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

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.

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!

Very good book

One of the best books I've listened to inna while! I would recommend to anyone interested in this type of story.

Say what!?

Such a wild book. loved every part. wish more books were done like this.

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.

Very enjoyable

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

Mind blowing

I always heard about corruption in Chicago, never knew it was this bad. Great book!

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.

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.

Fascinating!

Very good and detailed account of how the mob had its fingers in every part of Chicago. The author and narrator did a great job, I definitely recommend this book!

Kept me wanting more

Loved it and listened every chance I could. Suspenseful, interesting and very easy to follow