From a University of Illinois study, "Crime,
Corruption, and Cover-ups:"
"An analysis of five decades of news reports reveals
that since 1960, at least 300 Chicago Cops have been convicted of serious
crimes, such as drug dealing, beatings of civilians, destroying evidence,
protecting mobsters, theft and murder.
Moreover, the listing of police convicted of crimes
undoubtedly underestimates the problem of corruption in the Chicago Police
Department (CPD). The list does not include undetected and unreported illegal
activity, serious misconduct resulting in internal disciplinary action, and
officers who retire rather than face charges.
Our analysis of police corruption in Chicago yields four
major findings.
First, corruption has long persisted within the CPD and
continues to be a serious problem. There have been 103 convictions of Chicago
police since the beginning of 2000."
"In the 1980s, police corruption again became
front-page news. In 1982, ten officers in the Marquette police district were
among the first Chicago cops to be convicted of drug–related corruption
charges. “The Marquette 10" arrests were followed by Operation Greylord, a
federal investigation into the Cook County court system that swept up several
corrupt police
officers along with numerous judges, court bailiffs and
attorneys. In the 1980s and 1990s, Joseph Miedzianowski, a member of the
department’s Gang Crimes Unit, ran a
drug operation with several gangs.
The conviction of CPD Chief of Detectives and Assistant
Police Superintendent Edward Hanhardt in 2001 for using secret police information to direct a mob-connected jewelry theft
ring showed that organized crime could still reach into the CPD even in the
21st Century.
The drug/gang connection continued into the current decade.
In 2007, the U.S. Attorney’s arrested of Keith Herrera and Jerome Finnegan of
the Special Operations Squad for
corruption and attempted murder."