• When Corruption Was King

  • How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down
  • By: Robert Cooley
  • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
  • Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (465 ratings)

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When Corruption Was King

By: Robert Cooley
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
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Publisher's summary

Bob Cooley was the Chicago Mafia's "mechanic" - a fixer of court cases. During the 1970s and '80s, Cooley bribed judges, court clerks, and cops to keep his Mob clients - hit men, bookies, racketeers, and crooked pols - out of jail. Paid handsomely for his services, he lived fast and enjoyed the protection of the men he served.

He had enough money to blow on all the vices the Windy City could offer, and enough standing among mobsters to know he would never be caught. Yet, through the '90s, Cooley became the star witness in a series of trials that took down the Chicago outfit, arguably the most powerful Mafia family in the history of organized crime.

This is the story of a Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head, a man who has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like a church bell clapper - a turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school, and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's leading mobsters and corrupt political officials. With wild abandon he chased crooked acquittals for the likes of Pat Marcy, an Al Capone protégé, who had become the Mob's key political operative; ruthless Mafia capo and gambling czar Marco D'Amico; and notorious hit man Harry Aleman. He dined with Mob bosses and shared "last suppers" with friends before their gangland executions. Cooley watched as Marcy and the Mob controlled the courts, the cops, and the politicians. Then, in a startling act of conscience, he walked into the office of the US Organized Crime Strike Force and, without a pending conviction or a hit man on his tail, agreed to wear a wire on the same Mafia overlords who had made him a player.

Cooley's tapes and testimony would be at the center of nine landmark trials that together exposed and then broke the Mob's unprecedented stranglehold on Chicago's government and court system.

©2004 Robert Cooley and Hillel Levin (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about When Corruption Was King

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Very enjoyable

I listened to the book mostly because Johnny Heller (narrator) has an excellent voice. He did a masterful job with the book.

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5 people found this helpful

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Johnny Hellet is Brilliant!!!

I’m now listening to a second book by same narrator. He’s perfect! Doesn’t over do it but instead takes you into the story as if he’s physically painting you a picture.
The story ties together a number of different Mob storylines that I didn’t realize intertwined.

Must also read/listen to Double Cross! And if you like Johnny Heller then “John Gotta Boys” is a great next read.

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Lesser known take down

Excellent job done by author and narrator. As the author states at the end these trials and investigation are being credited to the gov run operation,therefore not bringing to light the work done by Cooley. I hadn’t heard of them despite living in Chicago for a time. Book well done,stories well documented and very insightful to the running of mob operations at the time in our “justice” system. Sadly still going on today. Seems power and money will forever corrupt when greed is king.
Mr Heller did a phenomenal job, I had to chk back as I thought the author was actually reading his own escapades. Highly recommend for anyone interested in true crime/ corruption in justice/mob and Chicago history.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

The Glue of Chicago History

This book, when read with the proper lens, reveals how corruption, has worked, continues to work, and will work moving forward in Chicago. Keep notes and draw a map. then, in the end, cross out the names but leave the connecting lines, and there you have it. A structure, unique only to Chicago, where bosses don't kill each other and the 'untouchables ' just make minor adjustments and replace the players on the chart, but the stucture and leadership remain strong. their way is, modern, modular, scalable and can be ramped up or pulled back into the shadows at any time.

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excellent

this is a fantastic book! I've read it twice and I've listened to it twice loved it each and every time. goes through all the details of the corrupt Chicago judicial system!

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I great read about Chicago and the mob

I great tell all book about the corruption inside the Chicago government, judicial system, and the Mob. I highly recommend it!

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Excellent narration of interesting story

Somehow hadn't heard anything about this story, but it was interesting. Heller is one of the best in the business, and alone made it worth the listen.

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Easy listening

Very Interesting especially growing up during the time of the trials in the early 90s

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I believe it...

Not made up, like Eliot Ness, a real person, with just an incredible true story.

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Good if you’re interested in the mob…

This was a good book, but it could have been better because I feel the story was incredible. But it did not include operation family secrets, with Frank Calabres testimony helping these trials. At least that’s what I thought really happened.

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