Robert Cooley

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Robert Cooley is a former mob lawyer and author (When Corruption Was King). He was born in 1943 on Chicago’s South Side. His father was a policeman as were both of his grandfathers, and both also died in the line of duty. Cooley first worked as a policeman himself to earn his way through college and law school before he became an attorney, specializing in criminal defense.

Cooley quickly became known as a lawyer who would do whatever it took to get his clients an acquittal. In fact, he used legitimate means to win almost all of his jury trials, but he was also ready to bribe judges and court officials in the corrupt Cook County court system. His success in criminal law brought great wealth (at one time he owned a health club and part of a popular restaurant) and access to the highest levels of the Chicago Mafia, known as the Outfit. His love for gambling, his carefree attitude and fearlessness also brought him social as well as professional contacts with the Mob street crews. He shared their nightlife in the city’s hottest bars and played cards in their private clubs. His ability to fix the 1977 trial of a notorious Hit Man gained him entry to the Inner Circle of the First Ward, a group of Democratic Party officials, elected politicians and mobsters who controlled Chicago’s city government and court system.

In 1986 Cooley approached the U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force and offered to expose the ties between the Outfit and public corruption in Chicago. His investigation, known as Operation Gambat (for Gambling Attorney), ultimately sent 24 men to prison and led to significant political and judicial reforms. Cooley has never been part of the Witness Protection Program or profited from his ties to the government. He now lives under an assumed name in permanent exile from Chicago.

[edit] External links

• http://www.whencorruptionwasking.com/index.html