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The interesting thing about when you look at the nature of crime in Chicago in a contemporary and in historic sense is to realize how little things have really changed.

We had really almost as many street gangs in 1900 as we have today. We had as many brutal police officers in 1900 as we have today.

The criminal gangs organized to make money. The criminal gangs of today have done so in a similar manner.

It's interesting looking at the old photographs that are being reclaimed from the old negatives to see the access that the newspaper photographers had to the crime scenes to get up very close.

The thing that surprises me in many of them is the very graphic detail of what they show. In fact, I would say they actually were much more in showing things that were really the troubling details of crime as you found it with blood and bodies.

Even the whole idea of the big old cumbersome cameras that they had in the 1920s, that it was not an easy thing to carry them around, maneuver and load, and then be able to catch those images.

Hey lovely listeners and welcome to Real Crime Profile. I'm Laura Richards, Criminal Behavioral Analyst, former New Scotland Yard and founder of Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service. And with me today is...

Lisa Zembede, I'm the casting director for CBS's Criminal Minds. I have a real interest in Real Crime and the minds that write about True Crime.

Which leads on to our very special guest. Who is?

Hi, I'm John Cedell. I'm a reporter with the Chicago Sun Times where I cover federal courts. I'm also the author of the new book Second City Centers, which takes a look at some historical True Crime in Chicago.

Yay! And so we have this book. We've got... We actually got the galley's, I guess, if they're called, of the book a while ago, and we've been able to look through it.

And it's so fascinating if anybody is interested in historical crime, especially in Chicago, we're going to be talking to John about his book and how it came to be. And what he does as a reporter for the Sun Times, which just sounds fascinating to me.

It's interesting and thanks so much for having me here.

You're more than welcome. And we're not joined by Jim today. He's been off shooting somewhere in the country. So it's going to be Lisa and I talking with John. And I'm certainly excited to speak with you, John.

I haven't spent yesterday at the Women's Power Summit in LA. There were lots of our kelly survivors there. And really powerful day and really powerful listening to them.

And I know certainly you've covered many of Chicago's most notorious crimes and criminals as a reporter, including the trial of Drew Peterson.

And I also noticed that you did tweet the breaking news that singer R Kelly, when he was arrested in Chicago and charged with a 13-count indictment in North District of Illinois, you tweeted on July the 11th, 2019, and you also wrote about the case as well.

That's correct. Yeah.

Yeah.

Our Kelly, he's in the courthouse now while he's his cases in the courthouse now that I work. Obviously our Kelly, he was facing state court charges and Cook County, Illinois.

I think there were some hints that it was coming, but that was kind of a surprise that evening that we found out he had been arrested by the FBI.

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