'm Jake Halbern, and this is 0:03:27.196 --> 0:03:55.316 deep Cover mob Land episode six, the breaking Point. So 0:03:55.396 --> 0:03:57.836 let's talk about the case that fell into Bob's lap. 0:03:58.396 --> 0:04:01.636 It involves the assault of a female police officer named 0:04:01.676 --> 0:04:05.676 Cathy Tooey, and Bob would soon find himself defending the 0:04:05.756 --> 0:04:08.956 man accused of attacking her. But before we get into 0:04:08.956 --> 0:04:11.356 all of that, I want to tell you more about 0:04:11.436 --> 0:04:14.876 Kathy and who she was. Kathy had joined the force 0:04:15.036 --> 0:04:17.716 just a few years earlier. She was in her thirties, 0:04:17.996 --> 0:04:20.596 She was a mom, had three kids at home, all 0:04:20.596 --> 0:04:25.196 of whom were teenagers. And Kathy she loved being a cop, 0:04:25.636 --> 0:04:29.076 not behind a desk, but out in the streets. In fact, 0:04:29.196 --> 0:04:32.356 this is what she wanted from the very start. When 0:04:32.396 --> 0:04:36.076 I saw in Chicago that they were allowing the women 0:04:36.196 --> 0:04:40.356 to get into a squad car and go out and 0:04:40.756 --> 0:04:44.156 make traffic stops and respond to calls, I thought, Wow, 0:04:44.796 --> 0:04:47.636 that's what I want to do. I should add that 0:04:47.756 --> 0:04:50.436 it was not easy to find Kathy or convince her 0:04:50.436 --> 0:04:53.276 to talk with me. We talked for months by phone 0:04:53.316 --> 0:04:56.076 before she agreed to an on the record interview, and 0:04:56.156 --> 0:04:59.356 when that finally happened, there were some things she was 0:04:59.476 --> 0:05:02.596 eager to discuss, like how she loved her job, and 0:05:02.676 --> 0:05:04.716 now she didn't mind being one of the few women 0:05:04.836 --> 0:05:08.876 doing what she did. Didn't bother her. She got police culture. 0:05:09.316 --> 0:05:12.196 Her husband was a cop, as were her brothers in law, 0:05:12.556 --> 0:05:16.876 her aunt, and her cousin. I did experience some prejudice 0:05:16.996 --> 0:05:20.876 from some of the officers, and I just figured I'm 0:05:20.876 --> 0:05:22.476 not going to argue with you. I'm just going to 0:05:22.556 --> 0:05:27.836 do my job. And gradually some of them came around 0:05:27.876 --> 0:05:31.236 and they would tell me, you know, I didn't think 0:05:31.276 --> 0:05:34.876 you could cut it when you first came, but I'll 0:05:34.876 --> 0:05:38.316 work with you. And Kathy says, back in the eighties 0:05:38.396 --> 0:05:41.956 in Chicago, this is a pretty good compliment and one 0:05:41.996 --> 0:05:44.716 that she worked hard to earn. She said. The knock 0:05:44.756 --> 0:05:47.876 against female cops was that they weren't tough enough, and 0:05:47.996 --> 0:05:51.036 some male officers doubted that she could really be counted 0:05:51.036 --> 0:05:53.796 on if the situation got out of hand. For her 0:05:53.836 --> 0:05:57.596 part on the streets, Kathy held her own. I didn't 0:05:57.596 --> 0:06:01.236 back down when I had to be firm. I was 0:06:02.036 --> 0:06:07.076 if somebody needed help, I pitched in, just doing my job. 0:06:07.796 --> 0:06:09.916 And for the most part, it wasn't like she was 0:06:09.956 --> 0:06:12.916 out there alone. I mean, there was a whole buddy system. 0:06:13.436 --> 0:06:15.796 You know. It's like you see on TV. Every cop 0:06:15.876 --> 0:06:18.436 had a partner to ride with them in the squad car, 0:06:18.916 --> 0:06:22.636 but there were sometimes when officers did ride solo, like 0:06:22.796 --> 0:06:25.876 around the holidays, when people took vacations and the force 0:06:25.996 --> 0:06:29.996 was stretched thin. At times like that, they'd send officers 0:06:29.996 --> 0:06:33.076 out on their own. And Kathy says, no one complained 0:06:33.116 --> 0:06:36.156 about this. You just did it so your colleagues could 0:06:36.156 --> 0:06:38.876 take their vacation and get some time with their families. 0:06:39.716 --> 0:06:42.316 And that's how it came to be that on one 0:06:42.356 --> 0:06:45.716 December night, just before New Year's Kathy was in a 0:06:45.756 --> 0:06:49.916 patrol car all by herself. I seem to recall that 0:06:50.076 --> 0:06:56.036 it was probably just after midnight, somewhere about one o'clock 0:06:56.076 --> 0:07:00.116 in the morning. It was late and everything had settled down, 0:07:01.996 --> 0:07:05.116 and I was riding parking tickets for people parked on 0:07:05.196 --> 0:07:09.236 the hydrants or parked on the crosswalks. Those were easy 0:07:09.396 --> 0:07:13.956 parking tickets. And while I'm writing my parking tickets, a 0:07:14.116 --> 0:07:16.436 young man came up to the car and he said, 0:07:16.636 --> 0:07:19.196 this dude just tried to get me in his car. 0:07:20.276 --> 0:07:22.636 I said, oh yeah, and I said why would he 0:07:22.716 --> 0:07:26.356 do that? He says, I don't know. I said, well, 0:07:26.356 --> 0:07:30.356 what do you want me to do and stuff, and 0:07:30.396 --> 0:07:33.996 he's as well. He says, I don't know. But there 0:07:33.996 --> 0:07:36.556 he goes the wrong way on a one way street, 0:07:37.196 --> 0:07:40.076 and I said, all right, I'll go have a talk 0:07:40.076 --> 0:07:43.396 with him. I went ahead. I went after the car 0:07:43.476 --> 0:07:45.476 which was going the wrong way on a one way street. 0:07:46.756 --> 0:07:52.356 He pulled over and and he stepped out of the car. 0:07:54.036 --> 0:07:58.436 Can cut stocky Italian guy. He came out. He was 0:07:58.476 --> 0:08:03.196 in a camel hair coat three quarter length. I told 0:08:03.276 --> 0:08:05.636 him put his hands on the hood of the car, 0:08:06.516 --> 0:08:10.156 and he did. But when he of his hands out 0:08:10.156 --> 0:08:12.916 of the pocket, he put a piece of cold rolled 0:08:12.956 --> 0:08:19.836 steel down on the hood of the car. It looked 0:08:19.836 --> 0:08:24.316 like a roll of porters and it's about as white 0:08:24.316 --> 0:08:27.756 as a man's fist. I started to reach around him 0:08:27.796 --> 0:08:30.876 to grab the cold roll steel, and I keep my radio. 0:08:32.476 --> 0:08:37.036 I said, get me an assist unit. As soon as 0:08:37.036 --> 0:08:42.436 I finished with the radio transmission, he turned, came up 0:08:42.436 --> 0:08:46.276 with the cold rolled steel in his hand, and he said, 0:08:46.316 --> 0:08:51.236 that's it. I'm going to kill you a bitch, and 0:08:51.396 --> 0:08:55.156 started the swing. Came around with a roundhouse punch. I 0:08:55.196 --> 0:08:57.996 attempted to block it, and I started to fall back, 0:08:58.916 --> 0:09:01.196 and that took me off my feet. I fell back 0:09:01.236 --> 0:09:07.036 against the squad car door, just fell back, tucked and rolled. 0:09:07.636 --> 0:09:10.796 He came down on top of me and we were 0:09:10.836 --> 0:09:19.316 fighting on the street. What's going through your head at 0:09:19.356 --> 0:09:22.396 that moment. Keep the fight going, don't back down and 0:09:22.476 --> 0:09:35.476 don't give up. And I kept telling myself, don't shoot. Eventually, 0:09:35.516 --> 0:09:39.196 backup did arrive. Another officer showed up to help her. 0:09:39.556 --> 0:09:42.116 Soon more cops got there and jumped into the fray. 0:09:43.676 --> 0:09:46.756 They got Kathy into a Patti wagon and then raced 0:09:46.796 --> 0:09:49.516 her off to the hospital. So they made sure that 0:09:49.556 --> 0:09:53.556 there were no there's no mirrors in the emergency room 0:09:53.636 --> 0:09:56.476 and the room they put me in, they made sure 0:09:56.516 --> 0:10:00.276 there was no mirror up there, and I wasn't allowed 0:10:00.316 --> 0:10:03.836 to get out of bed. Don't look in the mirror, 0:10:04.276 --> 0:10:07.276 That's what they told her. In other words, you don't 0:10:07.276 --> 0:10:10.076 want to see what your own face looks like. Most 0:10:10.076 --> 0:10:12.996 of her injuries were to her head. She had a concussion, 0:10:13.436 --> 0:10:16.276 her nose was broken, and her lip was so badly 0:10:16.316 --> 0:10:19.916 torn their tooth had gone right through it. Someone told 0:10:19.996 --> 0:10:22.396 Kathy that they were going to call her husband, Marty 0:10:22.676 --> 0:10:27.716 alert him. Kathy, in her understated way, said basically, no, 0:10:28.036 --> 0:10:30.316 don't bother him, don't wake him and the kids up. 0:10:31.036 --> 0:10:33.276 I'll tell him about this later when I get home. 0:10:34.836 --> 0:10:39.236 Someone said, guess you're not going home. You're going to 0:10:39.316 --> 0:10:44.076 be here a while. And I said, is it bad? Bad? 0:10:44.156 --> 0:11:16.676 And it's bad enough, as you can imagine. The guy 0:11:16.676 --> 0:11:20.156 accused of assaulting Cathy Twoey, he had a very different 0:11:20.236 --> 0:11:24.476 version of events that night. The guy's name was Michael Kollela. 0:11:24.716 --> 0:11:28.116 He was in his twenties. He was a bodybuilder, a partier, 0:11:28.196 --> 0:11:31.756 and a brawler, a violent guy. In the last year 0:11:31.876 --> 0:11:34.996 or so, Michael had gotten into several scuffles and was 0:11:35.036 --> 0:11:39.796 facing a number of charges. Bob says that initially he 0:11:39.836 --> 0:11:43.236 didn't want to represent Michael Kolella because their first client 0:11:43.316 --> 0:11:46.876 meeting it was pretty much a disaster. Here's how it 0:11:46.916 --> 0:11:50.876 went down. Michael's father had arranged this meeting at Bob's 0:11:50.876 --> 0:11:53.556 office in the hopes that Bob might take the case. 0:11:54.276 --> 0:11:57.636 Bob took an instant dislike to Michael. He was our 0:11:57.756 --> 0:12:00.476 no more than twenty minutes because I basically threw him out. 0:12:01.396 --> 0:12:04.196 You know, he was a smart alec, but he was 0:12:04.316 --> 0:12:06.356 high at the time, no question in my mind he 0:12:06.436 --> 0:12:09.716 was high. And I just told this day, I said, look, 0:12:09.756 --> 0:12:12.236 I can't. I can't help you, and I can't help him. 0:12:12.916 --> 0:12:16.516 I said, you get him cleaned up and you come back, 0:12:16.516 --> 0:12:19.236 and I said, and I will take the case. So 0:12:19.356 --> 0:12:22.596 a few weeks pass and the dad comes back with Michael, 0:12:22.676 --> 0:12:25.596 who now appears to be clean, not on drugs, and 0:12:26.156 --> 0:12:28.716 much more respectful because he was scared stiff, and he 0:12:28.836 --> 0:12:33.036 starts with attempted murder, so he's expecting minimum sentence that 0:12:33.116 --> 0:12:36.916 he's convicted as six years in the penitentiary. At this point, 0:12:37.276 --> 0:12:40.196 Michael tells Bob his version of how it all went 0:12:40.276 --> 0:12:43.716 down with Cathy Tooey. He says he was out late 0:12:43.756 --> 0:12:47.396 at night looking for a prostitute when Cathy stopped him 0:12:47.596 --> 0:12:50.996 and tried to arrest him, and she tried to handcuff him, 0:12:50.996 --> 0:12:53.916 and he pulled. He told me he pulled himself away, 0:12:54.436 --> 0:12:56.916 and she called and she put in like for a 0:12:56.916 --> 0:13:00.636 policemen in trouble, and about ten policemen came to the scene. 0:13:01.156 --> 0:13:03.676 And when they came to the scene, he's in a 0:13:03.756 --> 0:13:06.876 fight with them, with all of them and he's on 0:13:06.916 --> 0:13:10.356 the ground and one of the policemen was hitting him 0:13:10.356 --> 0:13:13.716 with a with a nightstick. That's how he got his 0:13:13.796 --> 0:13:17.236 face smashed in and that's how she obviously got hit too. 0:13:17.956 --> 0:13:22.716 So in Michael's version of events, the cops jumped him 0:13:22.796 --> 0:13:26.476 like ten cops. I'm one guy, And somehow this whole 0:13:26.516 --> 0:13:31.276 skirmish was so chaotic that Kathy accidentally got her face 0:13:31.316 --> 0:13:36.356 smashed in. Bob told me he actually believed this, says 0:13:36.596 --> 0:13:39.116 he'd been a cop and knew how cops operated and 0:13:39.196 --> 0:13:43.036 found this all credible, so he agreed to represent Michael. 0:13:43.476 --> 0:13:45.276 He says he hoped to bring the case before a 0:13:45.356 --> 0:13:52.836 jury and win Farren square. But then a few days later, 0:13:53.076 --> 0:13:55.196 out of the blue, Bob says, he gets a call 0:13:55.316 --> 0:13:58.756 from none other than Pat Marcy, who wants to meet 0:13:58.876 --> 0:14:03.636 down at Counselor's row, and Bob agrees, which I gotta 0:14:03.676 --> 0:14:06.316 say kind of puzzled me. You know, given the fact 0:14:06.316 --> 0:14:09.356 that Bob was making every effort to break with them. Bob, 0:14:10.156 --> 0:14:12.276 why did you even bother good on a meet with him? 0:14:13.436 --> 0:14:18.036 I mean, why not? Yeah? Maybe he's calling me to say, Bob, 0:14:18.116 --> 0:14:20.876 you know you won the lottery. Here's a million dollars. 0:14:20.916 --> 0:14:22.516 I mean, I don't know why he's calling me, but 0:14:23.076 --> 0:14:25.716 one of the thoughts that I had, probably the original thought, 0:14:25.796 --> 0:14:29.596 would be they must have a problem before a judge, 0:14:29.676 --> 0:14:32.796 or even there were some people in certain positions in 0:14:32.836 --> 0:14:35.316 the city that were friendly to me that would not 0:14:35.436 --> 0:14:39.556 be friendly with them. Or maybe when Pat Marcy calls, 0:14:40.076 --> 0:14:43.716 you just can't say no. So Bob goes down to 0:14:43.756 --> 0:14:47.236 counsel's row and lo and behold, Marcy wants to talk 0:14:47.276 --> 0:14:51.276 to him about Michael Kollela. Turns out Marcy is friendly 0:14:51.316 --> 0:14:54.996 with Michael's family, and apparently Marcy has promised the family 0:14:55.076 --> 0:14:58.276 that he would take care of Michael's legal troubles. I 0:14:58.276 --> 0:15:02.356 remember his exact words, I'll let you handle the case 0:15:03.076 --> 0:15:06.756 that we're going to get it assigned to Judge Passarella. 0:15:06.796 --> 0:15:10.876 And I said, Pat, there's no need to I said 0:15:10.956 --> 0:15:13.996 I can win the case, and he said no, you know, 0:15:14.396 --> 0:15:18.116 you just do what you're told. And they had never 0:15:18.196 --> 0:15:21.476 talked to me like that before. They knew me better. 0:15:21.716 --> 0:15:24.236 Nobody told me what to do, Nobody told me what 0:15:24.356 --> 0:15:27.156 they asked me. They asked me to do things, and 0:15:27.316 --> 0:15:29.276 if I wanted to do them, I wouldn't. If I didn't, 0:15:29.316 --> 0:15:32.796 I wouldn't. Just to be clear here, Pat Marcy was 0:15:32.876 --> 0:15:36.196 basically coming in and saying, sure, you can keep representing 0:15:36.196 --> 0:15:38.676 your client, but it's going to be a bench trial, 0:15:38.796 --> 0:15:40.276 and we're going to make sure it goes to a 0:15:40.396 --> 0:15:44.596 judge who's in our pocket. In other words, were taken over. 0:15:45.596 --> 0:15:47.236 What did you say to him when he said you'll 0:15:47.276 --> 0:15:51.356 do what you're told? I said, well, okay, And as 0:15:51.396 --> 0:15:56.476 I left, I'm furious because I don't want to do it. 0:15:56.716 --> 0:15:58.876 I wanted no part of fixing a case with a 0:15:58.916 --> 0:16:03.276 policewoman or a policeman based on what it happens with 0:16:03.316 --> 0:16:06.396 my father and with my father's father and whatever. That 0:16:06.556 --> 0:16:10.636 had never left my mind. It could be that the 0:16:10.716 --> 0:16:13.276 idea of fixing the case was just way too close 0:16:13.316 --> 0:16:17.036 to home. Remember, Bob came from a family of police officers, 0:16:17.436 --> 0:16:20.196 not just that his own grandfather was a cop who'd 0:16:20.196 --> 0:16:25.076 been killed on the job, or maybe what it really 0:16:25.116 --> 0:16:29.676 came down to was not morality or some tortured family history, 0:16:29.996 --> 0:16:32.996 or even the particulars of this case, but simply the 0:16:33.036 --> 0:16:36.116 fact that Bob didn't want to take orders anymore. He 0:16:36.156 --> 0:16:39.116 didn't want to be Pat Marcy's pawn. It's why he'd 0:16:39.156 --> 0:16:41.556 run away to the burbs, tried to be his own man, 0:16:41.996 --> 0:16:46.156 and kind of succeeded until Pat Marcy had summoned him 0:16:46.436 --> 0:16:49.156 like the king that he was and had given Bob 0:16:49.156 --> 0:16:54.556 an order. You do what you're told. I don't want 0:16:54.596 --> 0:16:58.476 to do it, but I have to do it. I'm afraid. 0:16:58.876 --> 0:17:02.436 I'm afraid to say no for a lot of reasons. 0:17:02.476 --> 0:17:05.796 I mean, I know how these people are meaning what 0:17:07.076 --> 0:17:11.996 I'm talking about. You know, these are killers and mars 0:17:12.116 --> 0:17:16.196 and these people are fucking killers. And in the end, 0:17:16.996 --> 0:17:20.836 Bob caved. When we come back after the break, the 0:17:20.916 --> 0:17:34.996 trial begins. The case may have been fixed, but Michael's 0:17:35.076 --> 0:17:39.476 family wasn't taking any chances. According to Kathy Tooey, a 0:17:39.516 --> 0:17:42.796 few months after she was attacked, she was approached with 0:17:42.876 --> 0:17:46.036 an offer. She says they came through a fellow cop 0:17:46.316 --> 0:17:49.596 who happened to know Michael's father. The cop said he 0:17:49.636 --> 0:17:53.356 was just passing along a message. The Kalella family felt 0:17:53.356 --> 0:17:56.516 bad about what had happened, and they wanted to take 0:17:56.636 --> 0:18:00.996 care of her medical bills. Kathy refused. It seemed like 0:18:01.116 --> 0:18:04.396 hush money, but she didn't blame the cop for asking. 0:18:05.316 --> 0:18:09.396 I'm not interested in any money. All I want is 0:18:09.636 --> 0:18:13.796 his son found guilty, and I said, that's it. We'll 0:18:13.836 --> 0:18:17.836 take care of it in court. Finally, the day of 0:18:17.916 --> 0:18:21.636 trial comes, Bob shows up, in court along with his client, 0:18:22.036 --> 0:18:27.396 Michael Kollela. The courtroom was an unusual courtroom, the only 0:18:27.436 --> 0:18:30.796 one in the building that's set up like this. There 0:18:30.876 --> 0:18:36.156 was about maybe i'd say about twenty five thirty seats 0:18:36.196 --> 0:18:40.316 in their front. It's full of uniform policemen. There's probably 0:18:40.356 --> 0:18:44.916 twenty of the twenty five seats uniform policeman sitting in there. Well, 0:18:45.116 --> 0:18:49.636 that's Bob's version, anyway. Kathy remembers it differently. Wholly claimed 0:18:49.636 --> 0:18:53.876 that the courtroom was passed the police officers that day. Maloney, 0:18:54.436 --> 0:18:56.756 I could say worse, but I don't want to offend you, 0:18:57.596 --> 0:19:00.876 Kathy says. Sometimes cops did turn up in droves to 0:19:00.876 --> 0:19:03.836 support a fellow officer. A call would go out, hey, 0:19:03.876 --> 0:19:07.716 we need your support. But that didn't happen today, she says, 0:19:07.756 --> 0:19:10.796 because everyone believed this was an open and shut case, 0:19:11.236 --> 0:19:14.836 almost a formality. Her support that day was her husband, 0:19:15.036 --> 0:19:18.556 along with two prosecutors and just a few cops. So 0:19:18.796 --> 0:19:21.236 when I appeared in front of these judges, I knew 0:19:21.276 --> 0:19:23.396 that I had to have all my ducks in a row. 0:19:23.916 --> 0:19:28.436 I had to have my reports clear, concise and truthful. 0:19:29.076 --> 0:19:32.556 I had to make certain that my testimony was not 0:19:32.876 --> 0:19:38.756 tentative or descriptive or flowery, it was factual. She didn't 0:19:38.756 --> 0:19:42.276 think there was anything to worry about, especially considering Michael's 0:19:42.276 --> 0:19:46.476 track record. He had a background on him, and I 0:19:46.556 --> 0:19:49.396 had no indication that there was going to be any problems. 0:19:50.316 --> 0:19:58.556 The hospital reports, his interviews, everything supported this case, so 0:19:58.596 --> 0:20:00.236 I had no reason to suspect that it was going 0:20:00.316 --> 0:20:05.556 to go any other way. When Cathy took the witness stand, 0:20:05.876 --> 0:20:08.556 she recalled how she'd stopped Michael for driving the wrong 0:20:08.556 --> 0:20:11.476 way down one way street. She ordered him out of 0:20:11.476 --> 0:20:15.276 the car, began a pet down search, Michael resisted, a 0:20:15.356 --> 0:20:18.876 fight broke out. Michael had a five inch piece of 0:20:18.956 --> 0:20:22.196 cold rolled steel inside his fist as he punched her. 0:20:22.876 --> 0:20:25.876 In the end, Cathy was so badly injured that she 0:20:25.996 --> 0:20:29.916 later had to undergo reconstructive surgery. None of us looked 0:20:29.996 --> 0:20:35.156 especially good for Bob's client. When it came time for 0:20:35.276 --> 0:20:38.476 Bob to mount his defense, he offered a bold and 0:20:38.556 --> 0:20:43.916 pretty unconventional argument. He called a number of witnesses, including Michael, 0:20:44.116 --> 0:20:47.796 and Michael told a kind of crazy story had boiled 0:20:47.796 --> 0:20:52.356 down to this. He suggested that a tattooed stranger drugged 0:20:52.396 --> 0:20:55.276 him at a bar and this induced a kind of 0:20:55.356 --> 0:21:00.036 temporary insanity. According to the Chicago Tribune, which covered the trial, 0:21:00.716 --> 0:21:04.076 that was the main thrust of Bob's argument. When I 0:21:04.116 --> 0:21:07.716 asked Bob about this, he told me, I don't believe 0:21:07.756 --> 0:21:10.236 there was ever any guy, you know, who drugged him. 0:21:10.236 --> 0:21:13.036 I don't believe that. Well, that was totally like me. 0:21:13.236 --> 0:21:15.876 That's a story. That's a story. He came up with this, 0:21:16.116 --> 0:21:19.036 you know, that's that's why he was high. He's telling me. 0:21:19.076 --> 0:21:21.716 That's a story. He told me. I don't believe that story, 0:21:21.956 --> 0:21:26.556 but that's the story he's telling me. Classic Bob. Yeah, sure, 0:21:26.636 --> 0:21:29.196 he lived in the suburbs. Now, maybe he didn't want 0:21:29.196 --> 0:21:32.916 to place bribes anymore, but he was noe. B Lincoln 0:21:34.516 --> 0:21:37.916 all told the trial didn't last long, just a few hours, 0:21:38.476 --> 0:21:40.636 and when it was time for the verdict, the judge 0:21:40.756 --> 0:21:44.196 did something very odd. He shot off the microphone first, 0:21:44.716 --> 0:21:47.596 and then he whispered so you could barely hear it, 0:21:47.676 --> 0:21:52.676 you know, not guilty. At first, no one really reacted, 0:21:53.116 --> 0:21:55.516 but then people started to realize what had just happened. 0:21:55.636 --> 0:21:59.236 What the judge had said, that the defendant, Michael Kollela, 0:21:59.436 --> 0:22:02.916 had just been acquitted of assaulting Kathy Cathy was sitting 0:22:02.916 --> 0:22:06.116 there with the two prosecutors. She looked at them and 0:22:06.316 --> 0:22:11.556 I went, what just happened? Just then her husband, Marty 0:22:11.876 --> 0:22:15.236 came over to where they were sitting. And then Marty 0:22:15.356 --> 0:22:20.716 comes in and Marty says, are they taking a break? 0:22:22.316 --> 0:22:26.956 I said no, I said, didn't judge just ruled not guilty. 0:22:28.196 --> 0:22:33.356 He says, your kidden and I said no. Marty looks 0:22:33.356 --> 0:22:35.476 at me. I said yeah. I said they couldn't get 0:22:35.516 --> 0:22:38.556 to me to get me to drop it. I said, 0:22:38.556 --> 0:22:43.796 so they got to the damn judge. I was so 0:22:43.996 --> 0:22:47.876 blind with just rage. Did it take a moment to 0:22:47.996 --> 0:22:52.236 register or did the anger come right away? No? Anger 0:22:52.316 --> 0:22:59.276 came right away. And thankfulness it was a closed office 0:22:59.316 --> 0:23:03.676 where we were sitting. I should because I told Marty 0:23:03.796 --> 0:23:06.196 I should have panicked. I should have shot the son 0:23:06.196 --> 0:23:10.476 of a bitch. And I said, he's going to do 0:23:10.516 --> 0:23:17.676 this to somebody else. After the judge whispered his not 0:23:17.796 --> 0:23:21.196 guilty verdict, Bob took his client, Michael and tried to 0:23:21.196 --> 0:23:24.316 get him out of the courtroom. Bob remembers some cops 0:23:24.356 --> 0:23:27.436 blocking his path and as I'm as I'm going to 0:23:27.476 --> 0:23:30.156 walk towards the door, they're grabbing me and screaming at 0:23:30.196 --> 0:23:33.636 me and yelling and you trader and stuff like that. 0:23:33.676 --> 0:23:37.556 They're pushing me and shoving me, and yeah, they're saying 0:23:37.556 --> 0:23:40.396 you should be ashamed of yourself. And I know why 0:23:40.436 --> 0:23:44.396 they're saying it, because I'm an ex policeman and you know, 0:23:44.436 --> 0:23:47.196 how could you represent somebody you know who did something 0:23:47.276 --> 0:23:51.436 like that? And anyhow, there was all kinds of commotion. 0:23:51.516 --> 0:23:53.196 What were you saying when they were saying you should 0:23:53.196 --> 0:23:54.956 be ashamed? I don't say anything. What am I going 0:23:54.996 --> 0:23:57.836 to say to him? I just want to get out 0:23:57.836 --> 0:24:01.116 of there and walk out of there, you know, Bob says. 0:24:01.276 --> 0:24:05.716 The police officers kept haranguing him, chanting like a Greek 0:24:05.796 --> 0:24:14.316 chorus from some overwrought tragedy. After the verdict in this case, 0:24:14.636 --> 0:24:17.956 there was an outcry from the local press. The legendary 0:24:18.036 --> 0:24:22.276 columnist Mike Royko summed up the case this way. Quote 0:24:22.316 --> 0:24:25.676 A muscular young thug named Mike Kalella, who had mulled 0:24:25.716 --> 0:24:28.876 a female police officer, told the judge that a tattooed 0:24:28.876 --> 0:24:32.556 stranger in a bar slipped a mysterious drug into his drink. 0:24:33.276 --> 0:24:37.676 That yarn made sense to the judge. People were outraged. 0:24:37.956 --> 0:24:39.996 There were calls in the press who reforms in the 0:24:40.076 --> 0:24:44.156 judicial system, and they wanted the judge to pay his 0:24:44.236 --> 0:24:47.076 decision to equip Michael Kollella has touched off a campaign 0:24:47.116 --> 0:24:49.876 to vote him down. The twenty seven year old Kollela 0:24:49.956 --> 0:24:53.076 from Elmwood Park was charged with beating officer Cathy Tooey 0:24:53.516 --> 0:24:55.596 after she stopped him for a license check on New 0:24:55.636 --> 0:24:58.756 Year's Eve of nineteen eighty four. Officer Tooey says, when 0:24:58.796 --> 0:25:02.356 she heard the judge's decision last week, I can't believe this. 0:25:02.956 --> 0:25:06.316 I couldn't believe that any judge, after hearing all the evidence, 0:25:06.756 --> 0:25:11.196 could possibly rule in such a manner. Kathy, she may 0:25:11.236 --> 0:25:13.596 have been blind with rage, but she didn't let that 0:25:13.676 --> 0:25:17.236 stop her from seeking justice. She became a vocal critic 0:25:17.276 --> 0:25:19.916 of the judge in the case, and he was subsequently 0:25:19.956 --> 0:25:22.916 voted out of office. Kathy went back to work and 0:25:22.996 --> 0:25:26.356 eventually was promoted to a captain in the Chicago PD 0:25:26.796 --> 0:25:30.276 along with four other female officers. Sarah had never been 0:25:30.316 --> 0:25:34.516 a female captain on the Chicago Police Department. Wow, So 0:25:35.556 --> 0:25:44.756 what did that feel like, Hot, Doug, I'm mischarged? Wow? Seriously, 0:25:45.116 --> 0:25:49.636 it was a great deal of pride as for Michael Kollela. 0:25:49.916 --> 0:25:52.836 Turns out Kathy was right about him. He did go 0:25:52.876 --> 0:25:56.956 on to commit multiple assaults and eventually would go to prison. 0:25:59.836 --> 0:26:03.836 For Bob. The outcome of this trial also had big consequences, 0:26:04.316 --> 0:26:08.036 but very different ones. Just hours after the verdict, Bob 0:26:08.076 --> 0:26:11.436 says he went to meet with Pat Marcy. Among other things, 0:26:11.436 --> 0:26:15.596 Bob still needed to get paid, so Bob says he 0:26:15.596 --> 0:26:18.796 shows up a counselor's row and sees Marcy sitting at 0:26:18.836 --> 0:26:23.196 his regular table. Marcy stands up, walks down a hallway 0:26:23.396 --> 0:26:27.316 towards the building's elevators, and then ducks into a janitor's closet. 0:26:28.116 --> 0:26:31.076 Bob follows him. This, by the way, is the same 0:26:31.116 --> 0:26:34.476 thing that happened nine years earlier when Pat Marcy paid 0:26:34.476 --> 0:26:39.276 Bob for fixing the Hairy Alamann trial. So, according to Bob, 0:26:39.836 --> 0:26:43.836 there they are crowded in the little janitor's closet, Bob 0:26:43.996 --> 0:26:47.716 and the mob's political tsar standing there face to face 0:26:47.916 --> 0:26:51.476 amidst the mops and brooms and buckets. The way the 0:26:51.476 --> 0:26:54.676 closet was configured, it had a staircase and Marcy was 0:26:54.716 --> 0:26:57.796 standing on it, so he was kind of towering over Bob. 0:26:58.556 --> 0:27:01.796 At some point Marcy reached into his pocket and pulled 0:27:01.796 --> 0:27:04.396 out some cash and paid Bob what he was owed, 0:27:04.876 --> 0:27:08.996 two thousand dollars. Bob then recounted to Marcy what had 0:27:09.156 --> 0:27:12.236 happened in the courtroom. I said, the media was there, 0:27:12.436 --> 0:27:15.436 you know, and they were going absolutely crazy after it. 0:27:15.796 --> 0:27:18.756 I said to Judge for some reason, you know, shut 0:27:18.796 --> 0:27:22.356 off the microphone and jumped off the bench, looking guilty 0:27:22.396 --> 0:27:25.156