A slice of Chicago as seen through my blogger camera lens

I had to return to Chicago for an investigation of tragic proportions.  Needless to say my camera came along for some of the sights and sounds of The Windy City.

Jussie Smollett has sung his Swan Song...

Jussie Smollett is going to hang by his FAKE NOOSE!

Yes! We can get a new trial for Jason Van Dyke because of blatant jury misconduct!

Chicago Cop Jason van Dyke, The Real Story

This case was prosecuted for purly political reasons!

Chicago Police Kill Two, Wound Four Others In Raid!

Hampton lost this battle

Absolute filth In Every Room of the Monroe Street Rathole

No more violence at least from Hampton

Fred Hampton in Life

Chicago, IL—This was the top story on December 4, 1969 when war broke out at 2337 West Monroe Street.

The Black Panthers were at war with cops nationwide.  Cops were being ambushed and murdered from coast to coast.  The BP threat was very real and cops were understandably on guard for violence.

This chapter began when the FBI recruited a troubled fellow, William O’Neal who cooperated in order to mitigate his own crimes.  O’Neal became a part of Hoover’s infamous COINTELPRO program, as both a snitch and as an agent provocateur.  O’Neal successfully created a rift between the Panthers and Black Chicago street gangs.  That act alone was incredibly helpful for the safety and well being of Chicago cops.

It was O’Neal, who told police the Monroe Street apartment was being used by the Black Panther Party to store numerous illegal weapons and ammunition for future use against cops that instigated the raid. 

It should be noted that in 1969 there were no specially trained SWAT teams with armored vehicles anywhere.  The common bullet resistant Kevlar vests had not been invented yet.  Raids like this were very dangerous for police.

At 4:45 AM fourteen cops assigned to Cook County State’s Attorney, Ed Hanrahan’s office raided an incredibly filthy apartment occupied by nine members of the Black Panther Party. Throughout the apartment, found with the occupants were 19 firearms and a huge quantity of ammunition.  The Panther arsenal included a stolen Chicago police shotgun and an illegally sawed off shotgun. 

Moments later BP Deputy Chairman, Fred Hampton who was a convicted armed robber and a Peoria, IL BP leader, Mark Clark were shot dead and four other Panthers were wounded. Two cops sustained minor injuries.

Since the described weapons were seized by police that completely validated O’Neal’s claims that were the basis of the Search Warrant.

Various Panthers and their supporters quickly claimed to the assembled Media that only cops fired weapons.  However, during the follow up police investigation four surviving Panthers admitted firing shots at police, one of them in a signed and sworn statement.   

The polarizing and volatile political climate that followed was epic.  The litigation lasted for many years

A 1970 Federal Grand Jury’s exhaustive Investigation resulted not in Indictments but rather numerous recommendations that demanded reform of police and the Coroner’s Office investigative procedures.  

A Cook County special prosecutor was appointed, Barnabas Sears and he quickly led a Grand Jury to Indict all but one of the raiding cops and the sitting State’s Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan.  Nearly three years after the raid Judge Phillip Romiti finally acquitted all charged.  At last the cops were vindicated.

The Federal civil lawsuits against the cops ended differently but the standard of proof is much lower in civil proceedings. 

Today our nation is still divided simply because inviting cultural diversity in any society simply cannot work except in unusual circumstances.  The evidence of that statement speaks for itself.  None the less we still strive for that peaceful and happy melting pot we’ve created in the USA. 

Police Street Stops and Violence...

Dick Wolf, Chicago PD and Fantasy Television

Chicago, IL—Dick Wolf’s TV series about Chicago police is pure entertainment.  Other then the uniforms, vehicles and landmarks any resemblance to reality ends the second the first actor’s lips move.

Let’s begin with the pretty cops and well-pressed uniforms.  The casting directors found actors that look better then most cops.  None seem to have authentic Chicago accents.   The story lines are fairy tales from writers of the political Left persuasion that don’t have a clue about police work or social reality especially in Chicago.

Let’s move on with race.  Chicago PD is political correctness in overdrive.  I’ve yet to see a single African-American criminal!  African-Americans are represented on this show only as heroic and dedicated good guys.   

Nothing changes the reality that the Cook County Jail, and Criminal Court calls within the City of Chicago are 90% plus African American.   Chicago’s white community is much better behaved and by comparison, barely represented at all in the criminal justice system.   

It was laughable to see the latest episodes where they deal with a group of terrorist bombers.   The cops begin suspecting Muslims but the bad guys turn out to be white, anti-government/Obama racists.  Only Conservative whites are capable of evil in the minds of Wolf’s scriptwriters.

Chicago has had terror bombings going back the Haymarket Riot. The bombers were all Communists and pro labor Anarchists.  Then there were the 1960’s Weathermen like Barack Obama’s bomber pals, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.   After that, the Puerto Rican FLAN terrorists of the 1970s and finely those, Anti-NATO, Left Wing loonies and would be bombers that are on the way to the Big House as you read this. 

Let’s face Dick Wolf’s African-American’s are not capable of simple evil.  They don’t terrorize people in organized flash mobs or knock out games victimizing elderly white people for kicks.  They don’t hate, inflict cruelty or do anything wrong at all.

The Chicago PD TV series will never make an African-American a serial rapist or killer.  If the portray an African-American in trouble at all they can be counted upon to pour every kind of mitigating circumstance on him or her possible.  The African-American arrestee must be turned into a folk-hero like the Jean Valjean (Character) from Les Misérables.

You won’t see the police hiring or promotions reality where the least qualified are the people promoted strictly because of affirmative action and raw political influence  

The show is nothing more than a politically correct fantasy hour depicting a Liberal law enforcement paradise that does not exist.   The show is pure PR for the current Mayor whose brother is arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood.

A Life Saved Only To be Lost a Year Later…

Chicago, IL—The Internet is adding information at a rapid pace.  I often wondered what happened to a suicidal woman I helped pull from the Chicago River in July of 1976.  Today I found the tragic answer.

It was just after eating a rather large breakfast I was in my personal car Westbound on the Congress Street Expressway Bridge by the huge post office building. 

Suddenly in the stop and go rush hour traffic I saw a women bleeding from both wrists climbing on the South side railing of the bridge and suddenly she jumped into the filthy water below. 

I pulled to the right and stopped my car in an effort to deal with the obvious emergency.  I crossed all the lanes of traffic on foot.  I discovered a man had broken the glass covering a life preserver and managed to hopelessly tangle its attached rope to the bridge.

I could see the woman floundering below and ran down to the embankment to aid her.  As I was running I saw a man later identified as David M. McCauley dive into the water after the woman. 

I was no champion swimmer and dreaded the thought of the nasty sewer like water and fighting with this suicidal woman in efforts to pull her out. 

Whatever reluctance I may have had disappeared when it was obvious that Mr. McCauley may be killed trying to save this woman by himself. 

I quickly striped off my gun belt and uniform.  Two women had come to the riverbank and were watching.  I told one of them to run and call the police and fire departments (this was before the 911 system was established).  I asked the other woman to please watch out for my gun and clothing. 

I swam out to the pair in time to see that the woman had Mr. McCauley’s head under water.  As I tried to help she managed to pull me under too.  Finally she gave in and we were able to tow her to shore. 

There was no way out of the river because at the time it had sheer high walls on both sides.   We soon could hear sirens and saw firemen lowering a ladder into the water.  A fire Lt. jumped in and helped us push the woman up the ladder. Thankfully a fire station was very close to us.

McCauley and I got out of the water and dried off with white fire department sheets.  I put my uniform on and gave my car keys to cops that had responded. 

A sergeant from the First District (I was assigned to 012 just West) told me to get into his car because he was taking me to the hospital. We drove behind the ambulance transporting the woman. I soon became nauseous and was ready to vomit.  That’s when the good sergeant flipped on the lights and siren. 

Moments later we were at Rush St. Luke's Hospital's  emergency room doors where I got out and upchucked in the driveway (that was much better than in the patrol car!)

Other officers made a hospitalization case report and I was given a prophylactic injection because of my exposure to that nasty river water.

The next day I saw my picture on the front page of the Chicago Tribune and the story accompanying it.  Somehow it did not feel good.  This came at the expense of the high profile exposure of a woman’s emotional troubles.  They had published this troubled woman’s name along with the distant photos they had her in the actual rescue.

Mr. McCauley was a district sales manager from Allstate Insurance.  McCauley was appropriately put in for a Carnage Hero Foundation Award and received it.  I received a Department Commendation and a second special award from the late Mayor Richard J. Daley.

As to what happened to the suicidal woman that’s the rest of this story.  Billie Gail Hubacher, 38 was placed in the psychiatric unit of the hospital after they tended to her self-inflicted wrist wounds.  Soon they released her for future out patient treatment.

I knew nothing else until this morning when I discovered she died just short of a year later at 39 years of age on May 1, 1977.  I can only assume that Hubacher finally succeeded in taking her own life. 

Depression can be so deadly.  I don’t know what demons Hubacher was fighting in her last year on earth.  Suicide at such a young age was certainly no answer to her problems. 

Hubacher was obviously an emotional train wreck.  She may have been pretty and well educated but I could never tell from that fateful encounter.  Did that really matter in the end? 

I can’t imagine what I could have done to help.  However in retrospect nearly four decades later I could have simply visited her at the hospital just to let her know I cared that she lived.  

I should have taken the time to tell her the truth that there was much better life and adventures still ahead for her.  

I am indeed my brother’s (in this case my sister’s) keeper.  Here I know I failed in my duty as a human being.

I Want to Make a Documentary Film about the Strange Case of Howard Morgan in Chicago

Chicago, IL—In February of 2005 off duty railroad cop Howard Morgan was shot by Chicago police officers at least 25 times.  Somehow Morgan miraculously survived but currently sits convicted in an Illinois prison for many more years than he has left on this earth.

I wrote about this strange case when it happened. There are still many more questions than answers. 

Something awful happened during that traffic stop in the Lawndale neighborhood that led to a horrific firefight.

Chicago police officials could not seem to find a motive for their claim of Morgan’s attack on their officers. 

The only thing that ever made sense to me was a sudden misunderstanding that provoked the firefight.

I don’t for a second accept the idea Morgan simply went from law-abiding citizen and former Chicago cop, to a railroad policeman and then finally became a mad dog killer.

This case never made sense to me.  It needs to be reinvestigated and I want the job.   I want to do this investigation as a documentary filmmaker.

I will interview the cops, lawyers, and jurors.  I will read the testimony transcripts so I may determine if reasonable doubt existed and if justice was somehow derailed. 

We must remember that Morgan should never have to prove innocence, just establish reasonable doubt of his guilt. 

This case is racially charged because the officers involved were white and Morgan is an African-American.  I think that race unreasonably over shadowed and tainted the case.

I’m convinced that the African-American community had agitated so much over this case injecting race into their efforts was anything but helpful to Morgan.  It simply hopelessly divided the community.

This case should have been treated as it was, a frightening confrontation at night with an armed off duty cop.  Something went terribly wrong.  Once one officer began to fire shots sympathetic firing began by everyone in the heat of the moment.

Did the cops somehow believe Morgan was a dangerous and armed police impersonator? Back then it was a serious felony for anyone but a sworn officer to carry a firearm.  Whatever Id Morgan may have displayed would not have looked like Chicago police identification.

Had the uniformed Chicago cops ever admitted fearful over-reaction or mistake they’d have been prison bound so they had little choice on how to proceed in an unforgiving world.

More than anything I want to understand Morgan’s elusive motive. That of course assuming he had one.  

I’m convinced a well-made documentary film could shed new light on this very troubling case.

I have no intention to crucify the Chicago cops involved and want the audience to hear their side of the story. 

I simply don’t believe that race or hate motivated an unprovoked on Morgan either.  I want to answer the nagging question of just what went wrong in those split seconds in the early morning darkness in that high crime neighborhood?

If a new trial is warranted I’d like to see that happen.

My Chicago cop friends will have to accept that I will be fair to everyone. 

What I need is the funding to do this documentary film. 

Services For Chicago Cop/Actor Dennis Farina in Chicago

Dennis Farina 

Chicago, IL--Dennis Farina was bigger than life as a a cop and actor. He made lots of friends and never forgot his roots in the Windy City.  I know a lot of cops that will want to pay their respects.
The schedule of events are as follows:
Monday, July 29, 2013 – Wake, 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home

6901 West Belmont Avenue

Chicago, IL 60634

773.622.9300

Tuesday, July 30, 2013 – Service, 10:00 a.m.

Assumption Catholic Church

323 West Illinois Street

Chicago, IL 60654

312.644.0036 (Phone)

312.644.1838 (Fax)

Burial private

  

Concealed Weapon Legalization Comes to Illinois!

Chicago, IL—Despite rabid political resistance to the law of the land on Gun Rights law-abiding citizens will be finally be allowed to carry concealed firearms for self-defense outside of their homes.

Now the Illinois State Police must establish a procedure to administer the program that will verify training and issue the permits.  The background investigations have already been accomplished since every CCW license applicant must first have a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.   Firearm trainers will be very busy providing the proscribed 16-hour program.

Those carrying guns will be getting a lot of information on safety, marksmanship and the justifiable use of deadly force.  Conflict avoidance still will be your very best choice rather than looking for or inviting trouble.  Some of you will run out of options especially in the violent areas of the state such as Chicago.  

Most conflicts with attackers will end without firing a single shot once the thugs see that you’re armed and ready to use deadly force.  The thugs will either escape or you will hold them for police.

In the event you have to shoot an attacker and you’re lucky enough to survive, I have some solid advice for you in the video below and underneath that there is a .pdf  copy the new law for you to download or share:  

   IL Concealled Weapon Law 2013

Second City Cop TV, a New Contender in the Video News Business!

Chicago, IL—Chicago’s FOP got smart when they hired Pat Camden after his career as a cop and department spokesman.  Camden can now actually say what Chicago cops can’t without facing discipline.  His retired status gives him a First Amendment right that is now controlled by the FOP.  Okay he does not get to tell us how he really feels but at least the department cannot muzzle him. If they were a little smarter the FOP would make a real reporter out of him.

Of course the FOP and the City of Chicago politicians seem to get along entirely too well.   Seemingly they have little in common but when it comes to voicing what’s on the minds of their membership the FOP fails big time.  I can’t help but fault the FOP for the CPD’s manpower shortages, failures to demand better in-service survival training and firearms needed to challenge the thousands of organized and armed street thugs.      

Technology has given the FOP or anyone the ability to reach their membership with inexpensive but superior video communication tools.  The effectiveness of the FOP’s YouTube reach can be seen in the paltry amount of views their videos have received. They have only double-digit views on most of their videos and their most viewed posting is just past the 400 mark.  The production value of the videos seems to be okay but they’re completely void of any passion for the working cop or for that matter anyone.  They all fail. 

Here I have to ring the bell of Second City Cop and True News for sharing the candor, concerns and needs of the working cops via their blogs.  They each get at minimum 10,000 hits per day.  Frankly these bloggers represent the membership of the FOP far better then their actual union representatives.  This seems terribly wrong.  Actually the taxpayers are being well served by SCC’s existence too. However, something’s missing here. 

If the person behind Second City Cop were on a Union ballot there’d be no question who’d win the membership’s votes.  SCC has no funding, no TV production skills or equipment.  SCC does not have a YouTube Channel. If SCC had a video reporter or two to cover events near and dear to cops they’d get better viewership than most of Chicago’s local TV news organizations.  The reporters and producers of SCC would have to be retired cops or civilians.  I can’t help but see a serious potential for profit here.

I’m taking the liberty to create a fictitious new contender for TV news about crime, cops, courts and corruption in the Windy City.  It will be of course, web based.

The local media has been pandering to Chicago’s politicians since there was media.   News provided to Chicagoans is first put through a filter that protects political corruption and every opportunity.  Unfortunately through extortion city officials threaten businesses that would sponsor real news.  Chicago’s news organizations are all too aware and pull their punches as a result.  SCC on the other hand has only one master, the men and women of the department.   

Let’s say that SCC-TV is born.  It would have a single purpose to report crime, courts and corruption news. Weather and sports are sometimes important to cover as they impact crime and cops.

One thing for sure such a media organization would get zero cooperation from the CPD management.  Of course the street cops would pour in information along with lots of smartphone video shot in the field.  

The SCC-TV reporters and producers must be pros that understand television, promotion, story telling, production and beating the local news competition.  Journalistic standards and credibility must be part of such an endeavor.  

Chicago has a real need for a SCC style TV news on the web startup.   Rather than to rely on business sponsors this could be offered to views via paid subscriptions of perhaps $10.00 per month.  The website would have some free postings and tease stories that require a subscription to watch. Frankly subscribed 10,000 viewers would float this boat in a hurry.  But depending on the quality of the content that audience could grow exponentially.

Here’s a video I put up about simple TV production for the Internet.  You need to know all my great equipment only cost me around $7,000.00 :

Here is a report I did for WND when Conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart died: