Mob Cop: My Life of Crime in the Chicago Police Department

by Fred Pascente, Sam Reaves

Former Chicago police officer and Outfit associate Fred Pascente is the man who links Tony Spilotro, a central character in Nicholas Pileggi’s Casino and one of Chicago’s most notori­ous mob figures, to William Hanhardt, chief of detectives of the Chicago Police Department. Pascente and Spilotro grew up together on Chicago’s Near West Side, and as young toughs they were rousted and shaken down by Hanhardt. While Spilotro became one of the youngest made men in Chicago Outfit history, Pascente was draft­ed into the army and then joined the police department. Soon taken under Hanhardt’s wing, Pascente served as Hanhardt’s fixer and bagman on the department for more than a decade. At the same time, Pascente remained close to Spilotro, mak­ing frequent trips to Las Vegas to party with his old friend while helping to rob the casinos blind. As a policeman he led a double life, doing genuine police work un­der Hanhardt’s tutelage while at the same time keeping an eye out for opportunities for bribery and theft. His position on both sides of the law gave him unrivaled knowl­edge of the workings of Chicago’s deeply rooted culture of corruption.
 
Mob Cop details the decline of tra­ditional organized crime in the United States, and reveals information about the inner workings of the Outfit that has never been publicly released. Fred Pascente’s col­orful stories of crooked cops and danger­ous criminals make his memoir a matchless tell-all.

Genres: Biography, True Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Crime, History, Memoir

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you a fan of the Soprano's? Like the way they talk (Badda bing, mother fucker, 'I loved that guy!', etc.)? If so, this is the book for you & I highly recommend listening to Johnny Heller narrate it. We're talking serious, real crime here, but Heller brings Pascente to life. I'm not great with accents, but I sometimes felt it was a bit too New York, still it was a great listen.

Pascente makes no bones about it, he was a dirty cop. But, hey, that was the times & people he associated with. He knew it was wrong & has some regrets, but takes full responsibility. There's no graphic violence, although some violent scenes are described. Not much sex at all. There are a LOT of names & the way his anecdotes could jump around in time sometimes made it hard to keep them all straight. If you're really into getting the details right, I'd suggest also getting a print copy.

Sam Reeves did an excellent job stitching Pascente's story together into a fairly chronological narrative. He kept the real man foremost, so his odd morality, rationalizations, & enthusiasms shine through. It's rather scary at times. He's certainly not a 'good' guy, but it's tough to see him as a 'bad' guy. He did a lot of bad things. Occasionally he was mean, but mostly he seems like an affable, if crooked, cop who had a pretty wild life during the decline of the Organization in Chicago. He reminded me of a Butch Cassidy in the 1968 movie with Paul Newman & Robert Redford.

It was fun & instructive. Highly recommended.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this audio on GR. I enjoyed the narrator....Johnny did a great job. I also enjoyed the history in this of Chicago, the mob, and the people. I found that part kind of fascinating. The author was a 'dirty' cop with strong ties to the mob. Watching his life unfold, showed how he fell into his lifestyle. He put his best foot forward in this book to show himself in the best possible light....even with all his criminal activity. I can't blame him for that, but this book did feel a little long.

[Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I obtained this book believing I would get a basic introduction to the Mob and organized crime in inner city Chicago. I think one would already have to have a greater depth of understanding in regards to the subject and already be familiar with the story behind Fred Pascente.

Right off the bat, the author mentioned a multitude of names, none of which I was familiar with, and given that I was listening to the audio version, I had a difficult time piecing together the names and their significance with the story. I may decide to pick up and read this book again sometime in the future.

[John DeBartolo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible

Phony guy. I did you his I did that. I'm the toughest guy on the block. Will not recommend this book.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred Pascente grew up in the Italian section of Chicago (called the Near West Side) with a wide range of men who emerged as heavy hitters in the Mafia. One of Fred's closest friends was Tony Spilotro, the youngest made man in Chicago Outfit History. 

A word of explanation: The Chicago Outfit was an Italian-American organized crime family based in Chicago. It originated on the city's South Side in the early 1910s. The Chicago group was part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Big Jim Colosimo (aka Diamond Jim or Big Jim) created his Chicago criminal empire through gambling, prostitution, and racketeering. Their rivals were other Chicago gangs, notably the North Side Gang (Al Capone) and the Irish Mob (famously led by Charles Dean O'Banion).

 Many of the youngsters Fred grew up with settled into careers in organized crime. However, Fred took a different route. He was drafted into the army and later became a Chicago cop. 

The description of the Chicago police on the take and how widespread it was, was sobering. At this time, the city police were poorly paid and took bribes to augment their salaries. Finally, during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Mayor Daley gave the city police a $2000/year raise (because Vietnam protestors used the Convention to create violent riots and attack police). According to Fred (a new recruit at the time of the Convention and violence), Mayor Daley told the troops to go after the rioters. After three days of violence against the police (and not allowed to push back), the police were ready to retaliate, and they did. Fred says that history states that the police did the rioting; he disagrees.

During the week, Fred was a policeman; on the weekends, he traveled to Las Vegas with friends. He learned how to rob the casinos while playing cards. Before it was all over, Fred was one of thirty men banned from Las Vegas for life (via Nevada's casino Black Book). Entering the city again would be a felony for any of the thirty involved.

 Fred was soon chosen by William Hanhardt, the chief of detectives in the Chicago Police Dept., because of his connections. Hanhardt turned Fred into his bagman and fixer for several years. 
 Fred was a policeman for 26 years. He retired just before the FBI indicted him. The FBI wanted William Hanhardt and leaned on Fred. He refused to tell on his friend. Therefore, the police indicted and convicted Fred of insurance fraud (which he'd done with a Gypsy friend). The end of the case resulted in Fred losing his pension. When Fred emerged from prison, he had to start over again. He was still working at 72 when he died.

 At first, I was stunned by the blase way Fred talked about crime; before long, the reading was addictive. Fred comes across as an easy-come-easy-go person with a relaxed moral compass. Amazingly, I was disappointed when the book ended.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads like interview transcripts interspersed with editorial asides and context notes. It is interesting given that it tracks Pascente's less than honorable life as a crooked cop who grew up and palled around with Tony Spilotro and other notorious Outfit mobsters. While Pascente doesn't shy away from copping to various of his misdeeds, or those of his dead friends, you always get the sense that this is not everything being laid bare. He seems pretty aware of the statute of limitations and often points out his loyalty to his buddies. While not excusing the various criminal acts, petty and otherwise, of his pals, he never ceases to point out that they were all "good" people.

As a memoir, this one needs a heavy dose of skepticism and context--as well as corroboration from different sources and angles. Interesting takes here on William Hanhardt, the 1968 riots, and the murder of the Spilotro brothers.

[Christine Andrist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mob ruled the Cops for a while but things change

Hard core greed-head & occasional CPD officer Fred Pascente grew up with the Outfit around him. He especially idolized Tony Spilatro & Bill Hanhardt two enigmatic bastards of Chicago crime history. All these men had exciting lives but tragic endings to them. Tony’s & Bill’s more so than Fred’s no doubt but all I could think of is the terrible truth their families were left to ponder. Fred faces up to this at the end not long before he meets his maker. His poor family left in the lurch. Ain’t no way to live. Good book / bad life.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was fantastic. Such an interesting story, and the narrator did such a good job of telling the story.

[Tim Habert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book from a goodreads giveaway

[Pete Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authentic voice & compelling vignettes.

[Fred Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An alright read. Crooks with badges are always interesting to me. Was a little long and heavy on the name dropping.

[Kathy]

Listened to audiobook.

[Raymond Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface it seemed like MOB COP was going to be just another chapter in the already embattled history of the Chicago Police Department. It was definitely more than I bargained for.

Sam Reaves does an excellent job of weaving together the story of Fred Pascente who was a 26 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. While a police officer, Pascente, managed to maintain close personal friendships with a great many “outfit” guys including the now infamous Tony Spilotro.

Pascente, who passed away in 2014, tells his story in his own, uncensored, streetwise manner and the various chapters are backed up by Reaves with historical background research.

Pascente makes no excuses for his sometimes criminal actions both before and after becoming a Chicago Police Officer but if as a reader you are able to keep an open mind you definitely can feel yourself pulled into the huge expanse of gray area that exists between real-life good and evil.

I am a former criminal investigator who grew up in Cicero, Illinois and am more than familiar with many of the outfit characters that Pascente rubbed elbows with including Tony Accardo and Joey Lombardo so for me it was like going back in time a bit.

The book is chock full of the dark side of both the police department and the mob but it is surprisingly also full of strong friendship, family devotion, unswerving loyalty and at times had me laughing out loud at some of the ridiculous antics on both sides of the law.

I found the book a very enjoyable and quick read mainly because it gave you the feeling that you were sitting across from Pascente at his mother’s Italian deli as he was telling his story.

The only regret I had after reading the book was that I didn’t get a chance to meet Pascente before he died and share some war stories over a couple of beers.

[Justa Guy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hey-ho, yeah, badda-boom... I saw this and I saw that, hey. This guy over here, yo-hey. Not a whole lot going on in my life but I heard that this guy here, over there-hey, yo-okay, hey. You tell 'em my man, that guy over there that I know and saw that he's all right. Okay? What? Me? A cliched background character, get outta here... I knew this guy over there, this guy over here. I just wasn't that bad, all right? Everything went fine most times, ya'know, and when it didn't, hey-yo-hey, I just called up Tony to take care of it, all right? Got that? Okay. What now? Me, steal scenes from Casino and Goodfellas? Get outta here. Those things happened to me, not them. Well, I may have watched it all from across the street and never got in any conflict a bit, but hey-ho, I mean, meringue, who you think came up with Tony's nick name? Not that well known guy, but this guy, guy, right over here. He liked me callin' him ant this, ant that, what can I say? So, there's that, and I did it, big holy... what--you got a problem wit' these things I'm tellin' you right at this particular moment? You shouldda seen 'em, it was Johnny "Murder 'Em All" LaRucca, it was Tiny T "The Ice Cream Van" Nubinitti, Nicky "The One Shoe Missing" Gutia, Marty "Baby Fat Still On His Face" Saveedo, Petey "The Big Pizza Eater From Around The Way" Piscalli, Greggy "The Washing Machine is Stuck On High" Lalutti, Frankie "The Not That Maddog but Actually Well Behaved After Being Trained" Moretti, and my cousin down there, you know 'em, Joey. Hey--what, nah, yeah, huh, no way, get outta here, hey-yo, what's the story, things were happening and definitely not boring over here...

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are unwise to the origins of the nickname "Windy City" for Chicago, this book will shine a light on it somewhat. Spun in a stream-of-conscience style intermingled with the interjections of a professional writer, the main suspect,er, character is Fred Pascente, a Chicago cop with ties to the Outfit. One story or revelation after another about who caught a shellackin' or who got two, tree bullets, Madonn', for beefin'. This guy. The stories of Joey "The Clown" Lombardo always lurked in my periphery ever since I caught wind of the trials some years back when I couldn't believe the mob still operated in this day and age. Well, turns out, for most of my life growing up, right under my nose, believe it. Stories in places such as Melrose Park, Bensenville, Addison, places I drive through routinely. Pascente holds very little back in the way of who was responsible for who's demise, the rackets that were run, the scores they pulled, and his involvement and ultimate partial regret. Much of the book revolved around Bill Hanhardt, a higher-up in the CPD, who teetered between toughness and corruption, and Tony Spilotro, a childhood friend of Pascente's and who also happened to be the basis for Joe Pesci's character in the movie Casino. In the end, no one was safe, and everyone gets their comeuppance whether by God or by man. Enjoyable, especially if you like tell all books with a flair for violence.

[Mark Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A captivating survey of a former Chicago police officers' self-indulgent slide into criminality, and the collateral damage that ensued. What results is a gripping interview with a man who brazenly straddled, and ultimately united, the previously diametrically opposed worlds of organised crime and crime fighting with spectacular financial and social successes, and all from the confines of a single police department.

The end result is a conflict of emotions which leaves the reader feeling appalled by the scale of the officers' criminality, but also baffled by how the officer managed to evade detection for so log. The final emotion is,oddly, one of sympathy.

When the end finally came, the repercussions were justifiably severe. However, despite the fact that the officer was a criminal in uniform and tarnished the name of the Chicago Police Department, I still ultimately found myself routing for him. I can only attribute this to the skill of the author, whom allows Pascente to talk for himself,and provide a full and frank account of his actions, whilst also portraying the officer as the last of a line; the apogee of police criminality, and also the last of the tough and uncompromising police officers that your parents used to celebrate when the world was supposedly safer and more easily demarcated.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a first read. It's gritty and fast paced. It provides a nice history of Chicago and look at both the inner workings of the Chicago police department and the Chicago mob scene. It's a compelling memoir. What makes it truly interesting though is that even though you know he's a dirty cop he just comes off as such a likable guy. He loves his mom, wife, son, and brothers. He was an altar boy. He was in the army. He did some good work with the police department even though he also did dirty work. He comes of as an everyday Joe and all around good guy and you have to wonder how his life would've been different if he hadn't gotten involved with the mob. Even if you want to hate the guy for being a dirty cop and working for the mob and helping criminal you just can't thanks to the storytelling in this book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book. I only hope that most of it is exaggerated! If the book is all true, then Chicago was, and might still be a very scary place to live.

The technique of quoting Mr Pascente is a little annoying. The author tried to reproduce Mr Pascente's Chicago/Italian accent and way of speaking. There was a little too much "maddone'" and "Badda-Bing". As a native south-side Chicagoan, I understood most of it, but I guess that people from elsewhere might have a problem understanding the accent and slang. Mr Reaves did write a lot of explanatory and historical text, and that saved the book for me.

[Michael Shulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.
All I can say about this book is WOW! The story blew me away. Fred Pascente tells the story of his time being a dirty cop in Chicago in first person with gusto. I felt like I was right there with the author participating in his dirty dealings with the Mob, feeling the bullets whiz by and the rev of his car's engines. I highly recommend this book to anybody who's a thriller person.

[Arthur Hebbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read! Loved how relevant it was to the City of Chicago, its history, and its people. I wish there were maps in the book to show you were past event occurred since the city landscape has changed so much since the book began.

The dual aspects of a first person narrative mixed with the historical knowledge made for a very quick and exciting read. If you are any bit familiar with the City of Chicago, its suburbs, or any Mob history this is a must read.

[James E. Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things on the job are different now

You can't change the rub off of the environment you grew up in. Kind of like survival and conditioning. Where you grow up and who and how you grow up ....sometimes life's decisions are already made for you and you don't even resize it until it's too late.

[Mickey Mantle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!!! Just a great read. Always helps when you know/knew people in the book to make it more captivating.

The classic story of a Copper who can be a good guy and a bad guy all at once.

Tremendous Tony Spilotro stories.

A primer on the Chicago Outfit during my lifetime.

Highly recommended.

[P.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was life back then, and as they say, "life doesn't have to make sense, but fiction does." Parts of this book are hard to keep up with because of the characters popping in and out, but hey, that's life.

FTC stuff; I received this book through a Goodreads, Firstreads contest.

[William Mego · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely unfocused rambling, punctuated by rudimentary library research in italics.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff but takes too long to getting to when he was a cop and at times seems like a brag fest of who he knew. I am glad I borrowed this book and did not buy it.

[Ali M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find anything Pascente wrote very hard to believe. Outside of that, it was an interesting book.