1989 Year of the Stool Pigeon Robert Cooley

Gangland Wire

Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 623 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2021

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Robert Cooley Outfit Stool Pigeon Robert Cooley and his impact on the Chicago Outfit is examined in this first of seven short episodes on the year 1989 which became known as the Year of the Stool Pigeon. Outfit historians Camilius Robinson and Paul Whitcombe discuss the importance of Robert Cooley. He was a former Chicago Police Officer, son of a Chicago cop who worked as a lawyer in the notorious and corrupt Cook County court system. Cooley volunteered his services to the FBI out of a guilty conscience and he had a side benefit of being able to walk away from a huge gambling debt. Harry Aleman and double jeopardy Harry Aleman was a notorious hitman and enforcer for Joe Ferriola boss of the Cicero Crew. The FBI turned an Outfit associate named Lou Almeida. The Outfit learned that Almeida was going to testify that he drove the getaway car when Harry Aleman murdered a low-level Teamster named Billy Logan. The Cook County prosecutor found another eyewitness and took Aleman to a jury trial. Someone in the Outfit contacted Robert Cooley because he had participated in putting in the “fix” on many cases. He knew which judge, bailiff, clerk, or police officer he could bribe. In the Aleman murder case, Cooley made sure a judge named Frank Wilson was assigned to the trial. He told Aleman’s defense attorney to ask for a bench trial and he paid Judge Wilson a $10,000 bribe. Sure enough, Wilson returned a not-guilty verdict stating the eye-witness and the getaway driver were not believable. Cooley turns After Robert Cooley turned into a state’s witness, he testified about the bribe to Judge Wilson. The Cook County prosecutor refiled the same murder case against Harry Aleman. The defense claimed double jeopardy or that the state cannot try the same case again after a not-guilty verdict. The new judge ruled that the corruption was so bad the first trial was not really a trial. the prosecution also used former Chicago cop Vince Rizza who will be discussed in a later episode. Show notes by Gary Jenkins To go to the store or make a donation click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Gangland Wire, hosted by former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective Gary Jenkins.
0:19.0	Hey guys, all you wiretappers out there.
0:21.8	This is one of the series of short episodes about the Chicago outfit in 1989.
0:31.5	I'm recording this with my friend Cam Robinson, Camulus Robinson, and Paul Whitcomb,
0:40.5	my other friend, both these guys are experts on the Chicago outfit.
0:48.8	Now, looking back at 1989, the Covey is won first place in the National League East, but the Giants beat them in the National League playoffs.
0:54.3	If you remember that, the Royals, since I'm from Kansas City, we finished second near American League West,
0:59.8	kind of on our way back downhill from our Great Wind and the World Series in 1985.
1:06.1	Richard J. Daly had been the mayor for a long time in Chicago, and Richard M. Daly,
1:09.1	little Ritchie, became the mayor in 1989.
1:12.7	Now you're going to notice that the sound is just a little off.
1:18.1	I had to take the sound from a Zoom call because my recorder developed a problem during the taping and I didn't notice until we were about, God, I've been about an hour or so into it
1:23.7	and none of us wanted to go back over this again.
1:26.1	It's like catching lightning
1:28.3	in a bottle doing a show. I felt like we'd done something really good and just, we just can't,
1:34.4	sometimes you just can't do it again. So, but I think it's a cool show, a cool series of episodes
1:39.6	about stool pigeons in 1989. Now, 1989, the Chicago outfit had a bad year, as you'll see.
1:47.7	Everybody came in and started talking.
1:49.9	So settle back and listen to this particular episode.
1:53.6	I don't remember which is which.
1:55.2	Now, don't forget to hit me up on my Venmo, bite me a shot in a beer,
1:58.5	or help me buy a new recorder, which I'm going to do,
	...

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