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When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down
A Chicago mob attorney describes his double life as an FBI informant; his role in bringing down the Chicago Outfit, perhaps the most powerful family in the history of organized crime; and his new life in the Witness Protection Program. By the author of Grand The Cosmic Career of John DeLorean. Reprint.
370 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2004
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October 30, 2015
Very interesting book. I have only been to Chicago once and that was in the 80's. I wasn't sure if I would even like this story but it pulled me in and kept my attention. It was a great audiobook.
July 21, 2023
I really liked this book since it took a new perspective. The perspective of an outsider who was in the inner circle per say. He was close enough to know what was going on but far enough away that he was not entirely bound by the same rules as made men.
May 31, 2018
A surprising read, one I did not expect to be that good. Maybe not for everyone, but I really entered the life of this Bob Cooley. If you have no interest in Chicago, you may not like the book as much. I loved all of the connections to Chicago - the places, the people, the events. I learned a lot. There is so me language and very disturbing ethical behavior. You won't always know who to root for, and that is ok I think.
November 8, 2020
Read this book after reading it when it was first available. I still find it fascinating.
I was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County for 30 years. I was always amazed at how certain private attorneys got these great reputations for being brilliant when I thought most were just a step above incompetence. The author has perfected blowing his own horn as some brilliant legal tactician (when not bribing Judges). People who saw him at the Criminal Court wearing that goofy hat of his pegged him as a goof. However, I find him 110 percent credible in his story here. I do believe he had a Come to Jesus moment. I never met him. I knew his brother. His brother was a fine attorney.
One defense attorney the author trashes was a media darling. I share Bob Cooley's opinion that he was a mobbed up blowhard who loved the sound of his own voice.
To this day in Cook County, you always wonder how some complete idiots are elevated to the local Judiciary.
No matter what his motive was, Bob Cooley performed a great service for the citizens of Cook County.
I was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County for 30 years. I was always amazed at how certain private attorneys got these great reputations for being brilliant when I thought most were just a step above incompetence. The author has perfected blowing his own horn as some brilliant legal tactician (when not bribing Judges). People who saw him at the Criminal Court wearing that goofy hat of his pegged him as a goof. However, I find him 110 percent credible in his story here. I do believe he had a Come to Jesus moment. I never met him. I knew his brother. His brother was a fine attorney.
One defense attorney the author trashes was a media darling. I share Bob Cooley's opinion that he was a mobbed up blowhard who loved the sound of his own voice.
To this day in Cook County, you always wonder how some complete idiots are elevated to the local Judiciary.
No matter what his motive was, Bob Cooley performed a great service for the citizens of Cook County.
December 26, 2016
A fascinating look at corruption in the Chicago legal system in the 70's & 80's, as told by ex-Mob lawyer Robert Cooley. He was the key, wire-wearing witness in Operation Gambat, an FBI sting that ultimately sent several mobsters, politicians, cops, and judges to jail, in addition to causing some political and judicial reforms in Chicago. Cooley's motives for writing the book are pretty self-serving, but that's partly what makes the book so great--he is as "modest" as the subtitle of the book suggests. You don't get to be a lawyer for the Mob by being an angel, but he seems as proud of his abilities to know how/when/who to bribe as a lawyer, get guilty people off, maximize his profits gambling with bookies, and using his fists, as he is of his decision to go to the Feds and start wearing a wire on his former colleagues. He also refers to himself as "yours truly" in the book's photo captions.
Cooley's cooperation with the Feds helped expose and dismantle Chicago's First Ward, for years the main intersection between city government and Mob interests in Chicago. At the time, the First Ward centered on the Loop, the city's epicenter of courts, government and business. I checked a recent Ward map, and the First Ward has migrated north & west over time and now encompasses Logan's Square.
Cooley's cooperation with the Feds helped expose and dismantle Chicago's First Ward, for years the main intersection between city government and Mob interests in Chicago. At the time, the First Ward centered on the Loop, the city's epicenter of courts, government and business. I checked a recent Ward map, and the First Ward has migrated north & west over time and now encompasses Logan's Square.
December 7, 2015
I knew this man personally. I knew half of the corrupt mobsters in this book. I saw them almost every weekend at my grandparents Sicilian restaurant in Old Town (North Ave and Wells). I literally grew up around them. The restaurant is Mama DeLuca's and Cooley even mentions the meetings that used to take place there in this book.
Bob always treated me wonderfully, even as a pesky little kid running around the restaurant. I remember him slipping me twenty dollar bills (and that was a lot in the 70's), which my mom would yank right out of my hand!
I was too young to realize what was going on back then so reading this book took me back to that time, and help me put the names to the faces that I do remember. A lot of good mob and Chicago corruption in this book. If Chicago mafia stories are up your alley, this one is fabulous. Or, you can just ask me some stories....Ive got a lot. ;)
Bob always treated me wonderfully, even as a pesky little kid running around the restaurant. I remember him slipping me twenty dollar bills (and that was a lot in the 70's), which my mom would yank right out of my hand!
I was too young to realize what was going on back then so reading this book took me back to that time, and help me put the names to the faces that I do remember. A lot of good mob and Chicago corruption in this book. If Chicago mafia stories are up your alley, this one is fabulous. Or, you can just ask me some stories....Ive got a lot. ;)
June 6, 2021
I lived in downtown Chicago, in the loop, for 20 years and, since moving, have become an amateur Chicago historian, especially about the Chicago outfit and its effects on the past and present culture of the city. It is a lot of fun to read all the details in history books when you know the streets, intersections, addresses, the buildings, etc. based on actual memories of those places.
This book is one of the best (top 2-3) that I have read from the "Chicago outfit / history" genre, and I have read at least 30 or 40 of those books. One of its strengths is that it focuses on a more recent era (1970s-1990s) than most books in this genre, which detail the 1920s-1960s. This focus made the book more relatable because more of the businesses and people in this book are still around (I have met some of the people in this book) compared to references in older history books.
It is also well-written. It is not too long; the content/word ratio is much larger than most history-themed books, some of which are 600-700 pages long. Bob Cooley's partnership with writer Hillel Levin produced a great book. (According to Levin's website, some of his work in this area is being developed as movie projects - I do hope so because there is enough interesting content for it.) In this book, the words, sentences, paragraphs are crafted for readability. The larger structure of the chapters is rational and I never felt lost in the weeds. Some books in this genre go off track as they get into the minutiae of various events, sometimes to the extent that the reader wonders what is going on, or whether or not they are being persuaded to think a particular way. Not so in this book.
What made it most enjoyable for me is the illustrations of the actual historic characters. The descriptions are rich enough that you can imagine very clearly what these people might have been like. One brief example of what made this book enjoyable for me comes in a section (pp. 56-59) where Cooley describes "Juan Raphael Dante" (born John Timothy Keehan), who was known in Chicago as "Count Dante." Dante claimed to be the most dangerous man alive, and he put ads in comic books across the country to sell his training program and his fighting secrets, which were over the top and fantastical. He claimed that he could teach you how to strike a person with one finger and paralyze them temporarily, etc. Count Dante is not remembered today (many Chicago historians haven't heard of him), but he was well-known in Chicago (including outfit) social circles in the 1970s, He was flamboyant, walked around the city wearing a cape and leotards, was the life of the party at Playboy mansion parties, and started outrageous fights in public with adversaries. The descriptions of Count Dante were downright wild and had me laughing out loud.
Bob Cooley was lucky. He played two sides of a dangerous game. First he was helping the outfit fix trials and bribe judges and later he became an informant to help the FBI and the Chicago police department crack down on organized crime. In the book, it seems like he realized what he had gotten into only after it was too late to quit. Nonetheless he was fortunate enough to get out and tell his Chicago story in detail.
This book is one of the best (top 2-3) that I have read from the "Chicago outfit / history" genre, and I have read at least 30 or 40 of those books. One of its strengths is that it focuses on a more recent era (1970s-1990s) than most books in this genre, which detail the 1920s-1960s. This focus made the book more relatable because more of the businesses and people in this book are still around (I have met some of the people in this book) compared to references in older history books.
It is also well-written. It is not too long; the content/word ratio is much larger than most history-themed books, some of which are 600-700 pages long. Bob Cooley's partnership with writer Hillel Levin produced a great book. (According to Levin's website, some of his work in this area is being developed as movie projects - I do hope so because there is enough interesting content for it.) In this book, the words, sentences, paragraphs are crafted for readability. The larger structure of the chapters is rational and I never felt lost in the weeds. Some books in this genre go off track as they get into the minutiae of various events, sometimes to the extent that the reader wonders what is going on, or whether or not they are being persuaded to think a particular way. Not so in this book.
What made it most enjoyable for me is the illustrations of the actual historic characters. The descriptions are rich enough that you can imagine very clearly what these people might have been like. One brief example of what made this book enjoyable for me comes in a section (pp. 56-59) where Cooley describes "Juan Raphael Dante" (born John Timothy Keehan), who was known in Chicago as "Count Dante." Dante claimed to be the most dangerous man alive, and he put ads in comic books across the country to sell his training program and his fighting secrets, which were over the top and fantastical. He claimed that he could teach you how to strike a person with one finger and paralyze them temporarily, etc. Count Dante is not remembered today (many Chicago historians haven't heard of him), but he was well-known in Chicago (including outfit) social circles in the 1970s, He was flamboyant, walked around the city wearing a cape and leotards, was the life of the party at Playboy mansion parties, and started outrageous fights in public with adversaries. The descriptions of Count Dante were downright wild and had me laughing out loud.
Bob Cooley was lucky. He played two sides of a dangerous game. First he was helping the outfit fix trials and bribe judges and later he became an informant to help the FBI and the Chicago police department crack down on organized crime. In the book, it seems like he realized what he had gotten into only after it was too late to quit. Nonetheless he was fortunate enough to get out and tell his Chicago story in detail.
December 20, 2023
Tasty afterword [sidebar?] to definitive Outfit text: Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob. Rather, Cooley's essential autobiographical-counterpart:
Frank Calabrese Jr.'s Chicago Outfit memoir: Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family still reigns, imho.
The first half of Cooley's memoir concentrates on the author's pre-GAMBAT timeline. It's the uncomplicated upbringing & education of a degenerate criminal attorney if workshopped through The Ultimate Guide to Hollywood Screenwriting. Cooley's retrospective anecdotals have plainly cycled through ghostwriters & pro-editors to maximize melodrama, satire, and parody; edited into neat, episodic vignettes, deflated to offend least with broadest appeal. King's first four chapters are delectable and fantastic... If you like theatrical trailers featuring Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg (circa early-aughts).
King begins to engage with (Part 2's) "Inner Circle First Ward," thereafter, and really thrives on seemingly authentic insights throughout 1980's Cook County machine politics, corrupt circuit courts, the Rush Street nightlife, suburban bookmakers, Chinatown underbelly and beginning of theend slow death for the Southside Organization: the Outfit.
How much of that debt did he ultimately pay? $0.00. That's including the $72,000 taxpayers dolled out to various bookmakers, curtesy U.S. Atty Anton Valukas.
Frank Calabrese Jr.'s Chicago Outfit memoir: Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family still reigns, imho.
The first half of Cooley's memoir concentrates on the author's pre-GAMBAT timeline. It's the uncomplicated upbringing & education of a degenerate criminal attorney if workshopped through The Ultimate Guide to Hollywood Screenwriting. Cooley's retrospective anecdotals have plainly cycled through ghostwriters & pro-editors to maximize melodrama, satire, and parody; edited into neat, episodic vignettes, deflated to offend least with broadest appeal. King's first four chapters are delectable and fantastic... If you like theatrical trailers featuring Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg (circa early-aughts).
King begins to engage with (Part 2's) "Inner Circle First Ward," thereafter, and really thrives on seemingly authentic insights throughout 1980's Cook County machine politics, corrupt circuit courts, the Rush Street nightlife, suburban bookmakers, Chinatown underbelly and beginning of the
fyi: +$200kHow much did Cooley owe, in gambling debts, when he decided to cooperate with the U.S. Organized Crime Strike Force? Almost a quarter of a million dollars.
How much of that debt did he ultimately pay? $0.00. That's including the $72,000 taxpayers dolled out to various bookmakers, curtesy U.S. Atty Anton Valukas.
October 20, 2020
There are quite a lot of books like "When Corruption Was King" on the market. It seems that readers never tire of mafia stories told by the guys who either infiltrated or turned states witness. Cooley's book is a fine entrant into that subgenre for people who really like that sort of thing, never quite rises to the level of a must-read for those who aren't already in love with this sort of book.
Cooley's story is fairly unique, as he was a crooked lawyer who would fix cases for the mob, as opposed to a guilt-stricken former mob soldier or a successful FBI agent reflecting on their case. And Cooley and his ghost-writer have a nice no bullshit conversational tone that you can't help but admire.
That being said, the book sometimes gets mired in the sort of irrelevant anecdotes and moralizing that come from a first-person narrative. And as with most amateur writing, the story is only as good as the events in it, for better or worse.
If you are into this sort of thing, or if, like I did, you needed the book for research, it's a solid read. But, if you are looking for a non-fiction or true crime page-turner, you have better options from more seasoned writers.
Cooley's story is fairly unique, as he was a crooked lawyer who would fix cases for the mob, as opposed to a guilt-stricken former mob soldier or a successful FBI agent reflecting on their case. And Cooley and his ghost-writer have a nice no bullshit conversational tone that you can't help but admire.
That being said, the book sometimes gets mired in the sort of irrelevant anecdotes and moralizing that come from a first-person narrative. And as with most amateur writing, the story is only as good as the events in it, for better or worse.
If you are into this sort of thing, or if, like I did, you needed the book for research, it's a solid read. But, if you are looking for a non-fiction or true crime page-turner, you have better options from more seasoned writers.
January 28, 2023
Other reviews have noted that the writing in here isn't stellar. That's a fair complaint, although I wasn't looking for pristine sentence construction for this book. This is a raucous book about someone who lived an extraordinary life, like if your wildest uncle got drunk and spilled his entire life story (hyperbole and bad jokes included).
It is interesting to note how complete a hold over Chicago the Outfit had, and how easy it was to slide into corruption. The venn diagram between "ambitious people who used money to keep the machine running" and "corrupt people who were totally compromised" was a complete circle. They all had their justifications, but the naked pursuit of money was a uniting vision.
It is interesting to note how complete a hold over Chicago the Outfit had, and how easy it was to slide into corruption. The venn diagram between "ambitious people who used money to keep the machine running" and "corrupt people who were totally compromised" was a complete circle. They all had their justifications, but the naked pursuit of money was a uniting vision.
May 30, 2019
Interesting story, and especially for me being from Chicago, but he took a long time to get to the informant part and the trials. I found the beginning a bit tedious to get through as he spent half the book just talking about his early life and then his flashy life and escapades with the Mob. Also, it would probably be a better read vs. listen like I did via Audible because there are a lot of names to keep straight. But I must say, the process of him getting the recordings and the trial portions were really fascinating.
April 27, 2021
Starts out strong, and gets a little long at the end. But I really enjoyed how it showed a man who was a cop and lawyer worked his way into the world of corrupt Chicago politicians and judges and the mafia figures who corrupted them. A very detailed look at how corruption decays our society, but inspirational when a few good people decide to do the right thing. A great look at those who live between right and wrong.
May 23, 2018
I am always fascinated by mob stories and thought this would be interesting. It was, to a point, but there were so many names being thrown about that it was very hard to keep track. I felt it could have been streamlined more to make it less confusing. I think a movie would actually be better than a book for this particular story. And I never say that.
September 17, 2025
Incredibly compelling story from start to finish. Recommended to me by Mr Humphrey himself, he doesn’t miss.
You don’t realize how much corruption lies within a city until you hear it from a first person account. My eyes were truly opened to how different times were back then.
You don’t realize how much corruption lies within a city until you hear it from a first person account. My eyes were truly opened to how different times were back then.
March 22, 2021
Fantastic detail.
May 28, 2021
Very interesting and eye-opening book. Just be prepared for descriptions of mob violence.
October 14, 2021
Quite interesting. Told from the perspective of the man that brought down the modern day Mob.
September 20, 2022
2.5 —average, the author annoyed me quite a bit 😬
January 28, 2026
Audiobook. Run of the mill mobland biop with some colorful stories and characters. Nothing differentiated this from many others of the same variety.
November 19, 2024
A fascinating look at the underworld of Chicago and the corruption of the city's government during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Attorney Robert Cooley was the Chicago Outfit's legal "fixer" who bribed judges, victims, witnesses and city officials to help mobsters escape justice. While some of Cooley's anecdotes come across as self-serving and are frankly, unverifiable, they provide an enlightening take on the typical mobster story. While Cooley does his best to assure the reader that his motives for turning state's evidence were honest and pure (and spends countless pages doing so), they don't always ring true. In the end, his motives matter less than the actions he took, including the great personal risk of wearing an FBI wire on some extremely dangerous men. When Corruption Was King is a gripping, eye-opening memoir that offers a unique perspective on Chicago's criminal history and the personal toll of life within the mob. Cooley's transformation from a participant in the Outfit's empire to a key figure in its undoing makes for a captivating and thought-provoking read.
June 23, 2024
Cooley (still alive) was a lawyer for the mob and for the city bosses of Chicago’s First Ward. He was privy to the work of hitmen, bribery of judges and police officers, dirty deals, and coverup of prostitution and gambling. For years he was the go-to lawyer for all the bad guys. He knew where all the skeletons were buried.
Then the spirit of his late father (an honest police officer) belatedly got through to him, and he went to the FBI and offered to cooperate with them.
His story is self-serving, of course. But even with that, his story rings true, and we get to see the underside of corrupt systems and the flagrant disregard for law and human life.
Then the spirit of his late father (an honest police officer) belatedly got through to him, and he went to the FBI and offered to cooperate with them.
His story is self-serving, of course. But even with that, his story rings true, and we get to see the underside of corrupt systems and the flagrant disregard for law and human life.
September 28, 2016
When Corruption Was King How I Help the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down, was a book I read by Robert Cooley. This nonfiction is about the evil that swallowed Chicago during the twenties to the nineties. But still to this day corruption plagues Chicago and every country in the world. Our main character Bobby Cooley a fantastic lawyer who fixed court cases for the Chicago mob. Later turns to the good side and took the mafia out. When Corruption Was King, was written to inform the reader. I think that because this story is based on truth alone. All the events in this autobiography happen in real life. And the definition of autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by the person. Just by the first few sentences its very clear that this book is planned to inform us.
When I read this novel I found it hard to locate the theme. But as I thought on after I completed the book. What I assume the author wants us to get out of this hardcover is fighting the wicked is hard, and the right way might be a bump, narrow, less traveled path. That must be taken. Why I think this is because Cooley was a crooked lawyer who got paid enormously by the mafia. But hated the things he saw. Like in this quote: “I also heard Marcy’s voice. Over and over again, I heard him say, “Nobody would dare f*** with us.” Then I started thinking: “Maybe, after I was almost killed so many times, this is the reason I was left alive--to f*** with Marcy and the First Ward” (178). This quote really brings in the theme. He knows if the mafia finds out he’s working with the FBI. They will certainly torture and kill him. But despite all of that. He takes his chances because he knows it's the right thing to do. He knows many other stool pigeons have been assassinated. But he still, becomes an informants.
Robert Cooley’s style is narrative. This story follows Bobby Cooley a mafia lawyer turned FBI informant. To show an example of this here’s a quote: “For a long time after my beef with Marco, I became unbelievably cautious. I always carried at least one gun on me, even when I went to court. I kept another pistol in the glove compartment of my car” (145). This is a great example of how serious this book can get. How nervous and fearful Mr. Cooley is of the mafia. He’s scared of being tortured by the mob like Butch Petrocelli. At this point in Cooley’s life it is horrible. Now at a time in Cooley’s life where he experienced great wealth and happiness. “My legal career was off and running. The count sent me great business: celebrity types who got in trouble with a gun or stash of marijuana or something like that” (65). Like I said before at this time Mr. Cooley had vast sets of income betting and gambling. With that happiness came to his life.
In my opinion When Corruption Was King was shocking and astonishing. From start to finish it was very well written and breathtaking. I liked how it was absolutely captivating. But I disliked how chapter two--Cop Killer-- wasn’t the first chapter. Other than that I really enjoyed this book.
When I read this novel I found it hard to locate the theme. But as I thought on after I completed the book. What I assume the author wants us to get out of this hardcover is fighting the wicked is hard, and the right way might be a bump, narrow, less traveled path. That must be taken. Why I think this is because Cooley was a crooked lawyer who got paid enormously by the mafia. But hated the things he saw. Like in this quote: “I also heard Marcy’s voice. Over and over again, I heard him say, “Nobody would dare f*** with us.” Then I started thinking: “Maybe, after I was almost killed so many times, this is the reason I was left alive--to f*** with Marcy and the First Ward” (178). This quote really brings in the theme. He knows if the mafia finds out he’s working with the FBI. They will certainly torture and kill him. But despite all of that. He takes his chances because he knows it's the right thing to do. He knows many other stool pigeons have been assassinated. But he still, becomes an informants.
Robert Cooley’s style is narrative. This story follows Bobby Cooley a mafia lawyer turned FBI informant. To show an example of this here’s a quote: “For a long time after my beef with Marco, I became unbelievably cautious. I always carried at least one gun on me, even when I went to court. I kept another pistol in the glove compartment of my car” (145). This is a great example of how serious this book can get. How nervous and fearful Mr. Cooley is of the mafia. He’s scared of being tortured by the mob like Butch Petrocelli. At this point in Cooley’s life it is horrible. Now at a time in Cooley’s life where he experienced great wealth and happiness. “My legal career was off and running. The count sent me great business: celebrity types who got in trouble with a gun or stash of marijuana or something like that” (65). Like I said before at this time Mr. Cooley had vast sets of income betting and gambling. With that happiness came to his life.
In my opinion When Corruption Was King was shocking and astonishing. From start to finish it was very well written and breathtaking. I liked how it was absolutely captivating. But I disliked how chapter two--Cop Killer-- wasn’t the first chapter. Other than that I really enjoyed this book.
January 20, 2010
Imagine my surprise when I read in the Chicago Tribune on December 13th that Governor Rob Blagojavich had just consulted with attorney Ed Genson. I had only finished this book about Chicago corruption (by government informer, Robert Cooley) about a week before this story broke.
In Cooley's book, a mafia hitman named Sammy Anarino was ordered by his crew boss to retain Genson. In addition, Cooley claimed that Genson reported directly to mob boss, Marco D'Amico, that he thought Frank Renella had turned government informant. Let's also not forget that Genson was the lawyer who served as the "mouthpiece" for Pat Marcy (aka Pasqualino Marchone), the notorious Chicago "fixer" who led in bribing judges, ordering hits, and paving the way to illegally gain government favors and favorable legislation, not to mention serving as mouthpiece for crooked judges caught in Operation Greylord and Gambit.
I thought I was reading about modern history. I didn't realize how topical it was until the recent scandal broke. On December 14th, I was dining at a Chicago restaurant called Portillo's. Not only do they have the best Italian Beef Sandwiches in the world (I'm not biased--grin), but they have lots of historical photographs of old Chicago on display. I was with a friend from out of town and actually took the time to read some of the captions. One of the Prohibition Era photos had a picture of a man named Joey Aiuppa in a police line-up. Cooley had also mentioned him. Even in the '80s, if the Chicago wiseguys had any disputes, Cooley claimed that an old guy named Joey Aiuppa would fly in from his retirement home in Palm Springs and settle things.
The book itself is the memoir of a sleazebag, a modern era Harry Flashman with a license to practice law--IF you can claim that bribing judges to fix cases and running up illegal gambling debts all over Chicago is practicing law. He runs through girls like he runs through clothes and he runs through money like water used to run through the Buckingham Fountain downtown. He has a strange "code of honor" (in the sense of honor among thieves not authentic honor) in that he represents hit men, dope pushers, and crooked officials but turns evidence on them after they are no longer his clients (this was true of the On Leong social organization (that I once joked with my wife was the local "tong" and it turns out to have been an influential gang in the '80s and early '90s).
It is a fascinating look at the corrupt inner circle of a corrupt city in a corrupt state that I call home. This was page-turning reading for me--much more stimulating than any "gangster" bio or memoir I've read since the purported "last testament" of Lucky Luciano.
In Cooley's book, a mafia hitman named Sammy Anarino was ordered by his crew boss to retain Genson. In addition, Cooley claimed that Genson reported directly to mob boss, Marco D'Amico, that he thought Frank Renella had turned government informant. Let's also not forget that Genson was the lawyer who served as the "mouthpiece" for Pat Marcy (aka Pasqualino Marchone), the notorious Chicago "fixer" who led in bribing judges, ordering hits, and paving the way to illegally gain government favors and favorable legislation, not to mention serving as mouthpiece for crooked judges caught in Operation Greylord and Gambit.
I thought I was reading about modern history. I didn't realize how topical it was until the recent scandal broke. On December 14th, I was dining at a Chicago restaurant called Portillo's. Not only do they have the best Italian Beef Sandwiches in the world (I'm not biased--grin), but they have lots of historical photographs of old Chicago on display. I was with a friend from out of town and actually took the time to read some of the captions. One of the Prohibition Era photos had a picture of a man named Joey Aiuppa in a police line-up. Cooley had also mentioned him. Even in the '80s, if the Chicago wiseguys had any disputes, Cooley claimed that an old guy named Joey Aiuppa would fly in from his retirement home in Palm Springs and settle things.
The book itself is the memoir of a sleazebag, a modern era Harry Flashman with a license to practice law--IF you can claim that bribing judges to fix cases and running up illegal gambling debts all over Chicago is practicing law. He runs through girls like he runs through clothes and he runs through money like water used to run through the Buckingham Fountain downtown. He has a strange "code of honor" (in the sense of honor among thieves not authentic honor) in that he represents hit men, dope pushers, and crooked officials but turns evidence on them after they are no longer his clients (this was true of the On Leong social organization (that I once joked with my wife was the local "tong" and it turns out to have been an influential gang in the '80s and early '90s).
It is a fascinating look at the corrupt inner circle of a corrupt city in a corrupt state that I call home. This was page-turning reading for me--much more stimulating than any "gangster" bio or memoir I've read since the purported "last testament" of Lucky Luciano.
August 6, 2022
Great Book, a page turner
If you like true organized crime stories this a great one, a real behind the scenes account of Not of a gangster, but a Mob Lawyer, I have heard of Bob Cooleys story, had an idea, but not the whole picture, growing up outside Chicago, The Outfit has always been, my go too subject when it comes to O.C.
If you like true organized crime stories this a great one, a real behind the scenes account of Not of a gangster, but a Mob Lawyer, I have heard of Bob Cooleys story, had an idea, but not the whole picture, growing up outside Chicago, The Outfit has always been, my go too subject when it comes to O.C.
November 5, 2019
OK. So this is obviously just one side of the story and you get the impression has an agenda. Yet, I enjoyed the read. I don't doubt most of this is true, just as I don't doubt the author omitted plenty which would really put him in a bad light. Even if a quarter of this was true he had some balls.
November 20, 2012
Robert Cooley was once a hotshot Chicago attorney who specialized in fixing court cases for the Outfit (as the Mob is called in Chicago). Reading "When Corruption Was King..." will give one a pretty good idea of the type of guy Cooley is. He gambled, fought, ran with the key players in Chicago's notoriously corrupt 1st Ward (along with a various assortment of dangerous characters) and loved every minute of it until he'd had enough. Then he went to government and offered to help bring it all down. It seems to me that a big reason that Cooley wrote this book is to clean up his own reputation. Cooley talks a lot about how the media and defense attornies portrayed him as a gambling addict who ran to the government when he could no longer cover his gambling debts, but he wants the reader to know that this is not true. He'd had enough of the Outfit and the major player behind the 1st Ward, Pat Marcy, not to mention the arrogant judges and attornies that Cooley had dirt on. The one judge that Cooley does seem to feel sorry for is Frank Wilson, who took a bribe to fix the murder trial of Harry Aleman, a notorious mob enforcer. One might doubt Cooley's motives for helping the government, but there's not really many reasons to doubt his tales about what his did for the Outfit and how things worked behind the scenes and that alone makes his book worth reading.
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June 16, 2015Bob Cooley protests too much when he's called a corrupt lawyer. Didn't he follow in the family footsteps and become a cop? Might have stayed there too if it was all as safe as the bookmaking on the side. Yes, he was mobbed up, but so were the politicians and the judges. And sure, he fixed cases, but he'd give the judge a reason to toss the case. See? Helpful guy.
The government mole in Operation Gambat gets no respect. Hey, he quit gambling to please the feds! Didn't he skip the witness protection program? And why'd it take so long to go after the big shots? The old, old 1st Ward was mapped to the Loop but married to the mob, and Cooley had a view from a Counsellors Row restaurant booth. The curious ethics of this clueless joker help juice up his breezy wiseguy tale. I think he's funny but he does not amuse me.
Gambat carved out an exception to double jeopardy: Hitman Harry Aleman's acquittal didn't count because Cooley fixed the case. Yet, Aleman died in prison, Counsellors Row's now a Qdoba and Gambat is fading into the realm of quaint I-Team flashbacks. It probably irks Cooley no end that Wikipedia credits Gambat cases to Operation Greylord. Hey, that was some other mole!
The government mole in Operation Gambat gets no respect. Hey, he quit gambling to please the feds! Didn't he skip the witness protection program? And why'd it take so long to go after the big shots? The old, old 1st Ward was mapped to the Loop but married to the mob, and Cooley had a view from a Counsellors Row restaurant booth. The curious ethics of this clueless joker help juice up his breezy wiseguy tale. I think he's funny but he does not amuse me.
Gambat carved out an exception to double jeopardy: Hitman Harry Aleman's acquittal didn't count because Cooley fixed the case. Yet, Aleman died in prison, Counsellors Row's now a Qdoba and Gambat is fading into the realm of quaint I-Team flashbacks. It probably irks Cooley no end that Wikipedia credits Gambat cases to Operation Greylord. Hey, that was some other mole!
March 19, 2009
This book was an extremely insightful look into the world of the real mobsters in Chicago. Cooley might be full of himself, but it doesn't matter. I think it kind of adds to the book. His story-telling abilities are great, and I found this book to be a great page-turner. I think I actually read it twice. The book is also interesting for its neat history of Chicago. I remember how surprised I was to see one of the most corrupt people in the book in the news no too long ago! Seeing Ed Genson in the news defending Blagojevich was a real let-on to how much of a bastard Blagojevich really is. Mob connections anyone?? I was also reading an old comic book a while ago and came across the VERY SAME ad that is featured in the book, about his friend the giant coked-up karate guy!
June 13, 2009
honestly, i thought that this book would be an amazing undercover investigation and narrative of every seedy goings-on in chicago between 1970 and 1990. however, it was one of the most insipid and boring books i have ever read, without any kind of narrative drive, but instead, very dry. i also disliked how the author, the snitch, made himself out to be a man of duty and honor and conscience throughout while he was scheming within the mafia and collaborating with them. your righteousness means nothing, sir, but is instead offputting.
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