Now The Sun-Times Chimes In On Our New Police Supt. - New top cop McCarthy called ‘one of America’s best police chiefs’

NEWARK, N.J. — Well into his 40s, Garry F. McCarthy played outside linebacker for the New York Police Department’s football team.

McCarthy put a hurt on opponents — and sometimes got banged up himself.

But when McCarthy became Newark’s top cop in 2006, the mayor begged him to stay off the gridiron. Stubbornly, McCarthy played one more year.

“Finally he gave it up, thank God,” said his brother, Jim. “Garry played hard, just like he lives.”

Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel liked McCarthy’s toughness — and their shared philosophy on policing — when he interviewed him for the position of top cop here.

Their demeanors are similar.

Emanuel was known for dropping f-bombs in the heat of the moment when he worked in the White House and served in Congress.

As for McCarthy’s temper, Newark’s superstar Mayor Corey A. Booker said: “I was warned and warned and warned about it, but it was a little of a letdown that I never saw it flare. I used to tease him that he was going to anger management. I saw him get frustrated, disappointed and angry. But I never saw him lose control.”

Both men also are known for being among the most brilliant tacticians in their professions.

Booker said he understands why Emanuel wooed McCarthy away from Newark.

“I think they’re two similar guys,” Booker said.

On Monday, Emanuel introduced McCarthy, 52, as his choice for Chicago police superintendent. McCarthy awaits City Council approval.

Newark’s city councilmen and union leaders said their relationship with McCarthy was sometimes rocky, but they credited him with the 12 percent drop in overall crime in Newark during his tenure. Shootings and murders plummeted 40 percent over that period.

“Garry’s genius was crime strategy and how he forces people to think, gets his leaders to perform at a higher level. The way he handled our carjacking spike, I was in awe,” Booker said.

McCarthy installed a gunshot-detection system and launched a plan to cover the city with surveillance cameras. He created an aviation unit and a marine unit. And he spearheaded Operation Impact, putting rookies in high-crime areas, said Detective James Stewart Jr., a vice president of Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police.

“It was good for the kids, especially when it encompassed housing projects,” he said. “Mom could come out on the porch. Kids could play in the street. You weren’t bound in your house by fear and drug dealers and all that nonsense.”

Stewart said he’s grateful to McCarthy for supporting him after he fatally shot a mentally ill man armed with two knives. At a news conference, McCarthy said he wished New Jersey officers were allowed to carry Tasers for such situations. Then he told Stewart he did the right thing.

“He backs you up,” Stewart said.

Newark City Council President Donald Payne Jr. praised McCarthy as a capable crime fighter, but said McCarthy’s “gruff, old-school” manner rubbed people the wrong way.

“Garry was a guy that did not suffer fools lightly,” Payne said.

The council ran into problems communicating with McCarthy, Payne said.

“We would ask him to brief the council and sometimes it was like pulling teeth,” he said.

Another union vice president, Walter Melvin, said he was glad to see McCarthy go.

“We hope he does excellent in Chicago and never comes back here,” Melvin said. “And if he does come here on vacation, he better park right.”

McCarthy responded: “I am proud of my enemies and my friends.”

Emanuel said one of the reasons he chose McCarthy is that he can “hit the ground running” with his strategies. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, McCarthy energetically ticked off idea after idea.

He vowed to shift more Chicago Police officers onto patrol from specialized units.

He pledged to steer some non-emergency calls away from the 911 center to the 311 center — to allow cops to get out of their cars and do more proactive police work, instead of going from call to call.

McCarthy said he wants his officers to “sweat the small stuff” such as stopping people from drinking on street corners. Addressing those types of problems can lead to making arrests for more serious crimes such as gun possession, he said.

McCarthy also wants to move desk officers to the street and make them work nights and weekends.

“I am willing to stop administrative function completely if it means putting cops in the right place, meaning the street,” he said.

McCarthy said he’ll emphasize the statistics-driven CompStat accountability system he oversaw in New York. In CompStat, commanders were held to the fire for crime in their precincts.

Many of McCarthy’s crime-fighting ideas were hatched in the mid-1990s in New York City by William Bratton, who was the NYPD police commissioner. He retired in 2009 as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

McCarthy is among a group of “Brattonistas” who’ve left NYPD to run other police agencies. They’ve implemented variations of CompStat and other Bratton ideas such as the “broken-windows strategy,” which holds that keeping urban areas free of vandalism and other disorder can prevent more serious crimes.

McCarthy was a captain when Bratton ran the NYPD. McCarthy was among a dozen of the department’s 600 captains Bratton handpicked for key leadership roles, Bratton said.

“Garry gets the importance of partnerships with communities. He comes out of two policing jobs where racial issues are always on the front page,” Bratton said, noting that McCarthy speaks Spanish, which could prove a positive with Chicago’s large Hispanic population.

McCarthy, who was the NYPD’s top crime strategist during the 9/11 attacks, also brings counter-terrorism knowledge to the table in Chicago, a target as the hometown of President Obama, Bratton said.

“In Garry, Rahm got one of America’s best police chiefs,” he said.

If Bratton was one of McCarthy’s mentors, McCarthy’s father — an NYPD detective — was an inspiration for him to become a cop.

McCarthy grew up in Pelham Bay, a blue-collar neighborhood in the Bronx. Back then, it was an enclave of Italian and Polish immigrants. Many of the boys there wound up in the military or as cops and firefighters.

McCarthy’s father was a Marine who was wounded three times in the bloodiest battles in the Pacific during World War II.

In his office, McCarthy keeps a map of Iwo Jima that his father carried when he was shot there. There’s a bullet hole in the map. McCarthy also prizes a photo of his father and his partner standing outside their NYPD squad car after a shoot-out. There’s a bullet hole in the windshield. The bullet went through the partner’s hat, too.

His dad, a high-school dropout, encouraged his three sons to complete college before considering a career in law enforcement. McCarthy graduated from Albany State University and joined the NYPD in 1981.

McCarthy rose through the ranks to lead the 33rd Precinct in Washington Heights, then a drug-infested neighborhood in north Manhattan.

“He started implementing everything he saw from the ground level of policing, which was taking neighborhoods back street by street, foot patrols, pushing the demand [for drugs] out, coordinating with other agencies and community policing,” said his brother Jim, a former New York State trooper. “They closed off both ends of the street and you had to live on the block or have some kind of legitimate business to go there.”

The World Trade Center attacks were a transforming experience for McCarthy. He knew lots of people who died in the collapse of the towers. “To look at me and my brother, who is only six years younger, it aged him a lot. It personally hurt him,” Jim McCarthy said.

He said his brother “will do the right thing in Chicago. He expects people to do the right thing, carry out their jobs. And he leads by example.”

But critics of McCarthy have asked Chicago’s City Council to block his appointment. One is Eric Josey of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. He sent the Council a laundry list of complaints about McCarthy.

Josey pointed to a 96-page petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which resulted in a federal investigation of the Newark Police Department. The petition cited police brutality, false arrests, improper searches and other misconduct. McCarthy said most of the lawsuits listed in the petition stem from incidents before he was police director. He said he’s cooperating fully with the Justice Department.

Another issue involves a 2005 altercation between McCarthy and two New Jersey police officers. McCarthy said he came to the aid of his daughter, who called crying after she was approached by the officers over her parking in a handicapped spot. McCarthy was handcuffed as he argued with the cops.

“What kind of father would I be if I didn’t do anything?” he said.

In a news conference introducing McCarthy as his top cop, Emanuel brushed aside the criticism, saying the Chicago Police Board vetted those issues before recommending McCarthy.

Still, William Bratton — McCarthy’s former NYPD boss — said he has one other beef about his protégé.

“I think he’s got to shave off that crazy goatee,” Bratton laughed. “He is the only police chief I know of in America with a beard. Show off that strong chin.”

McCarthy responded that he will, but only after he’s certified as an Illinois law enforcement officer and starts to wear a Chicago Police uniform.

“Then it’s gone,” he said of the beard.

At least 6 wounded in AFRONOON violence in Chicago

At least 6 wounded in afternoon violence in Chicago
At least six people, including a 16-year-old boy, were injured this afternoon in shootings and stabbings across the city, Chicago police said.

None of the reported attacks resulted in fatal or life-threatening injuries, police said, citing early reports.

The 16-year-old was wounded in the 3000 block of West 59th Street in the Gage Park neighborhood at about 5:18 p.m., police said. The teen suffered a gunshot wound to the calf and a graze wound to the knee. Police didn't immediately know if the teen was hospitalized, but said paramedics at the scene listed him in good condition.

A short distance away at about the same time, a 32-year-old man was wounded in the shoulder in the 5900 block of South Damen Avenue, police said. Paramedics at the scene listed the man in good condition. It was unclear if the two shootings, slightly more than a mile apart, were connected.

Just after 5:30 p.m., a 35-year-old man walked into the University of Chicago Medical Center, claiming that he was stabbed near 79th Street and Dorchester Avenue, police said. The man was listed in good condition. The circumstances surrounding the stabbing weren’t clear.

Earlier in the day, a male and female were each wounded near 101st Street and Wentworth Avenue at about 4:38 p.m., police said. While authorities didn’t have ages for the victims, police said the female received a gunshot to the buttocks, while the male was shot in the leg.

The two were taken to local hospitals, according to Fire Department spokesman Will Knight, but no conditions or other details were available.

At about the same time, a 23-year-old man was also shot and wounded in the buttocks in the 2600 block of East 83rd Street in the city’s South Chicago neighborhood. Paramedics at the scene listed him in good condition.

Police hadn’t made any arrests in any of the incidents and offered no motives.

Rush Limbaugh - Paul Shanklin Sings " The Man Who Shot Osama Bin Laden "

New Chicago police superintendent: Strong administrator, thick skin

New police chief: Strong administrator, thick skin - Garry McCarthy navigated a thorny political landscape and is credited with improving Newark's police department

NEWARK, N.J.—If Garry McCarthy had a honeymoon as Newark's top cop it ended violently on a single day in July 2009.

On July 20 of that year, eight people were shot in two separate incidents, including a drive-by shooting that indiscriminately took the life of a mother of two who was walking back to her apartment from the grocery store.

A day later there were more shootings. Despite McCarthy's best efforts to import the crime-fighting techniques he'd learned in nearly three decades with the New York Police Department, crime in Newark was once again on the rise.

After Newark Mayor Cory Booker hired McCarthy away from the NYPD in 2006, he had enjoyed two years of positive publicity as murders in the notoriously violent and impoverished city dropped by 30 percent between 2007 and 2008.McCarthy has benefited from Booker's celebrity status, including regular appearances in the "Brick City" television documentary series.

But McCarthy's last couple of years here have been a slog. He's battled to keep violent crime as flat as possible, while the budget cuts of 167 officers have left the force at roughly 1,000. The murder of that mother of two, Nakisha Allen, was the catalyst for a series of ongoing demonstrations in the city in which activists and some politicians began calling for McCarthy's resignation.

"It's been a challenge," McCarthy said, acknowledging diminishing resources had changed the tone of his tenure in Newark..

But as McCarthy prepares to become the Chicago Police Department's next superintendent, his reputation in Newark as a crime fighter and administrator remains strong. He has been credited with increasing the professionalism and skill of the police department, while negotiating a thorny political landscape with the thick skin that he developed in decades of climbing the ranks of New York's top brass.

"Over the years, through some very tough times, Garry has not only become a highly valued director on my team but also a friend," Booker said Monday after Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel announced McCarthy's selection. "He has been a great servant to our city."

But some feel McCarthy is getting out of town at the right time as the police department's resources continue to dwindle and the city's dismal social conditions show no signs of real improvement.

McCarthy came highly recommended to Emanuel by a host of nationally known law enforcement officials, but none more influential than William Bratton, the former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and commissioner of the NYPD, where he promoted McCarthy to precinct commander in the 1990s.

"He stood out among the crowd, and it was an outstanding crowd. There was a lot of talent in the New York Police Department," Bratton said. "He projects confidence. He's smart, articulate, assertive. And he's not afraid to stick his neck out."

People who have known McCarthy over the years consistently painted him as a deft handler of big-city politics. Bratton noted McCarthy maintained his pressure-cooker job as the department's top anti-crime strategist through three subsequent police commissioners.

"To survive in such a significant position, which is a lynchpin of (department operations) is a reflection of his strength," Bratton said.

Chicago will be a whole new ballgame, said Bratton, who knows Chicago's police landscape well through longstanding ties to top brass here. The size and entrenchment of the street gangs in Chicago "will be much bigger than anything he's dealt with in New York or Newark," Bratton said, and the politics of the moment will be a new test of McCarthy's skills, as well.

"In Chicago, you have a very racially conscious city and a new mayor who has not been tested," Bratton said. "Its crime problem has been improving but the perception of it, and fear of it, has been increasing."

McCarthy's critics in Newark said the opposite was true—that the police director and his mayor created a perception they had made the city safer, while people who live in the most dangerous neighborhoods were having a very different experience.

"Mayor Booker and Director McCarthy have done a fabulous PR job. Because everybody around the world thinks they're doing a great job," said Bashir Akinyele, spokesman for a coalition of anti-violence groups. "But if you come to Newark, that's not what people will say."

Protesters have focused on racial tension in the city. Newark is more than half African-American, with a large population of Hispanics. Akinyele said minority communities have felt McCarthy, as well as Booker, who is African-American, have been more accessible to the white community.

"He had an arrogant way of treating the people of the city of Newark," Akinyele said.

Not everybody has seen it that way. Councilman Luis Quintana, who chairs the public safety committee, said he opposed McCarthy's confirmation in 2006 because he felt Booker was trying to jam him down the council's throats.

But McCarthy appointed black and Hispanic officers as his top deputies, and was always willing to sit on the hot seat and take questions at City Hall meetings, Quintana said. "If I had to vote for him today, I would support him."

In Chicago, McCarthy will be walking into another complicated political landscape—from neighborhoods still defined largely along racial lines to the insular culture of the police department itself.

Emanuel made a campaign promise of adding 1,000 new officers to the city's streets. But the city is facing a largebudget deficit and it remains unclear where the money would come from to add employees.

Violent crime has been gradually decreasing in the last several years after a big drop in 2003 and 2004, but for many in the city it doesn't feel that way. While some affluent neighborhoods are as safe as any leafy suburb, gang and drug violence continues to menace the city's poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

McCarthy's policing methods are rooted in his experience both as a street cop in the Bronx, and also as a police executive running CompStat, the system pioneered in New York that analyzes crime statistics as they are happening, combining trends with intelligence from the street to identify developing conflicts, and then deploying officers to those areas. Because most of the violence in Chicago is clustered in gang turf on the South and West Sides, such a strategy means putting more cops there.

"Deploying your resources where they are going to have the greatest effect is the best way to reduce violent crime," McCarthy said in an interview. "You have significant resources in the worst areas. We've found it to be tried and true."

But every time the police department raises the idea of shifting patrol officers out of the more docile stretches of the North and Southwest Sides of the city, those communities and their aldermen put up a fight. It is a quandary that McCarthy will have to face almost immediately once he's in office.

"Because I know it's been resisted here, and strongly resisted, I'm going to have to come up with another method to achieve the same answer," McCarthy said. "Unless we're ready to take on another fight, which I'm not sure we want to fight walking through the door."

Inside the department, McCarthy will have different hills to climb. Emanuel, the guy who picked him, talked bluntly during the campaign about the city's budget woes and police officers feared he would come after their pension benefits. The police union supported Gery Chico in the mayor's race. And McCarthy will have to overcome the bitterness of cops who wanted one of their own promoted to the job.

Morale in the department, even by the standards of cranky cops, was dragged to new lows when Mayor Richard Daley named former FBI official Jody Weis the superintendent. Officers have felt both disrespected and second guessed by Weis, whose career in a federal agency left a wide culture gap with the rank and file.

Some Chicago officers say privately they fear a theme of "this is how we did it in New York" condescension from McCarthy. But he said that's not how plans to operate.

"What it is we do here should be Chicago-centric. I'm not going to try and change the culture of this agency in a negative way," McCarthy said. "I'm going to try and build on what they have. Because they've got a lot of great cops here and they're going to make the decisions to help me."

Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey, the former Chicago cop who was briefly one of the contenders for the Chicago job, doubts McCarthy's outsider status will amount to much of an obstacle. Some cops won't like him because he's an outsider, Ramsey said. But some cops never like the superintendents who are insiders, either.

"That's just the nature of the beast," said Ramsey.

From scandals and leadership problems to the flight of veteran officers, it's been a rocky few years for the police department. Still, crime has gone down in Chicago and McCarthy believes good police work is the reason. He hopes to move the department forward, to make it better, and to make its officers feel better about the job they do.

"Many organizations are simply waiting for a spark," he said. "And I'm excited and I hope that I can provide that spark here."

Police: Missing Illegal Sand Jockette only speaks Arabic

A 47-year-old woman who takes medication for depression left her home without telling family members where she was going, and police asked today for help from the public in finding her.

Najat Lazim has been in the U.S. for two years and only speaks Arabic, except for being able to say "hi" and "bye" in English, the Chicago police said in a missing person alert. Normally she stays in her home and does not go out without family members.

But about 1 p.m. on Friday Lazim left the residence on the 8500 block of West Winnemac Avenue without telling anyone, and she did not take identification, a cell phone, wallet or money, police said. She is depressed and also did not take her medication with her.

The alert describes Lazim as white, 5-foot-4, 160 pounds, with gray hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion. There is no clothing description available but she is wearing a dark-colored head dress.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Grand Central Area special victims unit at 312-746-8365.

BLACK Flash Mobs & BLACK Wildings are BEATING & ROBBING the white people of Chicago.... And the Media doesn't dare speak a word of this...

Five black males were being held in an attack on a white man who was punched to the ground after he and his white wife tried to walk around a group of young men and boys in West Rogers Park early this morning.

The man was being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston following the attack about 1:30 a.m. in the 2200 block of West Devon Avenue, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.

The man, 41, was walking with his wife, 40, and crossed paths with the group of young men and boys on Devon, Perez said. When the couple tried to go around the group, they started harassing the couple, who then tried to walk away, Perez said.

One of the men or boys punched the 41-year-old in the face and he fell to the ground and was injured, Perez said, citing a preliminary police report.

When police arrived on-scene in the block where the attack took place, they were able to catch all five people — boys and men ranging in age from 17 to 26 — who were believed to have been involved, and they were being held in police custody pending charges, Perez said.

No one had been charged in the attack by about 11 a.m., Perez said. Belmont Area detectives were investigating.

Chicago has about an equal number of Blacks, Hispanic and Whites... Yet once again all the shootings overnight involved ONE RACE..... BLACK!

A DOZEN PEOPLE SHOT OVERNIGHT IN CHICAGO


Man & woman shot and wounded in West Side armed robbery
A man and a woman were shot during an armed robbery on the West Side early this morning, police said.
About 1 a.m, a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman were walking in the 1100 block of North Central Park Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood when an armed male approached and demanded money, a release from police News Affairs said.
The attacker then fired, hitting the man in the leg and grazing the woman in the hand, before fleeing the scene, the release said.
The man and women were taken in good condition to Norwegian-American Hospital, the release said.
No one was in custody and Harrison Area detectives are investigating.







Three Men Shot & Wounded At Parties In Chicago - One at his own birthday party
Three men were shot and wounded at separate parties around the city overnight, including a man shot at his own birthday party.
At 1:24 a.m. in West Englewood, a 35-year-old and 42-year-old were shot at a party in the 6300 block of South Seeley Avenue, according to a release from police News Affairs.
The 35-year-old who was celebrating his birthday was shot in the lower back and taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
The 42-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to his thigh and drove himself to Holy Cross Hospital, police said.
About 2:15 a.m. in Englewood, a 22-year-old man was shot multiple times at a party in the 7100 block of South Halsted Street, police said.
He and another person drove until they encountered police in the 3100 block of South Halsted Street, police said. The two claimed they were looking for police, but it was not immediately known why they drove so far from the original scene, passing multiple police stations and hospitals along the way.
The 22-year-old was listed in good condition at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.
No one was in custody for either shooting and Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.


Man shot, killed in vehicle on Chicago's South Side
A man was fatally shot while sitting in a vehicle in the South Side Englewood neighborhood late Friday, officials said.
About 11 p.m., a 44-year-old man was in a parked vehicle in the 6800 block of South Justine Street when a shooter approached on foot and fired at the man, killing him, a release from police News Affairs said.
The Cook County medical examiner's office could not yet confirm the death.
No one is in custody and Wentworth detectives are investigating.









Two Women Shot & Wounded in Chicago's Englewood Community
Two women were shot and wounded while sitting in a car in the West Englewood neighborhood early this morning, police said.
About 2 a.m., a 17- and 20-year-old were sitting in a car near the 6600 block of South Ashland Avenue when they heard shots and felt pain, police said.
They drove themselves to Holy Cross Hospital and were listed in good condition, police said.
No one was in custody and no other details were immediately available.
Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.









15 Year Old Boy Shot In Head In Chicago's Hanson Neighborhood
A 15-year-old boy was found shot in the head and critically wounded in the Hanson Park neighborhood Friday, police said.
About 9:45 p.m., police found the boy lying on a sidewalk in the 2300 block of North Lorel Avenue; he had a gunshot wound to the left side of his head, according to a release from police News Affairs.
The teen was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
No one is in custody and Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.

BUMPED UP: Chicago police honor 70 heroes - 2 who faced gunfire that killed comrade among those recognized

Photo: Chicago police Sgt. Jason Kaczynski, right, and Officer Kimberly Thorp were among 70 officers honored at the 50th annual Police Department recognition ceremony Friday.

Chicago police Sgt. Jason Kaczynski and Officer Kimberly Thorp were on desk duty, both recovering from medical issues, when the sound of gunfire ripped through the police facility on 61st Street last July.

Thorp was outside first. She spotted another officer taking cover behind a squad car, then she took aim at the gun-wielding man advancing toward her amid a spray of bullets.

Close behind, with weapon drawn, Kaczynski fired several shots as he passed through the station's open door, striking the gunman in the chest.

What the two officers did not realize immediately was that Officer Thor Soderberg had been mortally wounded in the parking lot moments earlier. The man they encountered outside the facility was Bryant Brewer, who was charged with Soderberg's murder and is awaiting trial.

The two officers were among 70 honored Friday at the Chicago Police Department's 50th annual police recognition ceremony at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. Kaczynski, 39, and Thorp, 36, will also travel to Washington next week to accept the National Top Cop Award.

"We stopped his murderous rampage," Kaczynski said. "Everything changes when something like that happens."

At the time, Kaczynski was recovering from a blood clot, and Thorp, who had recently undergone surgery on her foot, was in a walking cast. They were accustomed to working as members of the Targeted Response Unit, and both said they had grown tired of being cooped up inside. Neither Kaczynski nor Thorp was wearing a bulletproof vest when they stepped into the line of fire.

"She looked down the mouth of the dragon," said Thorp's father, Jim, beaming at a reception before the awards ceremony presided over by interim police Superintendent Terry Hillard.

"There are those of us who have been there," added the senior Thorp, a retired Air Force major. "The people who haven't, they will never know what it's like."

The fact that the victim was a colleague only magnified the resulting trauma.

"It's comparable to losing a family member," said Kaczynski, a 15-year veteran of the department. "We are kind of like a big family."

Just Like The BLACK PLAGUE....Where ever they go... Death follows... Craigslist prostitutes savagely attacked, robbed in Manhattan hotels

NYPD releases surveillance photos of two men wanted for questioning in connection with the robberies and vicious attacks on prostitutes found through Craigslist.

Two Craigslist hookers were viciously assaulted and robbed in Manhattan hotel rooms last week by a john who turned out to be a knife-wielding bandit.

One prostitute was slashed and the other was choked unconscious in the terrifying encounters at the upscale Roosevelt and Wellington hotels in Midtown.

In the first incident, on April 30, the robber walked into the 24-year-old hooker's room at the Wellington on Seventh Ave. about 2:20 p.m., sources said.

He whipped out a knife and demanded money. The two tussled before the suspect fled with a wad of cash and a couple cell phones, cops said.
The woman treated for a cut on her hand at a nearby hospital.

On Sunday, the same man went to a room inside the Roosevelt on E. 45th St. after making an appointment online, sources said.

After the 30-year-old victim let him in, he pulled out a blade. The woman tried to fight back and the brute put her in a choke hold until she passed out, cops said.

The thief grabbed a stash of money, cell phones and a laptop, then met an accomplice in the elevator, police said.

Police urge anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers tipline, (800) 577-TIPS.

More Black Plague News: Heartless black thug wanted for beating, robbing elderly women in the Bronx

A heartless bandit is wanted for beating and robbing elderly women during a two-week span in the Bronx, cops said Thursday.

The ruthless thief first struck on April 23, when he followed an 81-year-old woman into her Fordham building about 11:30 a.m., cops said.

The suspect began chatting with the woman before he suddenly punched her in the face and swiped her cash, police said.

The man has attacked at least four more women since the heinous attack.

On Wednesday, police say the same man helped an 80-year-old woman carry groceries to her Fordham home about 2:20 p.m.

After he helped tote the bags to her apartment, he asked the woman for a dollar.

When the woman said she didn't have any bills to give, the suspect pounced on her and tried to take her pocketbook.

Witnesses heard the commotion and the man fled empty-handed, cops said.

The suspect - wearing light-colored pants and a dark jacket - was captured on a surveillance video after one of the attacks.

Police ask anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline, (800) 577-TIPS.

More McGhetto News - McDonald's security guard stabbed in Midtown New York; bloody brawl spills onto sidewalk

Photo: McDonald's employee is rushed to Bellevue Hospital after being stabbed.
Photo: Police officer steps over blood as he investigates the scene of a stabbing in front of the McDonald's on 8th Ave and 34th Street.

A security guard at a busy McDonald's in Manhattan was stabbed Friday when a dispute spilled out onto the busy sidewalk.

Dozens of onlookers watched in horror - others took pictures with their cell phones - as the guard tried to fight off his attacker.

The victim was thrown to the ground and used a cane to try to fend the suspect off. He kicked the man. And then the security guard was stabbed in the leg twice.

The man with the knife ran off and the victim was in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.

Police said the incident began about 10:30 a.m. inside the fast food joint on Eighth Ave. between 34th and 35th Sts.

"I saw the guy on the ground trying to defend himself with a cane," said Nelson Abreu, a doorman at the New Yorker Hotel on the west side of the street.

"The cane broke, and like two minutes later he was bleeding. Lots of blood coming from the leg. Then the other guy just walked away down Eighth Avenue."

"(The security guard) always has problems with colored people wanting to come in and go to the bathroom to do drugs, so he has to say no a lot," said Joe Estrella, 39, a regular customer at McDonald's.

"He probably just said no to someone and it went wrong after that."

UPDATE: UFC Fighter Danny Boy Downs Adds Another Win To His Totals Tonight! He is the son of CPD Det. Tommy Downs

UFC Fighter Takes a Big Gamble - More Than Normal at Casino
By Lance Allan

Potawatomi Bingo Casino...where risk and taking a gamble, are the norm.

So maybe it's just appropriate that local UFC Fighter "Danny Boy" Downes is taking a risk. But this one, more than normal.

The Marquette grad (with double majors, I might add) is the headliner for the NAFC's Mayhem event on Friday, May 6th at Potawatomi Bingo Casino.

Nothing unusual there, until you realize that as a UFC fighter, if Danny doesn't win, or even doesn't perform well...he could lose his UFC status. That's a big risk.

Click on the video link to watch Danny drop weight, and talk about his sparring battles with the champ...Anthony "Showtime" Pettis!

City of Chicago using TAX DOLLARS to host a giant GAY & LESBIAN CIVIL UNION CEREMONY at Chicago's Millennium Park - Gov Pat Queer Quinn to be there

Gov. Pat Quinn will be in Chicago’s Millennium Park on June 2 to watch 30 same-sex couples enter into civil unions.

The city’s Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues is hosting the morning event, which occurs one day after civil unions become legal throughout Illinois.

The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act was passed in December and signed into law by Quinn in January. Illinois is the sixth state to allow civil unions, which provide same-sex couples many of the state-level legal protections that come with marriage, including hospital visitation rights.

According to the city’s statement, the 30 couples will get their civil union licenses from the Cook County Clerk’s office on June 1. The law requires that couples wait until the day after they get their licenses before holding a civil union ceremony.

With Quinn in attendance, the ceremonies will be conducted by public officials including County Clerk David Orr and Timothy Evans, chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court, the city’s statement said.

Felony Franks owner sues city, aldermen (Aldermen - the occupation with the highest number of convicted felons)

Though “home of the misdemeanor weiner” might seem like a good slogan, Jim Andrews’ hot dog shop Felony Franks has had some trouble with advertising.

For more than two years, Andrews has been trying to get a sign erected outside his shop at 229 S. Western Ave., which hires ex-offenders in hopes of helping reintegrate them into society.

And for more than two years, the city’s refused to grant him a permit for the sign.

The sign, which would extend over public property, would likely bear the restaurant’s logo: a hot dog behind bars clad in a ball and chain. “Food so good, it’s criminal,” another of the restaurant’s slogans, would appear above the offending dog.

Andrews brought the issue to federal court Tuesday, accusing the city of trampling on his First Amendment rights and requesting almost $300,000 in compensation for Andrews for lost revenue. The filing, which names the City of Chicago and several aldermen as defendants, says the store might have to close, which would adversely impact the ex-offenders it employs.

“You can’t hold up a permit application because you don’t like the name,” said Christopher Cooper, Andrews’ lawyer. “This approach is plain wrong. I’m at a loss for words.”

But Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said Andrews’ sign is offensive and sends a bad message to students in the area.

“I think we should do all we can to help ex-offenders to come back into the mainstream,” Fioretti said. “It’s a good concept, but a bad name. It exploits the individuals.”

Fioretti also has an ordinance pending that would get rid of all signs in the area like the one Andrews wants to erect, called “right of way” signs.

The signs are bad for the area’s aesthetics, and residents don’t want them, Fioretti said. But Cooper says that’s just circumventing the First Amendment issue at hand — and a way to pander to incoming residents.

“You have people moving into the community who are not in touch with the cultural norms of that community,” he said. “These are folks who don’t want to function side-by side with people who’ve been in jail.”

The city had no comment.

A Detective Shavedlongcock Friday Night Musical Video Break

Mr. Sub's Restaurant Workers Save Couple From Drunken Assholes at the Western Ave - Beverly Area Location

Exclusive Video From the Fight At The Mr. Submarines on Western Ave in the Beverly Community...When too many bars are in an Irish neighborhood...

They came for hero sandwiches and were saved by heroes. Five days after being jumped by thugs in the drive-through lane at a Mr. Submarine shop in Chicago’s Beverly community, Mark Ziolek and his girlfriend, Tina Coconate, returned Thursday evening to thank the workers who rescued them and helped police arrest their attackers. Security video footage of the unprovoked attack in the early hours of Sunday shows Mr. Sub employee Ernesto Romero reach his arm out of the drive-through window and pin one of the attackers against the outside of the building.

Romero and his brother, Augustin Romero, then rushed outside and helped defend the couple. Police arrested Conor Heffernan, 24, of the 3000 block of West 98th Place, and William Butler, 20, of the 9000 block of South Central Avenue, both of Chicago, and Robert Heffernan, 20, of Kalamazoo, Mich., at the scene.

All three men were each charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery and one count of misdemeanor criminal damage to property, police said. “I probably would have been knocked unconscious if they hadn’t helped,” said Ziolek, 34, as he nursed two black eyes Thursday. He said he and Coconate stopped at Mr. Sub on the way home from a benefit for Mother McAuley High School when the three men came up to the car, demanded that Ziolek give them his sandwich and money, threatened Coconate and then jumped on the roof of his car and punched Ziolek.

The Romero brothers’ bravery came as no surprise to their manager, Dan Tzoumas, who said the attack “made no sense.” Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) plans to honor the brothers’ heroism with a certificate signed by the city council, her spokeswoman, Mary Beth Waller, said. But Augustin Romero said, “We’d do it for anyone — three guys against one isn’t right.”

19 charged in Lake County pizza-delivery drug ring

Nineteen people have been charged in a wide-ranging Lake County cocaine ring bust that authorities said at times operated out of two well-known pizza parlors and used pizza delivery vehicles to distribute the drugs.

Authorities said that among those charged with drug conspiracy in the sweep are brothers Elias, Jack and Kostatino “Gus” Papandreou, who police said own and operate Jack’s Pizza and Burgers restaurants in Waukegan and Grayslake and have had prior convictions on drug-related charged.

“This criminal element has long been a thorn in the side of the Waukegan Police Department,” Police Chief Daniel Greathouse said in a press release, adding that his department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and county prosecutors targeted “mid- to upper-level drug dealers who have flaunted their illicit activities for years.”

Police said they “were able to infiltrate this guarded crew” and that, during the operation, almost 5 pounds of cocaine, along with smaller amounts of Vicodin and Ecstasy, were distributed throughout Lake County with a total street value of about $160,000.

The Papandreou brothers –- Elias, 27, and Kostatino, 34, both of Wadsworth, and Jack, 33, who officials said was already in federal custody on other charges –- each were indicted on a drug conspiracy charge, as were 16 other people, most from Lake County, police said. The 19 people indicted have had their bails set at $500,000 each, authorities said.

All of the 19 people charged were in some way related to the drug ring –- either by selling, delivering or using the drugs, Waukegan Police Commander Gabriel Guzman said.

Waukegan police said that in some cases, “the restaurants and delivery vehicles were utilized to deliver more than pizza.”

Those in the know could call one of the restaurants and order a delivery of pizza and drugs, Guzman said.

Both restaurants remain open and are being run by the brothers’ parents and other employees, Guzman said.

David Flores, who is married to Martha Papandreou, the sister of Elias, Jack and Kostatino, said he believes the charges against his brothers-in-law amount to little more than a “personal vendetta” by the Waukegan police.

“The allegations of selling drugs out of the restaurant are incorrect,” Flores said. “My father-in-law would kill these kids. He would be like, ‘You are not going to ruin my business.’”

Cops: Man said he had alligator because 'chicks dig it'

If you think chicks dig an alligator... you should see how much they love a big long COCKIDILE!
 

A Ford Heights man kept an alligator in his home because “chicks dig it,” he told police who arrested him.

Dewayne Yarbrough, 43, was arrested Thursday at his home in the 800 block of East 11th Place after the Cook County Sheriff’s animal crimes unit received a tip about Yarbrough keeping the American alligator at his home, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

He faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous animal.

Officers obtained a search warrant for Yarbrough’s home and found the alligator in the kitchen there on Thursday, police said.

The alligator is about 4 feet long -- alligators often are as long as 14 feet -- and Yarbrough told investigators he only fed the animal 10 live mice once a month and kept it in a small fish tank to keep down its size, according to the news release.

Yarbough told police he kept the animal because “chicks dig it,” according to police. Yarbrough bought the animal for $200 in Indiana five years ago, according to the release.

The alligator was taken by officers and Cook County animal control to the Chicago Ridge Animal Welfare League. The Chicago Herpetological Society will take the animal at a later date, police said.

Yarbrough was free after posting $100 bond and scheduled to appear in Markham Court on July 5, according to the sheriff’s office.

Gov Quinn jacks up all our taxes but then bribes certain companies to stay in Illinois. Gov Quinn Bribes Motorola $100 MILLION DOLLARS not to leave IL

$100 million keeps Motorola Mobility in Illinois - Illinois boosts tax incentives in 10-year deal to keep smartphone company in Libertyville


Gov. Pat Quinn put up more than $100 million in financial incentives to persuade smartphone company Motorola Mobility to keep its corporate headquarters in Libertyville — the largest package he has offered a company to date and a signal of how badly the state wants to hold on to high-tech jobs.

To persuade the maker of mobile devices and cable TV set-top boxes to stay, rather than move to California or Texas, state lawmakers sweetened terms of its tax-credit incentive program as it has for automakers, including Mitsubishi, and truck- and engine-manufacturers, including Navistar International Corp.

Navistar landed a $64.7 million package last year to keep its headquarters in Illinois, the second-largest deal during Quinn's tenure.

The Illinois packages are among a rash of retention deals cropping up nationwide as the economic malaise keeps unemployment at painful levels.

Motorola Mobility's tax-credit package comes in at $10 million annually over the next 10 years, assuming it meets job retention and investment goals. The company also will receive $1.25 million in job-training funds and a $3 million large-business development grant to assist with capital expenses.

The deal, announced Friday, breaks down to about $34,750 for each of the 3,000 jobs Motorola Mobility has agreed to retain, considerably more than the $15,000 to $20,000 per job that is more typical when the state awards tax credits to keep or attract businesses.

"These are higher skilled, higher paying jobs than most projects," said a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Motorola Mobility, one of two companies that previously formed Motorola Inc., pledged to spend more than $500 million on research and development over the next three years, essentially what the company already had planned to spend.

But there is potential to grow that amount, some of which might have gone elsewhere if Motorola Mobility had relocated, Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said.

The company's decision was announced amid much fanfare at Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s Libertyville offices. Employees and senior executives wore red T-shirts emblazoned with "Motorola Mobility Illinois" and packed an auditorium to see Quinn sign the legislation enhancing its tax-credit package.

"We don't want folks to leave," Quinn said. "We want them to stay and grow with great companies like Motorola."

The legislation Quinn signed also applies to some companies in the cable TV, wireless telecommunications and computing fields, as well as to makers of inner tubes and tires. The latter could indicate other deals may be in the works.

Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a tax policy group, called the deal a prudent investment for the fiscally struggling state. "The best way for the state to stabilize its finances is to grow its economic strength," he said.

As to the richness of the deal, economic development expert George Ranney said, "Yeah, it's a concern, but these are pretty good jobs." Ranney is president of Metropolis Strategies, a business-backed policy organization.

Other economic development experts took issue with the package.

Typically, the Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, tax-credit program allows companies to use the credits against their state corporate income tax liability. But many companies pay no such taxes, partly due to difficult economic times and partly because an earlier revision in the tax structure slashed bills for multinational corporations.

Motorola Mobility's federal and state income tax liability represented less than 1 percent of its revenue in 2010, and it had no liability in 2009, according to estimates in company filings.

Under the legislation signed by Quinn on Friday, the company now has the option to use the credits against withheld employee income tax liability. In essence, the company can retain state employee income tax withholdings, said Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a nonprofit that researches economic development subsidies, called the diversion of personal income tax revenue "an insidious recent development." About a dozen states have some form of it, and a couple more are debating the issue, he said.

It is "like companies grabbing into employees' pockets," said LeRoy, adding that it also represents a new encroachment into state revenue streams.

"Shame on Motorola and other companies for asking for such big subsidies when they know governments are strapped," he said.

In response, Motorola Mobility said in a statement: "A combination of factors led to our decision to maintain our corporate headquarters in Libertyville, including a long history in Illinois, a talented employee base, the Libertyville site being the single largest Motorola Mobility U.S. facility, and economic development incentives, as well as the strong partnership created by Gov. Quinn and the state of Illinois."

Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, sees the revised EDGE program as an important lure: "The state has to have tools in its toolbox to move into this competition for 21st century jobs."

Motorola Mobility's decision ends more than a year of speculation over whether it would leave Libertyville for California or Texas.

Motorola Mobility's Libertyville facility employs about 3,000 people out of its global workforce of 19,000. Another 1,500 are split between the company's California offices in Sunnyvale and San Diego, where Jha maintains a residence.

This is not the first time a Motorola company has received government incentives. In 2003, Motorola Inc. closed a plant in Harvard that employed 5,000 people. The cellphone plant had been the recipient of $36 million in government incentives, mostly in the form of road and infrastructure upgrades to support the facility.

Now here is a guy who will never make it in business... Osama Dead T-Shirts!!! But now he wants to just refund the money because he feels bad!

Man with gun fatally shot by Will County deputy

An apparently suicidal and intoxicated man armed with a handgun was fatally shot by a Will County sheriff's deputy today after authorities said he pointed the weapon at officers who had responded to his Beecher residence.

Edward S. Jermolowicz, 69, had been drinking for the past four days and about 9:30 a.m. threatened to kill himself and his former girlfriend in the home where he rented a room from her, according to a release from the Will County sheriff's office.

The woman called 911 from her home in the 0-100 block of Bobwhite Lane in Pheasant Lake Estates, and at the direction of county dispatch was able to flee the home and take refuge with a neighbor. Police surrounded the home, and Jermolowicz -- carrying the weapon -- opened and slammed shut the front door of the home a few times, the office said.

Authorities also could see through a window that Jermolowicz was holding the gun to his head, and despite repeated contacts with deputies he refused to surrender the gun. Jermolowicz then opened the front door again, and while threatening to kill himself turned and pointed the loaded and cocked .38-caliber revolver at deputies, according to the release.

Fearing for the safety of responders and others at the scene, a deputy shot Jermolowicz once in the chest, the office said. An ambulance took Jermolowicz to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights, where he was pronounced dead.

According to Sheriff Paul Kaupas, the investigation is being handled by the Will County sheriff’s office Investigations Unit, monitored by the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

A DSLC NEWS UPDATE: Man found shot dead in a Chicago Loop convenience store

COMMENT SECTION: big-dewey said...
shaver, the trib is showing a crime scene photo with a very-very hot woman wearing a badge. Any info?? May 6, 2011 3:02 PM

Det. Shavedlongcock: No info but I strongly agree with you! Woo Hoo!
Chicago police put up crime scene tape at a convenience store in the Loop where a man was found shot this morning.



A man was found shot to death in the back of a convenience store at Wabash Avenue and Jackson Street in the Loop this morning, police said.

Police were notified of the shooting at about 8 a.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan. A co-worker had found the man in a back room of the store in the 200 block of South Wabash Avenue, Sullivan said. He had been shot in the head.

The victim was in his 40s, Sullivan said. He did not know if a gun was found on the scene.

Clarence Shearer said he was in a nearby Starbucks when he heard sirens and came outside, where he saw police outside the store.

Shearer, 42, said he had been in the store a handful of times.

"I thought maybe it was just a robbery until I got out here and started hearing stories, and, you know, it just doesn't look very good at this point," he said.

Clusters of people have gathered along Wabash since police arrived, speculating about what happened and watching forensics investigators come and go from the store.

Brian Hecht, 36, an attorney who works down the street from the store, said the store serves a mix of DePaul students, people who work in the area and homeless people.

Hecht said the employee he usually saw in the store is a "real nice guy, a real low-key guy."

"He seemed to treat everybody the same," said Hecht, who did not know if the employee he was describing was the person who was found dead.

Several people said a security guard was usually inside the store when it was open.

$120 billion pension shortfall makes New Jersey the Greece of the United States

BY MURRAY SABRIN

The State of New Jersey is a financial basket case. The recent report that the state has not set aside one dime to pay for the promised ($66.7 billion) medical benefits of current and future retirees is another example of nonfeasance on the part of our elected officials.

By failing to fund the medical benefits of state and local government workers, the state is on a road that will cause enormous economic hardship for the people of New Jersey. In short, to pay for all the promised benefits, taxes will have to skyrocket, which will lead to a mass exodus of productive individuals and businesses over time. In addition, businesses will not expand or relocate to New Jersey because of the onerous taxes that will have to be imposed to prop up the medical benefits fund.

Even if benefits are reduced for current and future retirees, which is highly likely, who in their right mind will trust the political hacks in Trenton to be born again fiscally responsible politicians?

For years, Republican and Democratic governors and members of the state legislature from both political parties have failed to perform their duties to maintain the state’s fiscal health. Now that the chickens are coming home to roost, what is being done to correct the gross shortfall in the state’s obligations? Before we answer that, another report released on April 26th reveals the state’s pension fund is $54 billion in the hole.

Can anyone say criminal indictment? If a corporation’s officials did not fund their employees’ retirement benefits, they would be fired and/or possible fined or even indicted by the federal government for failing to fulfill their fiduciary duties. In New Jersey, we just keep electing the same gang of self-serving career pols from gerrymandered legislative districts who exploit the public’s income and wealth to maintain their political careers and continue the great con, the redistribution of income.

(One legislative solution is to elect at large members of the legislature instead of from specific legislative districts. Alternatively, we could elect half of the legislature from the gerrymandered districts and half at large members. With at large members of the legislature, all taxpayers will be represented.)

The financial solution to the $120 billion underfunding of retirees’ pensions and medical benefits is for the state to invoke something like force majeure and start from scratch. That will send a strong signal to New Jerseyans and businesses, especially those from out of state that the politicians in Trenton will be fiscally responsible and not make promises they cannot keep.

Without an “extreme makeover,” New Jersey will become the Greece of the United States.

Murray Sabrin is professor of finance at Ramapo College. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997 and a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2000 and 2008. Check www.MurraySabrin.com for more of his writings.

Thanks to the good doctor for this news story! GM!

Black Flash Mobs Are Now Happening In Las Vegas

Crime Flash Mob of Black Bandits Strikes Again — This Time a Las Vegas Convenience Store
We showed you last week how flash mobs of thieves have terrorized stores in Washington DC, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. Now it seems the trend is popular outside the nation’s capital. A similar mob of 35 bandits struck a convenience store in Las Vegas over the weekend, making off with about $600 worth of merchandise and even the clerk’s cell phone:

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14575982/mob-of-thieves-swarms-las-vegas-convenience-store

“It became a feeding frenzy,” City Stop owner Jon Athey told KLAS-TV. “They were in the store for three minutes and 30 seconds… It’s a pretty scary thing.”

“This is the biggest one I’ve ever seen,” he added.

Athey said the crooks made multiple trips during the robbery, leaving and returning to line their pockets.

“We were blessed nobody was hurt,” Athey said. “You can’t allow this to happen, because it’s going to break out into violence. Some cashier is going to decide that he’s got to defend the property, and he’ll get hurt.”

Police are still investigating the crime.

Thanks to Arizona Eagle for this news story

WLS - AM RADIO NEWS: Man shot dead in a Chicago loop store

COMMENT SECTION: big-dewey said...
shaver, the trib is showing a crime scene photo with a very-very hot woman wearing a badge. Any info?? May 6, 2011 3:02 PM

Det. Shavedlongcock: No info but I strongly agree with you! Woo Hoo!
Chicago police put up crime scene tape at a convenience store in the Loop where a man was found shot this morning.



A man was shot to death at Wabash Avenue and Jackson Street in the Loop this morning, police said.

Police were notified of the shooting at about 8 a.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan. A man was dead, he said.

MORE TO COME WHEN AVAILABLE

I deserves my free housing! City worker who lied to get Section 8 housing gets 6 months

SO NOW SHE GETS TO LIVE 6 MONTHS FREE IN PRISON FOR SCAMMING 8 YEARS OF FREE LIVING???
Bethel Wooten lived rent-free for eight years in a four-bedroom Academy Square apartment on West Jackson Boulevard, prosecutors said, thanks to a Section 8 low income housing voucher from the department of Housing and Urban Development.

But Wooten wasn’t unemployed as she claimed on the forms that netted her $124,000 in benefits between 2000 and 2008, prosecutors said Thursday.

She had a job in Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Departmentthat paid her more than $50,000 a year, according to the Illinois attorney general’s office.

Charged with theft over $100,000 and facing jail time, Wooten, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse and accepted a 6-month sentence, Attorney General spokeswoman Maura Possley said.

HUD officials began investigating Wooten, whose address is listed in the 1800 block of North Linder Street, after running a list of benefit recipients against a list of income reported to the state of Illinois, she said. They arrested her in early 2010.

Wooten will have to pay back the $124,000, including $35,000 immediately from her city pension, Possley said. She’ll also serve three years probation.

Hired in 2000, Wooten resigned from the department on April 28, according to streets and sanitation spokesman Matt Smith.

Dash Cam Video of Tomah WI Police Shooting

UPDATE: King Daley requests bodyguard detail & personal driver after leaving office

King Richard Daley defends his request for security officers and driver after he retires!

Mayor Daley on Thursday defended his request to continue using Chicago Police officers as bodyguards after he leaves office — a courtesy that former Mayor Jane Byrne never received and considers unnecessary.

“There’s been threats all through my career. … The safety of my family comes first,” said Daley, who leaves office on May 16.
“I’ve been mayor for 22 years, and my wife has made a commitment [to the city]. … Former mayors received security appropriately. … It’s appropriate for every former mayor. Yes, it’s always appropriate.”

Daley refused to comment on reports that he had requested a pair of vehicles in political retirement — one for himself, the other for his wife, Maggie, who is battling breast cancer and remains hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.

Pressed on whether he had requested around-the-clock protection, Daley said, “No, no. I didn’t say that. The police department will handle that — not me.”

Chicago Police Department spokesperson Maureen Biggane would only say that “the Department is currently evaluating the need to provide a security detail for the Mayor after May 16th. A final determination has not been reached.”

Byrne, Daley’s political arch rival, took issue with Daley’s claim that “former mayors received security appropriately.”

When Byrne was defeated in 1983 after serving a single term, she was neither offered nor received bodyguard protection — and that was just fine with her.

“I expected it to end, and it did. Once you leave, you leave. You have to take care of yourself. You’re no longer mayor,” Byrne said.

“Even then, there was a shortage of police. It takes a lot of people to do it. They have to do shifts. And I didn’t feel physically threatened. I wouldn’t have gone back to Cabrini [Green, where she lived temporarily] like a big shot. But I knew I had to take care of myself.”

Asked if she considers Daley’s request justified, Byrne said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate in any way once you leave. As he said, there’s only one mayor at a time. There’s no need to give somebody protection for the rest of their life. I don’t see it.”

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported this week that Daley has requested around-the-clock bodyguard protection — and at least two vehicles at his disposal — to provide security for himself and his wife in political retirement.

Sneed reported that the mayor initially asked for five bodyguards. The request prompted the Chicago Police Department to ask the Secret Service to conduct an assessment of the mayor’s security needs. The determination was made that Daley needs security “for a period of time,” but it was not known how long that would last.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields called the mayor’s request ill-timed when a two-year police hiring slowdown has left the Chicago Police Department more than 2,300 officers-a-day short of authorized strength, counting vacancies and officers on medical leave and limited duty.

“We have an extreme manpower shortage. The citizens of Chicago can feel that shortage. To ask for five bodyguards is ridiculously excessive,” Shields said.

“If the department were up to 13,500 officers, it would not be a problem. But officers are working in one-man cars. Police officers can’t go to weddings and family events because there is such a shortage.”

A spokesman for Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel refused to comment on the mayor’s request.

During the campaign, Emanuel vowed to strip Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, of his police bodyguards to usher in an era of “shared sacrifice” needed to solve the city’s financial crisis.

“There will be a shared sacrifice, including for Ed Burke and all the City Council. If Ed Burke has six police officers, that just can’t continue,” Emanuel said at the time.

Over the years, Daley has been the target of several highly-publicized threats.

In 2008, a vicious rant about the mayor’s dead son was included in a letter that threatened to torch the mayor’s Michigan summer home in retaliation for the police killing of a wild cougar.

Two days after the letter arrived, an arson fire that started near Daley’s house destroyed a neighbor’s multimillion-dollar home on Lake Michigan.


Sneed has learned Mayor Daley is requesting a retinue of at least three — around the clock — Chicago Police bodyguards from his mayoral security detail to accompany him into the private sector!

† Sneed also hears whispers Mayor Daley, who retires May 16, wants two vehicles at his disposal; one for himself — and one for his wife, Maggie.

† The request for personal security by Mayor Daley, concerned about serious safety threats, resulted in “the Chicago Police Department contacting the Secret Service to determine whether such security was necessary,” a top source said.

† The upshot: “It was determined Mayor Daley needed the security for a period of time,” the source added.

† What has yet to be determined is how long that period of time would be.

† A second Sneed source claims Mayor Daley initially asked for five bodyguards, but that may have included a number needed for constant surveillance.

† A history note: Although Mayor Jane Byrne, who lost her re-election bid to Harold Washington, did not leave office accompanied by a bodyguard detail, Sneed is told Mayor Eugene Sawyer — who occupied the office for a short period of time — was given a bodyguard. (Mayor Washington died in office.)

† The buckshot: In a time of economic downturn, such surveillance is gonna cost the city big bucks, and may cause a brouhaha.