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Mike and Sean share the progress of the steps project at the Courthouse, the audit presentation, revenues, budget resolution, update on the jail, and more on the WRAM Morning Show.
Those chance encounters with someone you're interested in that fail to turn into something more. It's the weird, the wild, and the desperate… it's Missed Connections!
Love was in the air at the Waukesha County Courthouse ahead of Valentine's Day, as couples prepared to tie the knot.
What are the pictures on the front of the Metro Courthouse that appear to be outlined in gold? Are they ever going to be restored?This question came to Curious Nashville way back — in 2016 — during the first year of the project. As the series is now marking 10 years of answering your questions, it's finally time to tackle this answer. And we're getting research help from Harpeth Hall "Winterim" intern Allyson Mao.Learn more, and see photos, at Curious.WPLN.org.
It's Friday the 13th! And it's not clear what that portends for Pittsburgh. Fear about increased ICE activity is creeping into everything from county government to the governor's race. City Cast's Mallory Falk and Megan Harris are with contributor Colin Williams talking about what we know, plus how the agency is quietly leasing new space all over the commonwealth. Stick around for street trees, PG updates, a new proposal to improve city snow removal, how an Allegheny County congressman eluded a grand jury indictment, a Carnegie International preview, and more. Check out our new City Cast podcast "Your City Could Be Better" on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by our CEO David Plotz, this week's inaugural episode features the host of City Cast Twin Cities talking about how Minneapolis and St. Paul mobilized so quickly and broadly against a months-long ICE operation. Notes and references from today's show: Allegheny County Council to consider bill barring ICE cooperation [WESA] Allegheny County Council Regular Meeting - February 10, 2026 [YouTube] ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here's Where It's Going Next [Wired] How agencies under Gov. Josh Shapiro's control do — and don't — cooperate with ICE [Spotlight PA] Governor hopeful Stacy Garrity says she'd work with Trump administration on Pennsylvania's elections [WITF] Shapiro, Democratic governors press White House to include all at annual event [Post-Gazette] Pittsburgh study links dark roofs and roads to higher heat and social vulnerability [Phys.org] Pittsburgh's street trees are free upon request. So why do they often go to the city's wealthiest residents? [City Paper] Learn more about the city's Shade Tree Commission [City of Pittsburgh] Planning with Purpose: 10x10,000 Trees for a More Resilient Pittsburgh [City of Pittsburgh] Increasing equitable access to Pgh's urban tree canopy [Pittsburgh Canopy Alliance] Learn more about ReLeaf programs in Beltzhoover, Cali-Kirkbride & Homewood [Tree Pittsburgh] Efforts to keep Pittsburgh Post-Gazette operating appear to stall [KDKA] Chairman of Penguins buyer says company is in talks to buy the Post-Gazette [WPXI] City councilor calls for faster snow removal at Pittsburgh sidewalks and bus stops [WESA] Former Pittsburgh Mayor Gainey appointed to state gaming control board [WESA] Grand jury refuses to indict Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Deluzio, in connection with illegal military orders video [Post-Gazette] Sen. John Fetterman says previous comments against voter ID were 'out of deference' to Gov. Tom Wolf [Post-Gazette] Kraft Heinz CEO pauses plans for company separation [Pgh Biz Times] If the word we 59th Carnegie International [CMOA] Four players with Pittsburgh ties helping the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team get off to a hot start [KDKA] Kingfly Spirits in Strip District abruptly closes [TribLive] Learn more about the sponsors of this February 13th episode: Heinz History Center AIDS Free Pittsburgh Family House Become a member of City Cast Pittsburgh at membership.citycast.fm. Want more Pittsburgh news? Sign up for our daily morning newsletter. We're on Instagram @CityCastPgh. Text or leave us a voicemail at 412-212-8893. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here.
I never thought I'd be glued to my screen watching courtroom drama unfold like a blockbuster thriller, but here we are in mid-February 2026, and President Donald Trump's legal battles are heating up faster than a Florida summer. Just two days ago, on February 11, a judge in Miami made waves by greenlighting Trump's massive $10 billion libel lawsuit against the BBC. Picture this: the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse at 400 North Miami Avenue, where Judge Roy K. Altman set a trial date for February 15, 2027. Trump accuses the BBC's Panorama documentary—aired right before the 2024 election—of doctored editing. They spliced clips from his January 6, 2021, speech at the Ellipse, making it sound like he said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell." According to court documents from the US District Court Southern District of Florida, Trump's lawyers call it "false and defamatory," claiming the BBC maliciously misled viewers worldwide. The leak of a memo from Michael Prescott, the BBC's former external adviser, fueled the fire, pointing to bias in that episode. BBC chair Samir Shah admitted an "error of judgement" but insists there's no defamation case. The BBC's fighting back hard, arguing the Florida court lacks jurisdiction since they didn't produce or air the show there—despite Trump pointing to BritBox streaming. A BBC spokesperson told The Independent they're defending vigorously and won't comment further. Trump's no stranger to media suits; he's already tangling with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.But that's just the appetizer. Shift to the Supreme Court, where whispers of bigger clashes are building. SCOTUSblog reports the justices are eyeing Trump-related heavyweights for their April session, including immigration tweaks, Fourth Amendment fights, and even claims against companies aiding torture. A News4JAX segment from late January flags 2026 as the real showdown year: will the court let Trump reshape birthright citizenship via executive order? Chief Justice John Roberts has been subtly defending judicial independence, hinting at history over politics. Cases like the Federal Reserve governor dismissal—tied to alleged mortgage fraud claims—are bubbling up, with the court skeptical of quick removals without full hearings. Then there's the mass detention policy upheld by the 5th Circuit, but federal judges are finding workarounds, per Politico. The Brennan Center tracks three active prosecutions against Trump from his pre-presidency days: the federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., the Georgia Fulton County probe, and the classified documents mess in Florida—plus that New York hush money conviction from May 2024. Lawfare's litigation tracker notes ongoing appeals, like vacating Trump's executive orders.As a guy who's followed this rollercoaster since the 2024 win, it feels like the judiciary's drawing a line in the sand during Trump's second term—midterms looming, no re-election bid, courts bolder. The BBC trial's a year out, but Supreme Court arguments kick off February 23, with more on February 20. Will tariffs, citizenship, or Fed power test the limits? Buckle up, listeners; the gavel's about to drop.Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production—for more, check out Quiet Please Dot A I.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
The latest on the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. The FBI releases video of a masked man on Nancy's doorstep the night she went missing. In Georgia, a man is on trial for the 2001 murder of a law student. His defense attorney has tough questions for the victim's boyfriend. In Dateline Round Up, a courtroom outburst from Luigi Mangione, and Alex Murdaugh appeals his case. Plus, a lookback at the attack on Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.Nancy Guthrie Tipline: 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324)Nancy Guthrie images: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/nancy-guthrieFind out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The latest on the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. The FBI releases video of a masked man on Nancy's doorstep the night she went missing. In Georgia, a man is on trial for the 2001 murder of a law student. His defense attorney has tough questions for the victim's boyfriend. In Dateline Round Up, a courtroom outburst from Luigi Mangione, and Alex Murdaugh appeals his case. Plus, a lookback at the attack on Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.Nancy Guthrie Tipline: 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324)Nancy Guthrie images: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/nancy-guthrieFind out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Today, Hunter was joined once again by Alameda County Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods. This time, they discuss how the office is handling their ever increasing workload due to Prop 36, how ICE enforcement is impacting their clients and communities, and why the state of California desperately needs to give county public defenders the protections they need to be independent voices for their communities. Guest: Brendon Woods, Chief Public Defender, Alameda County, California Resources: Learn more about the Office Here https://publicdefender.acgov.org/index.page https://www.facebook.com/AlamedaCountyPublicDefenders https://x.com/BrendonWoodsPD?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO6d0gC0y1H5hrdkstpIt_Q https://www.instagram.com/alamedacountypd/ https://www.instagram.com/brendonwoodspd/?hl=en ICE Around Alameda County https://www.ktvu.com/news/alameda-countys-new-order-could-effectively-ban-armed-ice-officers-from-courthouses https://oaklandside.org/2026/01/28/ice-free-zones-are-coming-to-alameda-county/ Public Defender Independence https://davisvanguard.org/2025/10/sb485-veto-public-defender-independence/ Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome Contact Hunter Parnell: Publicdefenseless@gmail.com Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com Subscribe to the Patreon www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home
Tuesday 4pm Hour: Jason talks about the Hennepin County Attorney objecting to ICE detaining undocumented people at the courthouse - should the County get to try them first? Then Jason talks with Vanessa Drews, owner of Cheesecake Funk, about her special offerings for Valentines Day
The Hennepin County Attorney is objecting to ICE showing up at the courthouse to detain undocumented people who are there because they've been charged with other crimes. Should the County get first crack at convicting them before ICE takes them away?
Ellingburg v. United States concerned whether forced restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA), was a civil remedy or a criminal penalty. The MVRA requires defendants who are convicted of some types of federal crimes to pay monetary restitution to the victims. Holsey Ellingburg committed a robbery in 1995. Then, during the course of his trial, the MVRA was passed. When sentenced, he was given both a prison sentence and ordered to pay mandatory restitution under the MVRA. Ellingburg eventually challenged the forced restitution, arguing that the application of the MVRA to him violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Eighth Circuit ruled against Ellingburg, holding that MVRA restitution is a civil remedy. Ellingburg petitioned the Supreme Court for review, which held the MVRA is "plainly criminal punishment" and thus its application to Ellingburg violated the Ex Post Facto clause.Join us for a Courthouse Steps program where we break down and analyze the decision and what its impacts may be.Featuring:Matthew P. Cavedon, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute(Moderator) Sarah Field, Chief Counsel, Legal Policy, Koch Capabilities, LLC
The latest North State and California news on our airwaves for Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
A former UCSB student has been convinced on multiple felony sex charges after a three-month trial. KCSB's Ruby Rai interviews Rebecca Caraway, a reporter with Noozhawk who covered the proceedings.
America has a pretty big birthday this year, 250 years, and Washoe County is proud to kick off our America250/Nevada podcast series from a place steeped in our own local history: the Historic Washoe County Courthouse. During this episode of Washoe Life, we explore how history will be honored and preserved at the Courthouse this year from District Judge Barry Breslow to curator and first-time author Tammy Buzick's deep dive into the legacy of the Bowers family and the Comstock era. Recorded inside this iconic courthouse, these conversations connect Nevada's past to its present as we begin a yearlong celebration of America's story, told through a Washoe County lens.
Stories of wholesome secrets that students shared on Reddit of how they boosted up fellow classmates' self-esteem, a grandpa that was caught saying sweet things about their grandkid on the other line after he forgot to hang up after their call, a program that brings furry friends into the courtroom to ease people's anxieties, a new medical advancement that could put an end to the need for testing blood sugar with finger pricks for people with diabetes, and more! Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1124919431985231/ Send positive stories, hopeful news articles, or topics you'd like us to cover to us at upliftingpositivestories@gmail.com, and we may feature them in a future podcast episode! Link to the "Courthouse canines help ease the tension, one tail wag at a time" Article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/just-paws-courthouse-dogs-9.7001948 Link to the "Noninvasive imaging could replace finger pricks for people with diabetes" Article: https://news.mit.edu/2025/noninvasive-imaging-could-replace-finger-pricks-diabetes-1203 Link to the r/BenignExistence Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BenignExistence/ Link to the r/AskReddit Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/
January 28, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds speak with Representative Bradley Slagh, House Corrections and Judiciary Budget Subcommittees Chair, about the proposed ban on ICE actions in Michigan courthouses. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections involved whether a candidate for federal office has standing to challenge an Illinois law that requires election officials to count mail-in ballots postmarked or certified as of election day and received within two weeks of the election.Following the 2024 election cycle, Congressman Michael Bost and two other political candidates sued the state board of elections, contending that counting ballots after election day violated federal law (principally 2 U. S. C. §7 and 3 U. S. C. §1, which set election day as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November). The district court dismissed the case, deciding the candidates lacked standing and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. Now the Supreme Court has reversed that ruling, holding in a decision by Chief Justice Roberts that Bost had standing to challenge the rules dealing with the counting of votes in his election.Join us for a Courthouse Steps program where we break down and analyze the decision and what its impacts may be.Featuring:Jason Torchinsky, Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC(Moderator) Hans A. Von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both involve the question of whether states can designate women’s sports based on biological sex consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.In 2020 and 2021, Idaho and West Virginia passed laws that required public schools and colleges to designate sports by biological sex and to forbid males from competing on women’s sports teams. Two male athletes who identified as females, one a middle school shot-put and discus thrower and the other a collegiate cross-country runner, challenged the laws in the U.S. District Courts for the District of Idaho and Southern District of West Virginia, alleging a right to compete in women’s sports and saying the state laws discriminate on the basis of sex and transgender status in violation of Title IX and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. In Little v. Hecox, the Idaho district court entered a preliminary injunction against the Idaho law for violating the Equal Protection Clause, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. In West Virginia v. B.P.J., the West Virginia district court preliminarily enjoined the West Virginia law for violating Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause and then dissolved that injunction, upholding the law at summary judgment. The Fourth Circuit reversed and ordered the district court to enjoin the law for violating Title IX.The Supreme Court granted certiorari, and oral argument is set for January 13, 2026. Join us for a post-oral argument Courthouse Steps program where we will break down and analyze how both oral arguments went before the Court.Featuring:Sarah Parshall Perry, Vice President & Legal Fellow, Defending Education(Moderator) William E. Trachman, General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
In Barrett v. United States, the Court was asked to consider the relationship between two provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act and whether a single act that violated both provisions could yield two convictions. The Court held the answer was "no", with a majority of the Court holding that Congress did not "clearly authorize" two convictions stemming from a single act.Though at first glance a technical case related to a provision of the federal criminal code, Barrett raises interesting questions about the Double Jeopardy clause, statutory interpretation, and sentencing.Join us for a Courthouse Steps program where we break down and analyze the decision and what its impacts may be.Featuring: William S. McClintock, Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding LLP
Louisiana's congressional districts, which it redrew following the 2020 census, currently sit in a state of legal uncertainty.The map initially only had one majority-black district. However, following a 2022 case called Robinson v. Ardoin (later Laundry), which held that it violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Louisiana re-drew the map to include two majority-black congressional districts.In January 2024, a different set of plaintiffs sued alleging the new map violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The case rose to SCOTUS and was heard as a part of the OT24 term. The issues before the Court included (1) Whether the majority of the three-judge district court in this case erred in finding that race predominated in the Louisiana legislature’s enactment of S.B. 8; (2) whether the majority erred in finding that S.B. 8 fails strict scrutiny; (3) whether the majority erred in subjecting S.B. 8 to the preconditions specified in Thornburg v. Gingles; and (4) whether this action is non-justiciable.On June 27, 2025, rather than issue a decision on the case, the Supreme Court issued an order restoring the case to the OT 25 calendar for reargument. This time, the Court has explicitly granted the question of "Whether Louisiana’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." Oral argument (round 2) is set for October 15, 2025.Join us for a post-oral argument Courthouse Steps program where we will break down and analyze how this oral argument went before the Court.Featuring:Prof. Michael R. Dimino, Sr., Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School(Moderator) Brad A. Benbrook, Founding Partner, Benbrook Law Group
Your Nebraska Update headlines for today, Jan. 27, include: federal immigration officers arrested four people during court appearances at Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha, ACLU of Nebraska filed fourth lawsuit alleging wrongful immigration detention, judge set trial date for former state Sen. Dan McKeon accused of inappropriately touching legislative staffer, new bill in Congress could make it easier for farmers to qualify for federal loans, five Nebraska businesses will receive manufacturing modernization and workforce development grants, Nebraska men's basketball rose to No. 5 in AP Top 25 ahead of Tuesday night matchup with No. 3 Michigan.
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David and Ryan sit down with Armando Banuelos, a 20-year courthouse auction veteran, to break down how he actually wins deals at the courthouse steps—and then, in the middle of the episode, he negotiates and locks up a $1.4M deal live on the podcast. Armando explains how preparation, patience, and understanding auction mechanics separate real buyers from spectators, why courthouse deals still work today, and what most investors completely misunderstand about buying this way. KEY TALKING POINTS:0:00 - Intro0:26 - An Overview Of Armando Banuelos' Business1:12 - How He Got Started4:18 - Outsourcing The Work & Finding Contractors5:35 - How Much He Made From His First Deal6:51 - Getting Deals From The Courthouse Now8:50 - Bidding On A House Live & How Auctions Work16:09 - What He's Going To Do Next18:13 - Closing Thoughts19:32 - Outro LINKS:Instagram: Armando Banueloshttps://www.instagram.com/armandobanuelos.cig/ Website: Capitol Buys Houseshttps://www.capitolbuyshouses.com/ Instagram: David Leckohttps://www.instagram.com/dlecko Website: DealMachinehttps://www.dealmachine.com/pod Instagram: Ryan Haywoodhttps://www.instagram.com/heritage_home_investments Website: Heritage Home Investmentshttps://www.heritagehomeinvestments.com/
Mary welcomes back Trey Dellinger, the Senior Legal Fellow of AFA Action, the government affairs affiliate of American Family Association. Trey has his finger on the pulse of the moral issues that affect our churches and our families. Today we look at the current SCOTUS cases on trans athletes in women’s sports. Trey gives us the rundown on those cases and why he has reason for optimism. Then we look at the first amendment as it relates to protesters storming churches. Whether it’s for attention or to bait Christians about race and their perspectives on what is important, we have to see what our rights are as believers. We also take a look at how our kids can be better protected online, since parents aren’t always the best gatekeepers – although that is their job. Finally we look at Human Trafficking Prevention month. So many moral issues, how do we keep up, and how can we help pastors keep up as well? Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A
The Salisbury Courthouse in Centerville IndianaToday the author discusses the Salisbury Courthouse in Centerville Indiana and the intense fight over where the Wayne County Seat would be.From the Book East Central Indiana Day Trips The Author's WebsiteThe Author on LocalsThe Author on FacebookThe Author on TwitterThe Author on RumbleThe Author on YouTubeThe Author's Amazon Page
Look for the show notes at AnokaCountyHistory.org
At Nuremberg courthouse, Pastor Lutzer stresses transcendent divine law above human courts, warns of redefining justice, and highlights amazing grace—that even repentant Nazis found forgiveness through Christ's gospel of redemption and hope.
At Nuremberg courthouse, Pastor Lutzer stresses transcendent divine law above human courts, warns of redefining justice, and highlights amazing grace—that even repentant Nazis found forgiveness through Christ's gospel of redemption and hope.
WE’RE BACK. And we admit to being caught off guard by President Trump’s announcement of the capture of Venezuela’s strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. We were also amazed and awed by the skill of the US military in his capture. No one thinks Maduro was a good guy, but to understand both the nature of the threat he posed to free countries and the legality of American action against him, we are calling on Dr. Evan Ellis, of the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Dr. Ellis has written for inFOCUS Quarterly, focusing on Latin American countries and their relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors, as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. Please join us for what promises to be an exceptional program.
Activities at Native organizations and a tribal college in Minneapolis, Minn., were canceled after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a woman Wednesday morning in the city. The Minneapolis American Indian Center canceled its Wednesday night programs due to community safety concerns and ICE activity in the neighborhood. The Red Lake Nation College, the Red Lake Nation Embassy, and the tribe's wellness center in Minneapolis closed Wednesday, and are expected to be closed for the rest of the week due to due the incident. MIGIZI, which supports Native youth in the Twin Cities, also canceled its programming. Tribes are expressing concerns about the incident and the safety of Native community members living in the Twin Cities. The Red Lake Tribal Council is urging its citizens to be careful, and to avoid ICE and other federal agents. The council released a two-page written message Wednesday, outlining concerns, which includes asking tribal members to report any interactions with ICE to the tribe's council or embassy. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa also raised concerns in a written message to its community about the safety of tribal members living in the Twin Cities. Robert Pilot is the host of Native Roots Radio based in the Twin Cities. He says the Native community is feeling the impacts of the shooting. “The reaction I’ve seen with the Native community is been just a gasp of what’s happened. 75,000 Native Americans live in Minneapolis (Twin Cities area). In that area of the shooting, there’s a very high percentage of Native Americans that live in that community, and they feel their community is being attacked by the federal government.” Pilot says members of the Native community are standing with their allies and took part in demonstrations against ICE on Wednesday in the area of the shooting. “There was a woman Native singer group that sang and it’s all about the healing. And I think the community, especially that community really knows that the Native community is really involved and really vetted into everything that happens there, happens to them. It was only a very short blocks away from the murder of George Floyd and that community is so scarred, but we have a resilience and our Native community is there and was there and is there and will still be there … we also are a big part of the community. And we want people to be safe, but we also want to be heard and be out there and support our community too, because this is our community too and all of Turtle Island is our community.” The woman killed was identified as 37-year-old Renee Good. The Trump administration is justifying the shooting, while the city's mayor disputes that and is demanding ICE leave Minneapolis. The Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix, Ariz. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) A three-judge panel in Phoenix, Ariz., heard arguments on Wednesday over continuing a court-ordered injunction blocking a controversial land exchange. As KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the land swap would result in a copper mining operation that is estimated to create a two-mile-wide crater, devouring an Apache holy site. It's been 140 days since the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed a land swap first approved by Congress more than a decade ago. According to the 2015 law, 2,400 acres of Tonto National Forest must be turned over to Resolution Copper within 60 days of a final environmental impact statement being published, which happened in June. Plaintiffs in three different cases include the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, San Carlos Apache Tribe, and a group of Apache women and girls. Defendants asked for the injunction to be lifted, which could lead to an immediate public land transfer. The judges did not say when their decision will be made. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, January 8, 2026 — New post office rule is among potential hurdles for Native voters
Charlie Cotton is on location live at the courthouse for Nick Reiner's arraignment on charges of murdering his parents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On June 27, 2025, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire challenging President Trump's Executive Order No. 14,160, which denies birthright citizenship to children born after February 19th, 2025 to parents who are either illegally present in or temporary residents of the United States. On July 10th, the District Court issued a preliminary injunction barring the execution of the order, and, in September, the Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari before judgment. The Court granted cert and will hear oral arguments in early 2026.The case hinges on the question of whether children born to illegal or temporary residents of the United States are "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" and thus entitled to citizenship under the 14th amendment. Join us for this timely discussion on a case with immense implications for immigration enforcement, our understanding of the 14th amendment, and the meaning of birthright citizenship.Featuring:Trent McCotter, Partner, Boyden Gray PLLCProf. Michael Ramsey, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of LawProf. Ilan Wurman, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School(Moderator) Prof. Randy Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center
In National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) the Court is set to consider “whether the limits on coordinated party expenditures in 52 U.S.C. § 30116 violate the First Amendment, either on their face or as applied to party spending in connection with "party coordinated communications" as defined in 11 C.F.R. § 109.37.”.The case kicked off in 2022 when two Republican party committees brought suit against the FEC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. They contended the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) imposed unconstitutional restrictions on their capacity to coordinate campaign advertising with candidates, and that FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001) which had upheld the restrictions as constitutional, had been made unsound by developments in law, facts, and precedent in the intervening time.As required by FECA for constitutional challenges, the district court certified the legal question to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sitting en banc which upheld FECA. The Supreme Court granted cert. and Oral Argument is set to be heard on December 9, 2025.Join us for an expert breakdown of oral arguments.Featuring:Brett Nolan, Senior Attorney, Institute for Free Speech
Jose headed down to the courthouse to ask the fine citizens hanging around the halls of justice a simple question... "whatcha doin' at the courthouse?"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is the noon All Local for Monday, January 5, 2026
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports on President Maduro's court appearance.
Nicolas Maduro has arrived at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he is expected to be arraigned on Monday. President Trump says the U.S. is now in charge in Venezuela and plans to have American oil companies revive the country's energy sector. Trump also predicted Cuba is close to collapse without Venezuelan oil, and hinted traffickers in Colombia and Mexico could face U.S. military action. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said the Maduro's capture was a law-enforcement operation without need of congressional approval.For many Americans, it won't feel like the middle of winter. Forecasters say a big warm up is heading eastwards, bringing temperatures well above normal for this time of year. Record highs are expected in central U.S. A strong high pressure system is expected to keep temperatures high for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, California is dealing with flooding and mudslides.Authorities say they've finished identifying all 40 victims of the deadly New Year's Eve fire at a Swiss bar. Swiss police say, many of the victims were just teenagers, including two 14-year-olds. No names have been released yet. Hundreds of people marched in silence through the ski resort of Crans-Montana on Sunday to honor the victims. Swizterland will hold a national day of mourning on Firday, which church bells ringing and a moment of silence to honor the victims.
For some, it's an inconvenience. But for others, it could make or break their case. A bill in the General Assembly could change what you can bring into a courthouse. Michael Pope explains.
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdf
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdf
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdf
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.
The April 24, 2007 testimony before Federal Grand Jury 07-103 in West Palm Beach was part of Operation Leap Year, the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation. The proceedings took place inside the U.S. Courthouse and reflected a moment when federal prosecutors were actively laying out evidence, witness testimony, and investigative findings related to Epstein's alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls. This phase of the grand jury process focused on establishing patterns of conduct, corroborating victim statements, and clarifying the scope of Epstein's activities, including how victims were recruited, transported, and compensated. Testimony presented during this session was aimed at helping jurors understand the systematic nature of the abuse rather than isolated incidents, reinforcing the argument that Epstein's conduct met federal thresholds for serious criminal charges.In this episode, we begin digging into the deposition of one of the young women who accused Jeffrey Epstein, shifting the focus away from legal maneuvering and back onto the human cost at the center of this case. Her sworn testimony offers a chilling, first-person account of how she was recruited, what she was told, and what she experienced inside Epstein's world, filling in details that never fully surfaced in public at the time. The deposition strips away euphemisms and defenses, replacing them with a raw narrative that shows how methodical and normalized the abuse became from the victim's perspective. As we walk through her words, it becomes clear how closely her account aligns with others, reinforcing that these were not isolated claims but part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern that federal investigators were already aware of in 2007.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:EFTA00009586.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.
In this episode of Gangland Wire, Gary Jenkins sits down with Bob Cooley, the once–well-connected Chicago lawyer who lived at the center of the city's most notorious corruption machine. After years out of the public eye, Cooley recently resurfaced to revisit his explosive memoir, When Corruption Was King—and this conversation offers a rare, firsthand look at how organized crime, politics, and the court system intersected in Chicago for decades. Cooley traces his journey from growing up in a police family to serving as a Chicago police officer and ultimately becoming a criminal defense attorney whose real job was quietly fixing cases for the Chicago Outfit. His deep understanding of the judicial system made him indispensable to mob-connected power brokers like Pat Marcy, a political fixer with direct access to judges, prosecutors, and court clerks. Inside the Chicago Corruption Machine Cooley explains how verdicts were bought, cases were steered, and justice was manipulated—what insiders called the “Chicago Method.” He describes his relationships with key figures in organized crime, including gambling bosses like Marco D'Amico and violent enforcers such as Harry Aleman and Tony Spilotro, painting a chilling picture of life inside a world where loyalty was enforced by fear. As his role deepened, so did the psychological toll. Cooley recounts living under constant threat, including a contract placed on his life after he refused to betray a fellow associate—an event that forced him to confront the cost of the life he was leading. Turning Point: Becoming a Federal Witness The episode covers Cooley's pivotal decision in 1986 to cooperate with federal authorities, a move that helped dismantle powerful corruption networks through FBI Operation Gambat. Cooley breaks down how political connections—not just street-level violence—allowed the Outfit to operate with near-total impunity for so long. Along the way, Cooley reflects on the moral reckoning that led him to turn on the system that had enriched and protected him, framing his story as one not just of crime and betrayal, but of reckoning and redemption. What Listeners Will Hear How Bob Cooley became the Outfit's go-to case fixer The role of Pat Marcy and political corruption in Chicago courts Firsthand stories involving Marco D'Amico, Harry Aleman, and Tony Spilotro The emotional and psychological strain of living among violent criminals The decision to cooperate and the impact of Operation Gambat Why Cooley believes Chicago's corruption endured for generations Why This Episode Matters Bob Cooley is one of the few people who saw the Chicago Outfit from inside the courtroom and the back rooms of power. His story reveals how deeply organized crime embedded itself into the institutions meant to uphold the law—and what it cost those who tried to escape it. This episode sets the stage for a deeper follow-up conversation, where Gary and Cooley will continue unpacking the most dangerous and revealing moments of his life. Resources Book: When Corruption Was King by Bob Cooley Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here. To purchase one of my books, click here. 0:03 Prelude to Bob Cooley’s Story 1:57 Bob Cooley’s Background 5:24 The Chicago Outfit Connection 8:24 The Turning Point 15:20 The Rise of a Mob Lawyer 23:54 A Life of Crime and Consequences 26:03 The Incident at the Police Station 50:27 The Count and His Influence 1:19:51 The Murder of a Friend 1:35:26 Contracts and Betrayal 1:40:36 Conclusion and Future Stories Transcript [0:00] Well, hey guys, this is a little prelude to my next story. Bob Cooley was a Chicago lawyer and an outfit associate who had been in, who has been in hiding for many years. I contacted him about six or seven years ago when I first started a podcast, I was able to get a phone number on him and, and got him on the phone. He was, I think it was out in the desert in Las Vegas area at the time. And at the time he was trying to sell his book when corruption was king to a movie producer And he really didn’t want to overexpose himself, and they didn’t really want him to do anything. And eventually, COVID hit, and the movie production was canceled. And it was just all over. There were several movie productions were canceled during COVID, if I remember right. A couple people who I have interviewed and had a movie deal going. Well, Bob recently remembered me, and he contacted me. He just called me out of the clear blue, and he wanted to revive his book and his story. He’s been, you know, way out of the limelight for a long time. And so I thought, well, I always wanted to interview this guy because he’s got a real insider’s knowledge to Chicago Outfit, the one that very few people have. [1:08] You know, here’s what he knows about. And he provides valuable insight into the inner workings of the Outfit. And I don’t mean, you know, scheming up how to kill people and how to do robberies and burglars and all that. But the Chicago court system and Chicago politics, that’s a, that’s a, the, the mob, a mafia family can’t exist unless they have connections into the political system and especially the court system. Otherwise, what good are they? You know, I mean, they, they just take your money where they give you back. They can’t protect you from anybody. [1:42] So I need to give you a little more of the backstory before we go on to the actual interview with Bob, because he kind of rambles a little bit and goes off and comes back and drops [1:54] names that we don’t have time to go into explanation. So here’s a little bit of what he talked about. He went from being, as I said before, Chicago Outfit’s trusted fixer in the court system, and he eventually became the government star witness against them. He’s born, he’s about my age. He was born in 1943. He was an Irish-American police family and came from the Chicago South side. He was a cop himself for a short period of time, but he was going to law school while he was a policeman. And once he started practicing law, he moved right into criminal law and into first ward politics and the judicial world downtown. [2:36] And that’s where the outfit and the old democratic machine intersected. He was in a restaurant called Counselor’s Row, which was right down. Bob had an office downtown. Well, he’s inside that system, and he uses his insider’s knowledge to fix cases. Once an outfit started noticing him that he could fix a case if he wanted to, he immediately became connected to the first ward power broker and outfit political conduit, a guy named Pat Marcy. Pat Marcy knew all the judges He knew all the court clerks And all the police officers And Bob was getting to know him too During this time But Bob was a guy who was out in He was a lawyer And he was working inside the court system Marcy was just a downtown fixer. [3:22] But Bob got to where he could guarantee acquittals or light sentences for whoever came to him with the right amount of money, whether it be a mobster or a bookmaker or a juice loan guy or a crap politician, whoever it was, Bob could fix the case. [3:36] One of the main guys tied to his work he was kind of attached to a crew everybody’s owned by somebody he was attached to the Elmwood Park crew and Marco D’Amico who was under John DeFranco and I can’t remember who was before DeFranco, was kind of his boss and he was a gambling boss and Bob was a huge gambler I mean a huge gambler and Bob will help fix cases for some notorious people Really, one of the most important stories that we’ll go into in the second episode of this is Harry the Hook Aleman. And he also helped fix the case for Tony Spolatro and several others. He’s always paid him in cash. And he lived large. As you’ll see, he lived large. And he moved comfortably between mobsters and politicians and judges. And he was one of the insiders back in the 70s, 60s or 70s mainly. He was an insider. But by the 80s, he’s burned out. He’s disgusted with himself. He sees some things that he doesn’t like. They put a contract out on him once because he wouldn’t give somebody up as an informant, and he tipped one of his clients off that he was going to come out that he was an informant, and the guy was able to escape, I believe. Well, I have to go back and listen to my own story. [4:53] Finally in 1986 he walked unannounced they didn’t have a case on him and he walked unannounced in the U.S. Courthouse and offered himself up to take down this whole Pat Marcy and the whole mobster political clique in Chicago and he wore a wire for FBI an operation called Operation Gambat which is a gambling attorney because he was a huge gambler [5:17] huge huge gambler and they did a sweeping probe and indicted tons of people over this. So let’s go ahead and listen to Robert Cooley. [5:31] Uh, he, he, like I said, he’s a little bit rambling and a little bit hard to follow sometimes, but some of these names and, and, uh, and in the first episode, we’ll really talk about his history and, uh, where he came from and how he came up. He’ll mention somebody called the count and I’ll do that whole count story and a whole nother thing. So when he talks about the count, just disregard that it’ll be a short or something. And I got to tell that count story. It’s an interesting story. Uh, he, he gets involved with the only own, uh, association, uh, and, uh, and the, uh, Chinese Tong gang in, uh, Chicago and Chicago’s Chinatown. Uh, some of the other people he’ll talk about are Marco D’Amico, as I said, and D’Amico’s top aide, Rick Glantini, uh, another, uh, connected guy and worked for the city of Chicago is Robert Abinati. He was a truck driver. [6:25] He was also related to D’Amico and D’Amico’s cousin, former Chicago police officer Ricky Borelli. Those are some of the names that he’ll mention in this. So let’s settle back and listen to Bob Cooley. Hey, all you wiretappers. Good to be back here in studio gangland wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective. And, you know, we we deal with the mob here once a week, sometimes twice a week on the podcast. And I have a special guest that hadn’t been heard from for a while. And, you know, to be honest, guys, I’ve kind of gotten away from the outfit. I’ve been doing a lot of New York stuff and Springfield, Massachusetts and all around the country. And I kind of got away from Chicago. And we’re going back to Chicago today. And I’m honored that Bob Cooley got hold of me. Now, you may not know who Bob Cooley was, but Bob Cooley was a guy. He was a mob lawyer in Chicago, and he really probably, he heard him as much as anybody’s ever heard him, and he did it all of his own accord. He was more like an undercover agent that just wasn’t officially designated an FBI agent rather than an informant. But anyhow, welcome, Bob. [7:37] Hello. Nice meeting you. Nice to meet you. And I’ve talked to you before. And you were busy before a few years ago. And you were getting ready to make some movies and stuff. And then COVID hit and a lot of that fell through. And that happened to several people I’ve talked to. You got a lot in common with me. I was a Kansas City policeman. And I ended up becoming a lawyer after I left the police department. And you were a Chicago copper. And then you left the police department a little bit earlier than I did and became a lawyer. And, and Bob, you’re from a Chicago police family, if I remember right. Is that correct? Oh, police, absolute police background, the whole family. Yes. Yeah. Your grandfather, your grandfather was killed in the line of duty. Is that right? [8:25] Both of my grandfathers were killed in the line of duty. Wow. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I eventually did what I did. I was very, very close with my dad. Yeah, and your dad was a copper. [8:38] He was a policeman, yeah. And in fact, you use that term. I, for many, many years, wouldn’t use that word. It just aggravated me when people would use the word copper. To me, it would show disrespect. Oh, really? I said to us in Kansas City, that’s what we call each other, you know, among coppers. Oh, I know. I know. But I know. But, you know, I just, for whatever reason, one of the things that aggravated me the most, in fact, when I was being cross-examined by this piece of shit, Eddie Jensen, the one I wrote about in my book that was, you know, getting a lot of people killed and whatever. And he made some comment about my father. and I got furious and I had to, you know, my father was unbelievably honest as a policeman. [9:29] Everybody loved him because they didn’t have to share, uh, you know, but he was a detective. He had been written up many times in true and magazines and these magazines for making arrests. He was involved in the cartage detail. He was involved in all kinds of other things, but honest as the day is long. And, and, um, but, uh, again, the, uh, my father’s father was, uh, was a policeman and he was killed by a member of the Capone gang. And, uh, and when he was killed, after he was killed. [10:05] The, uh, well, after he got shot, he got shot during a robbery after he got shot, he was in the hospital for a while. And then he went, then he went back home. He went back home to his, uh, you know, to his house, uh, cause he had seven kids. He had a big family too. And, uh, stayed with his, you know, with his wife and, and, and eventually died. And when he died they had a very mediocre funeral for him. They had a bigger, much bigger funeral when Al Capone’s brother died. But during that time when I was a kid when I was about 13, 12, 13 years old, I worked among other places at a grocery store where I delivered to my grandmother. My grandmother lived in South Park which later became Mark Luther King Drive. She lived a very, very meager life because she basically had nothing. [11:09] What they gave them for the, at that time, what they gave them for the police department was a portion of the husband’s salary when they died, whatever. It was never a big deal like it is now, you know, like it is now when policemen get killed in the line of duty. and I’m thinking at the same time I’m thinking down the road, You know, about certain things from my past did come back to affect me. [11:38] Doing what I was doing, when I got involved, and I got involved absolutely with all these different people. My father hated these people. I didn’t, you know, I didn’t realize how much. I didn’t realize much when I was growing, you know, when I was growing up and whatever. And even when I was practicing law and when I opened up Pratt-Mose, I would have my father and mother come along with other people. And the place was all full of mobsters. I mean, we’re talking about, you know, a lot of Capone’s whole crew. A lot of the gunmen were still alive. In fact, the ones that ran the first award were all gunmen from Capone’s mob. And never said a word, never said a word about it. You know, he met my partner, Johnny Diaco, who was part of the mob, the senator, and whatever colitis could be. My dad, when my dad was dying. [12:38] When my dad was dying, he had what they didn’t call it, but it had to be Alzheimer’s because my dad was a unbelievably, he was a big, strong man, but he was never a fighter, sweet as could be to anybody and everybody. When he started getting bad, he started being mean to my mother and doing certain things. So we finally had to put him into a nursing home. When I went to see him in the nursing, and I had a close relationship with my dad because he saved my life many times when I was a kid. I was involved with stolen cars at school. I should have been thrown out of school. It was Mount Carmel, but he had been a Carmelite, almost a Carmelite priest. [13:25] And whatever, and that’s what kept me from being kicked out of school at Marquette when they were going to throw me out there because I was, again, involved in a lot of fights, and I also had an apartment that we had across the hall from the shorter hall where I was supposed to stay when I was a freshman, and we were throwing huge parties, and they wanted to throw me out of school. My dad came, my dad came and instead of throwing me out, they let me resign and whatever he had done so much, you know, for me. Yeah. [14:00] Now when I, when I meet, when I meet him up in the hospital, I, I came in the first time and it was about maybe 25 miles outside, you know, from where my office was downtown. And when I went in to see him, they had him strapped in a bed because apparently when he initially had two people in the room and when somebody would come in to try to talk to him and whatever, he would be nasty. And one time he punched one of the nurses who was, you know, because he was going in the bed and they wouldn’t, and he wouldn’t let him take him out. You know, I was furious and I had to go, I had to go through all that. And now, just before he died, it was about two or three days before he died, he didn’t recognize anybody except me. Didn’t recognize my mother. Didn’t recognize anybody. Yet when I would come into the room, son, that’s what he always called me, son, when I would come in. So he knew who I basically was. And he would even say, son, don’t let him do this to me when he had to go through or they took out something and he had to wear one. Of those, you know, those decatheters or whatever. Oh, yeah. [15:15] Just before he died, he said to me, he said, son, he said, those are the people that killed my father. He said, and his case was fixed. After, I had never known that. In fact, his father, Star, was there at 11th and State, and I would see it when everyone went in there. Star was up there on the board as if there’s a policeman or a policeman killed in the line of duty. When he told me that it really and I talked to my brother who knew all about all that that’s what happened, the gunman killed him on 22nd street when that happened the case went to trial and he was found not guilty apparently the case was fixed I tell you what talk about poetic justice there your grandson is now in that system of fixing cases. I can’t even imagine what you must have felt like when you learned that at that point in your life. Man, that would be a grief. That would be tough. That’s what eventually made me one day decide that I had to do something to put an end to all that was going on there. [16:25] I’m curious, what neighborhood did you grow up in? Neighborhood identity is pretty strong in Chicago. So what neighborhood do you claim? I grew up in the hood. First place I grew up, my first place when I was born, I was at 7428 South Vernon. Which is the south side, southeast side of the city. I was there until I was in sixth grade. That was St. Columbanus Parish. When I was in sixth grade, we had to move because that’s when they were doing all the blockbusting there in Chicago. That’s when the blacks were coming in. And when the blacks were coming in, and I truly recall, We’ve talked about this many times elsewhere. I remember knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell all hours of the day and night. A black family just moved in down the street. You’ve got to sell now. If you don’t, the values will all go down. And we would not move. My father’s philosophy, we wouldn’t move until somebody got killed in the area. Because he couldn’t afford it. He had nine kids. he’s an honest policeman making less than $5,000 a year. [17:45] Working two, three jobs so we could all survive when he finished up, When he finished up with, when we finally moved, we finally moved, he went to 7646 South Langley. That was, again, further south, further south, and the area was all white at that time. [18:09] We were there for like four years, and about maybe two or three years, and then the blacks started moving in again. The first one moved in, and it was the same pattern all over again. Yeah, same story in Kansas City and every other major city in the United States. They did that blockbusting and those real estate developers. Oh, yeah, blockbusters. They would call and tell you that the values wouldn’t go down. When I was 20, I joined the police department. Okay. That’s who paid my way through college and law school. All right. I joined the police department, and I became a policeman when I was 20. [18:49] As soon as I could. My father was in recruit processing and I became a policeman. During the riots, I had an excuse not to go. They thought I was working. I was in the bar meeting my pals before I went to work. That’s why I couldn’t go to school at that time. But anyhow, I took some time off. I took some time off to, you know, to study, uh, because, you know, I had all C’s in one D in my first, in my first semester. And if you didn’t have a B, if you didn’t have a C average, you couldn’t, you kicked out of school at the end of a quarter. This is law school. You’re going to law school while you’re still an active policeman. Oh yeah, sure. That’s okay. So you work full time and went to law school. You worked full-time and went to law school at the same time. When I was 20, I joined the police department. Okay. That’s who paid my way through college and law school. All right. I joined the police department, and I became a policeman when I was 20, as soon as I could. My father was in recruit processing, and I became a policeman. Yeah, yeah. But anyhow, I went to confession that night. [20:10] And when I went to confession, there was a girl, one of the few white people in the neighborhood, there was a girl who had gone before me into the confessional. And I knew the priest. I knew him because I used to go gambling with him. I knew the priest there at St. Felicis who heard the confessions. And this is the first time I had gone to confession with him even though I knew him. [20:36] And I wanted to get some help from the big guy upstairs. And anyhow, when I leave, I leave about maybe 10 minutes later, and she had been saying her grace, you know, when I left. And when I walked out, I saw she was right across the street from my house, and there’s an alley right there. And she was a bit away from it, and there were about maybe 13, 14, 15 kids. when I say kids, they were anywhere from the age of probably about 15, 16 to about 18, 19. And they’re dragging her. They’re trying to drag her into the alley. And when I see that, when I see that, I head over there. When I get over there, I have my gun out. I have the gun out. And, you know, what the hell is going on? And, you know, and I told her, I told her her car was parked over there. I told her, you know, get out of here. And I’ve got my gun. I’ve got my gun in my hand. And I don’t know what I’m going to do now in terms of doing anything because I’m not going to shoot them. They’re standing there looking at me. And after a little while, I hear sirens going on. [22:00] The Barton family lived across the street in an apartment building, and they saw what was going on. They saw me out there. It was about probably about seven o’clock at night. It was early at night and they put a call in 10-1 and call in 10-1. Assist the officer. Is that a assist the officer? It’s 1031. Police been in trouble. Yeah. And the squad’s from everywhere. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So you can hear, you can hear them coming. And now one of them says to me, and I know they’re pretty close. One of them says to me, you know, put away your gun and we’ll see how tough you are. And I did. [22:42] Because you know they’re close. And I’m busy fighting with a couple of them. And they start running and I grab onto two of them. I’m holding onto them. I could only hold two. I couldn’t hold anymore. And the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital about four days later. Wow. What had happened was they pushed me. Somebody, there was another one behind who pushed me right in front of a squad car coming down the street. Oh, shit. Yeah, man. And the car ran completely over me. They pulled me off from under the, just under the back wheels, I was told were right next to, were onto me, blood all over the place. Everybody thought I was dead. Right. Because my brothers, my one brother who was a police kid that, you know, heard all the noise and the family came in. I tried to prostrate my house and they all thought I was dead. But anyhow, I wake up in the hospital about three days later. When I wake up in the hospital, I’m like. [23:54] Every bone of my body was broken. I’m up there like a mummy. And the mayor came to see me. All kinds of people came to see me. They made me into an even bigger star in my neighborhood. The Count lives down the street and is seeing all this stuff about me and whatever. Jumping quickly to another thing, which got me furious. Willie Grimes was the cop that was driving this quad. He was a racist. We had some blacks in the job. He was a total racist. When my brother and when some others were doing their best to try to find these people, he was protecting them. Some of them, if they caught, he was protecting them. [24:48] I was off the job for like nine months when I came back to work. I never came to the hospital to see me. I mean, everybody came. Every day, my hospital went. Because one of the nurses that I was dating, in fact, she was one of those killed. That’s when Richard Speck wound up killing her and some of the others at the same time. It was at the South Chicago Hospital. Holy darn. What they did for me, I had buckets in my womb with ice. We were bringing beer and pizzas and whatever. Every day was like a party in there. When I finally came back to work, it was 11 o’clock at night. I worked out in South Chicago, and I’m sitting in the parking lot, and the media is there. The media, they had all kinds of cameras there. Robert Cooley’s coming back to work after like nine months. They wouldn’t let me go back. [25:51] I’m walking by the squads. And Willie was a big guy. He was probably about 220, a big one of these big muscle builders and all that nonsense. [26:04] He’s sitting in the first car. The cars are all lined up because when we would change, when we would change at like 11 30 uh you know the cars would all be waiting we jumped into the cars and off we go as i’m walking by the car i hear aren’t you afraid to walk in front of my car. [26:26] I look over and he had a distinctive voice i walk over to the car and i reach in and i start punching them, and I’m trying to drag them out of the car. The cameras, the cameras are, you know, they’re all basically inside. They’re all inside. You know, as you walk in there, they’re all inside there. When I do, I eventually walk up there. But the other police came, and they dragged me. They dragged me away, and they brought me in, and whatever. We got transferred out the next day out of the district. And the first policeman I meet is Rick, Rick Dorelli, who’s connected with, who’s a monster. He’s connected with them. And, and he’s the one who told me, he said to me, you know, we played cards and he realized I was a gambler, but I had never dealt with bookmakers. And he said, he says, yeah, you want to make some money? You want to make some easy money? Well, yeah, sure. You know, uh, you know, and thinking that’s, you know, working security or something like that, like I had done back in Chicago, you know, like I had done on the south side. And he said, I want you to make some bets for me with somebody who said. [27:43] And I remember him using the term. He said, I want you to be my face. He said, and I want you to make some bets for me. He said, and he said, and if you, if you’ll do it, I’ll give you a hundred dollars a week just to make the bets for me. And then, you know, and then meet with these people and pay these people off. And I said, sure. You know, I said, you know, why? He says, because I can’t play with these. people he said i’m connected with him he said and i’m not allowed to gamble myself he said but he told me he said i’ve got a couple people i take bets from i’ve got my own side deal going so i want you to do it i want you to do it and i’ll give i’ll give you to them as a customer, and you’re gonna be a customer and he’s and he tells people now that i got this other police He’s in law school. He comes from a real wealthy family, and he’s looking for a place to bet. He’s in Gambia. He’s looking for a place to bet. [28:47] So I call this number, and I talk to this guy. He gives me a number. When you bet, you call, and you do this, and you do that. And I’m going to get $100 at the end of the week. Now, I’m making $5,200 a year, and they’re taking money out of my chest. I’m going to double my salary. I’m going to double my salary immediately. Why wouldn’t you do it? That’s fantastic money at the time. So I start doing it. And the first week I’m doing it, it was baseball season. [29:19] And I’m making these bets. He’s betting $500 a game on a number of games. And he’s winning some, he’s losing some. But now, when I’m checking my numbers with the guy there, he owes, at the end of the week, he owes $3,500. [29:38] And now, it’s getting bigger and bigger, he’s losing. I’m getting worried. What have I got myself into? Yeah, because it’s not him losing, it’s you losing to the bookie. That’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking, holy, holy, Christopher, I’m thinking. But, you know, I’ve already jumped off the building. So anyhow. I’d be thinking, you better come up with a jack, dude. It’s time to pay up, man. Anyhow, so when I come to work the next day, I’m supposed to meet this guy at one of the clubs out there in the western suburbs. [30:21] I’m supposed to meet the bookmaker out there. And Ricky meets me that morning, and he gives me the money. It’s like $3,400, and here’s $100 for you. Bingo. That’s great. So, okay. When I go to make the payment to him, it’s a nightclub, and I got some money in my pocket. Somebody, one of the guys, some guy walks up. I’m sitting at the bar and, you know, I hear you’re a copper. I said, pardon me? He says, I hear you’re a copper. He was a big guy. Yeah. I hear you’re a copper. Because at that time, I still only weighed maybe like, well, maybe 60, 65 pounds. I mean, I was in fantastic shape, but I wasn’t real big. And I said, I’m a policeman. I don’t like policemen. I said, go fuck yourself. or something like that. And before he could do anything, I labeled him. That was my first of about a half a dozen fights in those different bars out there. [31:32] And the fights only lasted a few minutes because I would knock the person down. And if the person was real big, at times I’d get on top and just keep pounding before they could do anything. So I started with a reputation with those people at that time now as I’m, going through my world with these people oh no let’s stay with that one area now after the second week he loses again, this time not as much but he loses again and I’m thinking wow, He’s betting, and I’m contacted by a couple of people there. Yeah. Because these are all bookmakers there, and they see me paying off. So I’m going to be, listen, if you want another place to play, and I say, well, yeah. So my thought is, with baseball, it’s a game where you’re laying a price, laying 160, laying 170, laying 180. So if you lose $500, if you lose, you pay $850, and if you win, you only get $500. [32:52] I’ve got a couple of people now, and they’ve got different lines. And what I can do now is I check with their lines. I check with Ricky’s guy and see what his line is. And I start moving his money elsewhere where I’ve got a 30, 40, sometimes 50 cent difference in the price. So I’d set it up where no matter what, I’m going to make some money, No matter what happens, I’ll make some money. But what I’m also doing is I’m making my own bets in there that will be covered. And as I start early winning, maybe for that week I win maybe $1,000, $1,500. And then as I meet other people and I’m making payments, within about four or five months, I’ve got 10 different bookmakers I’m dealing with. Who I’m dealing with. And it’s become like a business. I’m getting all the business from him, 500 a game, whatever. And I’ve got other people that are betting, you know, are betting big, who are betting through me. And I’m making all kinds of money at that time. [34:14] But anyhow, now I mentioned a number of people, A number of people are, I’ve been with a number of people that got killed after dinner. One of the first ones was Tony Borsellino, a bookmaker. Tony was connected with the Northside people, with DeVarco, the one they called DeVarco. And we had gone to a we had gone to a I knew he was a hit man, we had gone to a basketball game over at DePaul because he had become a good friend of mine he liked hanging with me, because I was because at that time now I’m representing the main madams in Chicago too and they loved being around me they liked going wherever I was going to go so I always had all kinds of We left the ladies around. And we went to the basketball game. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant, a steakhouse on Chicago Avenue. [35:26] Gee, why can’t I think of a name right now? We went to a steakhouse, and we had dinner. And when we finished up, it came over there. And when we finished up, I’d been there probably half a dozen times with him. And he was there with his girlfriend. We had dinner and about, I’d say it was maybe 10, 30, 11 o’clock, he says, you know, Bob, can you do me a favor? What’s that? Can you drop her off? He said, I have to go meet some friends. I have to go meet some friends of ours. And, you know, okay, sure, Tony, not a problem. And, you know, I took her home. [36:09] The next day I wake up, Tony Barcellino was found dead. They killed him. He was found with some bullets in the back of his head. They killed him. Holy Christopher. And that’s my first—I found that I had been killed before that. But, you know, wow, that was—, prior to that, when I was betting, there was i paid off a bookmaker a guy named uh ritten shirt, rittenger yeah john rittenger yeah yeah yeah he was a personal friend yeah was he a personal friend of yours yeah they offed him too well i in fact i he i was paying him i met him to pay him I owed him around $4,500, and I met him at Greco’s at my restaurant he wanted to meet me out there because he wanted to talk to me about something else he had a problem some kind of a problem I can’t remember what that was. [37:19] But he wanted to meet me at the restaurant so I met him at Greco’s, And I paid him the money. We talked for a while. And then he says, you know, I got to go. I got to go meet somebody. I got to go meet somebody else. I got to go straight now with somebody else. And he said, I’ll give you a call. He said, I’ll give you a call later. He said, because, you know, I want to talk to you about a problem that I have. He says, I want to talk to you about a problem that I have. I said, okay, sure. He goes to a pizza place. Up there in the Taylor Street area. That’s where he met Butchie and Harry. In fact, at the time, I knew both of them. Yeah, guys, that’s Butch Petrucelli and Harry Alem and a couple of really well-known mob outfit hitmen. Yeah, and they’re the ones that kill them. I’m thinking afterwards, I mean, But, you know, I wish I hadn’t, I wish I hadn’t, you know, I wish I could save him. I just gave him. Man, you’re cold, man. [38:34] You could have walked with that money. That’s what I’m saying. So now, another situation. Let me cut in here a minute, guys. As I remember this Reitlinger hit, Joe Ferriola was a crew boss, and he was trying to line up all the bookies, as he called it. He wanted to line them up like Al Capone lined up all the speaks, that all the bookies had to fall in line and kick something into the outfit, and Reitlinger wouldn’t do it. He refused to do it no matter. They kept coming to him and asking him his way. I understand that. Is that what you remember? I knew him very well. Yeah. He was not the boss. Oh, the Ferriola? Yeah, he wasn’t the boss, but he was kind of the, he had a crew. He was the boss of the Cicero crew. Right. I saw Joe all the time at the racetrack. In fact, I’m the one who, I’m the one, by the time when I started wearing a wire, I was bringing undercover agents over. I was responsible for all that family secret stuff that happened down the road. Oh, really? You set the stage for all that? I’m the one who put them all in jail. All of them. [39:52] So anyhow, we’re kind of getting ahead of ourselves. Reitlinger’s been killed. Joe Borelli or Ricky Borelli’s been killed. These guys are dropping around you, and you’re getting drawn into it deeper and deeper, it sounds to me like. Now, is this when you – what happens? How do you get drawn into this Chicago outfit even more and more as a bookie? Were you kicking up, too? Well, it started, it started, so many things happened that it just fell into place. It started, like I say, with building a reputation like I had. But the final situation in terms of with all the mobsters thinking that I’m not just a tough guy, I’m a bad guy. [40:35] When I get a call, when Joey Cosella, Joey Cosella was a big, tough Italian kid. And he was involved heavily in bookmaking, and we became real close friends. Joey and I became real close friends. He raised Dobermans, and he’s the one who had the lion over at the car dealership. I get a call from Joey. He says, you’ve got to come over. I said, what’s up? He says, some guys came in, and they’re going to kill the count. They want to kill the count. And I said, And I said, what? This is before the Pewter thing. I said, what do you mean? And so I drive over there, and he says, Sammy Annarino and Pete Cucci. And Pete Cucci came in here, and they came in with shotguns, and they were going to kill them. I said, this was Chicago at the time. It’s hard to believe, but this was Chicago. And I said, who are they? I didn’t know who they were. I said, who are they? I mean, I didn’t know them by name. It turns out I did know them, but I didn’t know them by name. They were people that were always in Greco’s, and everybody in Greco knew me because I’m the owner. [41:49] But anyhow, so I get a hold of Marco, and I said, Marco, and I told him what happened. I said, these guys, a couple of guys come in there looking for the talent. That are going to kill him because apparently he extorted somebody out of his business. And I said, who were they with? And he said, they were with Jimmy the bomber. They were with Jimmy Couture. [42:15] I said, oh, they’re for legit then? I said, yeah. I said, can you call? I said, call Jimmy. I knew who he was. He was at the restaurant all the time. He was at Threatfuls all the time with a lot of these other people. And I met him, but I had no interest in him. He didn’t seem like a very friendly sort of anyone. I could care less about him. I represented a lot of guys that worked for him, that were involved with problems, but never really had a conversation with him other than I. [42:53] I’m the owner. So I met with him. I wrote about that in the book. I met with them and got that straightened out where the count’s going to pay $25,000 and you’ll get a contract to the… He ripped off some guy out of a parlor, one of those massage parlors, not massage parlor, but one of those adult bookstores that were big money deals. Oh, yeah. So when I go to meet these guys, I’m told, go meet them and straighten this thing out. So I took Colin with me over to a motel right down the street from the racetrack, right down from the racetrack, and I met with him. I met with Pete Gucci. He was the boss of, you know, this sort of loop. When I get finished talking with him, I come back, and here’s the count and Sammy, and Sammy’s picking a fork with his finger and saying, you know, I rip out eyes with these. [43:56] And the count says, I rip out eyes with these. And I said, what the fuck is going on here? I said, Pete, I said, you know, get him the fuck out of here. And you all at the count said, what’s the matter with you? You know, these guys are going to kill him. And now the moment I get involved in it, he knows he’s not going to have a problem. You know, he’s pulling this nonsense. [44:23] So anyhow, this is how I meet Pete Gucci and Sammy Annarino. After a while, I stopped hanging around with the count because he was starting to go off the deep end. Yeah. Yeah. [44:39] And we were at a party, a bear party with, I remember Willie Holman was there, and they were mostly black, the black guys up there on the south side. And I had just met this girl a day or two before, and the count says, you know, let’s go up to a party, a bear’s party up there on Lakeshore Drive. If we go up there, we go to this party, it’s going to be about maybe 35, 40 people in there, one or two whites, other than the players. And other than that, we’re the only white people there. When we walk into the place, there’s a couple of guys out there with shotguns. It was in a motel. And you walk through like an area where you go in there, and there’s a couple of guys standing there with shotguns. We go in and we go upstairs and, hey, how are you? And we’re talking with people. And I go in one room. I’m in one room. [45:45] There were two rooms there. I’m in one room with a bunch of people and, you know, just talking and having a good old time. And the count was in the second room. And I hear Spade. He always called me Spade. Spade, Spade, you know. And I go in there, and he’s talking with Willie Holman. I remember it was one of them. He was the tackle, I think, with the Bears and a couple of others. And this whole room, all these black guys. And he goes, that’s Spade Cooley. He says, him and I will take on every one of you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re in a room, and he goes, that’s what he says. You know, him and I will take it on every one of you. And Willie did that. He calmed down. He’s telling him, calmed down. What the fuck? It was about a week or so after this. And because I had been out with the county, he’s calling me two or three times a week to go out. And we’re going, a lot of times it was these areas in the south side with a lot of blood. He liked being around Blacks. [47:00] That’s when I met Gail Sayers, and I met some of these others through him. But a lot of the parties and stuff were in the South Side out there, mostly Blacks and all. But we had gone someplace for dinner, and we’re heading back home. We’re heading back to my place, and we’re in his car. He had a brown Cadillac convertible. On the side of it, it had these, you know, the Count Dante press. And he always ran around. He ran around most of the time in these goofy, you know, these goofy outfits with capes and things like that. I’m driving and when we’re talking and I’m like distracted looking at him. And I’m waiting at a stoplight over there right off of Chicago Avenue. And as we’re there. [47:48] I barely touched the car in front of us, you know, as I’m drifting a little bit and barely touch it. There were four guys in the car and, you know, and the one guy jumps out first, one guy jumps out first and then second one, and they start screaming. And when the count gets out, the guy starts calling you, you faggot or something like that, you know, whatever. And as the other one gets out, I get out of the car. And the next thing I know, they jump back in the car, and they run through a red light, and they disappear. Somebody must have recognized them. One of the other people there must have realized who this is that they’re about to get into a little battle with. In fact, they ran the red light. They just ran the red light and disappeared. They come, no, no, no, no, no. And we go off to my apartment and I’m here with this girl, another girl I had just met a day or so before, because I was constantly meeting new people, uh, running around and, uh, we’re sitting on the couch. I’m sitting in the couch next to her and the count, the count was over there. And he suddenly says to her, he says, he says, this is one of the toughest people I’ve ever met. He said, and he says, tell her how tough you are. Tell her how tough you are. [49:10] I said, you know, I said, you know, you know, and he says, tell them how tough you are. And I said, John, you know, and he walks over, And he makes a motion like this towards me. And he barely touched my chin. But I thought he broke it. He then steps back and he goes, I got to cut this hand off. He says, you saved my life. He said, you saved my life. He said, the only two friends I’ve had in the world were my father and you. He says, I wasn’t even that crazy about my mother. That’s when I said then he goes and he stands and I’m looking at it now he stands up against the window I looked up on the 29th floor, he stands by the window he says get your gun he says and I want you to aim it at me, and say now before you pull the trigger and I’ll stop the bullet, I’ll stop the bullet this guy was nuts and I said I said, what? [50:28] He says, before you pull the trigger. [50:36] Tell me before you pull the trigger and I’ll stop the bullet. He wanted me to shoot him. He stopped the bullet. When I got him out of there, Now when he’s calling me, I’m busy. I’m busy. Once in a while, I’d meet him someplace. No more driving or whatever. That was smart. I hadn’t seen him in probably five or six months. And this is, again, after the situation when I had met with Anna Randall and Gooch and the others. I’m up in my office and I get a I get a call from the county, and he said and I hadn’t probably seen him even maybe in a month or two at all and he said, can I come over and talk to you and I was playing cards in fact I had card games up in my office and, we called him Commissioner. [51:41] O’Malley Ray O’Malley, he was the head of the police department at night. On midnights, he got there at 4 to 12. He started at 4 to 12 until midnights. He was the head of them. He was the commissioner. He was in charge of the whole department. He used to play cards up in my office. We had big card games up in my office. And when he’d come up there, we’d have the blue goose parked out in front. We’d have his bodyguard sitting out there by my door. When he was playing in the games. This went on for a couple of years. [52:15] I was at the office, but, you know, I’m at the office playing cards. [52:20] And I had a, it was a big suite. We had, you know, my office was a big office in this suite. We had about six other, you know, big, big suites in there. And so he comes over, he comes over to meet with me. And so I figure he’s in trouble. He’s arrested. He says, I’ve got a situation going. He says, well, you can get a million dollars. And he said, but if I tell you what it is, he says, and you’re in, he said, you got to be in. I’ll tell you what it is. I said, John, if I need money, I said, you get $2 million, then you can loan me if you want, but I don’t want to know what it is. I said, I just don’t want to know what it is. [52:59] It was about a week or two later. It was a pure later, basically. It was a pure later caper. Yeah, guys, this was like the huge, huge. And the one he set it up with was Pete Gucci, the guy that was going to kill him. That was the one who set it up. I knew that. I thought I remembered that name from somewhere. I don’t remember. They ended up getting popped, but everybody got caught, and most of the money got returned. No, no. No bit that the outfit kept, I understand, if I remember right. What was the deal on that? There was more to it than that. Just before that happened, I go up, and Jerry Workman was another lawyer. Actually, he was attorney up in the office, post-rending bank. When I’m going up into the office, I see Pete Gucci there. This is probably a week or so after the situation with the count. Or maybe even a little bit longer than that. I said, Pete, what are you doing? I said, what are you doing here? Jerry Workston’s my lawyer. Oh, okay. [53:55] Okay. He said, I didn’t know you were off here. I said, yeah. I said, Jerry’s a good friend of mine. Okay. And as I’m walking away, he says, you tell your friend the count to stop calling me at two, three in the morning. He says, I got a wife and kids and whatever. And I said to him, I said, Pete, you got no business dealing. I don’t know what it is. I said, but you guys got no business dealing involved in anything. You got no business being involved with him. And I walked away. I see him and I see him as he’s leaving. I see him as he’s leaving and say goodbye to him. Jerry was going to be playing cards. [54:39] It was card night too. Jerry was going to be playing cards in my office because the people would come in usually about 9 o’clock, 9.30 is when the game would usually start. I talked with Jerry. He had been in there for a while. He was arrested a day or two later. The fbi comes in there because he had stashed about 35 000 in jerry’s couch oh really that was his bond money he got that was his bond money if he got to get bailed out to get him bailed out that was his bond money that was there that’s how bizarre so i got involved in so many situations like this but anyhow anyhow now sammy uh, So it’s about maybe a week or two later after this, when I’m in the car driving, I hear they robbed a purulator. The purulator was about a block and a half from my last police station. It was right down the street from the 18th district. That was the place that they robbed. And not long after that, word came out that supposedly a million dollars was dropped off in front of Jimmy the bomber, in front of his place. With Jimmy the bomber, both Sammy Ann Arino and Pete Gucci were under him. They were gunmen from his group. Now I get a call from, I get a count was never, you never heard the count’s name mentioned in there with anybody. [56:07] The guy from Boston, you know, who they indicated, you know, came in to set it up. The count knew him from Boston. The count had some schools in Boston. And this was one of his students. And that’s how he knew this guy from Boston that got caught trying to take a, trying to leave the country with, you know, with a couple thousand, a couple million dollars of the money. Yeah, I read that. It was going down to the Caribbean somewhere and they caught him. And Sammy Ann Arino didn’t get involved in that. He wasn’t involved in that because I think he was back in the prison at the time. [56:44] Now, when he’s out of prison, probably no more than about maybe three or four months after all that toilet stuff had died down, I get a call from Sam, and he wants me to represent him because he was arrested. What happened was he was shot in a car. He was in a car, and he had gotten shot. And when they shot him, he kicked out the window and somehow fought the guys off. When they found him there in the car and in his trunk, they found a hit kit. They said it was a hit kit. How could they know? It was a box that had core form in it, a ski mask, a ski mask, a gun, a gun with tape wrapped around it and the rest of it. Yeah. And he’s an extra time. Mask and tape or little bits of rope and shit like that. I’d say no. So he was charged with it, and he was charged with it in his case, and he had a case coming up. I met him the first time I met him. He came by my office, and he said, you know, and I said, no, that’s not a problem. And he says, but I’ve got to use Eddie Jensen, too. [57:52] And I said, I said, what do you mean? I said, you don’t need Eddie. And he says, I was told I have to use him. Jimmy Couture, his boy, he said, I have to use him. I know why, because Eddie lets these mobsters know whenever anybody’s an informant, or if he’s mad at somebody, he can tell him he’s an informant, they get killed. And so I said, you know, that piece of shit. I said, you know, I want nothing to do with him. I had some interesting run-ins with him before, and I said, I want nothing to do with that worthless piece of shit. You know, he’s a jagoff. And I said, you know, I says, no. He said, please. I said, no. I said, Sammy, you know, you don’t need me. He knows the judge like I know the judge, Sardini. I said, you know, you’re not going to have a problem in there. I get a call from him again, maybe four or five days after that. He’s out of my restaurant and he says, Bob, please. He said, You know, he says, please, can I meet you? He says, I got a problem. I go out to the meeting. And so I thought, there’s something new. I want you to represent me. I want you to represent me, you know, on the case. And I says, did you get rid of that fence? He says, no, I have to use him. But I says, look, I’m not going to, I want, no, Sammy, no, I’m not going to do it. He leaves the restaurant. He gets about a mile and a half away. He gets shotgunned and he gets killed. In fact, I read about that a couple of days ago. [59:22] I know it’s bullshit. They said he was leaving the restaurant. It was Marabelli’s. It was Marabelli’s Furniture Store. They said he was leaving the furniture store. What they did was they stopped traffic out there. They had people on the one side of the street, the other side of the street, and they followed, they chased him. When he got out of his car and was going to the furniture store, They blasted him with shotguns. They made sure he was killed this time. After that happened, it’s about maybe three or four days after that, I’m up in my office and I get a call. All right, when I come out, I always parked in front of City Hall. That was my parking spot. Mike and CM saved my spot. I parked there, or I parked in the bus stop, or in the mayor’s spot. Those were my spots. They saved it for me. I mean, that was it, for three, four, five years. That’s how it was. I didn’t want to wait in line in the parking lot. So my car is parked right in front of the parking lot. And as I go to get in my car, just fast, fast, so walking, because he was at 134 right down the street from my office and he parks like everybody else in the parking lot so he can wait 20 minutes to get his car. [1:00:40] And, and, and Bob, Bob, and, you know, and when I meet up with him, I’m both standing and we’re both standing right there in front of the, in front of the, uh, the parking lot. And he was a big guy. He weighed probably about 280, 290, maybe more. You know, mushy, mushy type, not in good shape at all. In fact, he walked with a gimp or whatever. And he says, you better be careful, he says. Jimmy Couture is furious. He heard what you’ve been saying about me. [1:01:17] You’ve been saying about me. and something’s liable to happen. And I went reserved. I grabbed him, and I threw him up on the wall, and I says, you motherfuckers. I said, my friends are killing your friends. [1:01:34] I said, my friends, because he represented a number of these groups, but I’m with the most powerful group of all. And when I say I’m with him, I’m with him day and night, not like him just as their lawyer. Most of them hated him, too, because most of them knew what he was doing. Yeah most of these and most of these guys hated him and i said you know but i and and i just like you’re kissing his pants and i don’t know if he crapped in his pants too and uh you know because i just turned around i left that same night jimmy katura winds up getting six in the back of the head maybe three miles from where that took place yeah he was uh some kind of trouble been going on for a while. He was a guy who was like in that cop shop racket, and he had been killing some people involved with that. He was kind of like out away from the main crew closer to downtown, is my understanding. Like, you were in who were you in? Who was I talking about? Jimmy Couture? Jimmy Couture, yeah. He was no, Jimmy Couture was Jimmy Couture, in fact, all these killers, we’ll try and stay with this a little bit first. Jimmy Couture was a boss and he had probably about maybe a dozen, maybe more in his crew and, He didn’t get the message, I’m sure. [1:03:01] Eddie Jensen firmly believes, obviously, because it’s the same day and same night when I tell him that my friends are killing your friends. [1:03:14] He’s telling everybody that I had him kill, I’m sure. Yeah, yeah. Because it was about another few days after that when I’m out in Evanston going to a courthouse. And there you had to park down the street because there was no parking lot. Here I hear Eddie, you know, stay. I’m going to say Bob, Bob. And when he gets up, he says, Bob, he says, when I told you, I think you misunderstood. When I told you it was Jimmy Cattrone. it was it was jimmy katron was a lawyer that you know worked in out of his office close friend of mine too he was a good friend of mine it was jimmy it was jimmy katron that you know not because he obviously thought he believed so he’s got all these mobsters too bosses and all the rest thinking that i was involved in that when i when i wasn’t uh when i was when i wasn’t actually But it’s so amazing, Gary. And that’s one of a dozen stories of the same sort. I met unbelievable people. I mean, we’re talking about in New Orleans. We’re talking about in Boston. Now, if you were to say, who were you with? Always somebody’s with somebody. Were you with any particular crew or any particular crew. [1:04:41] Buzz, were you totally independent? [1:04:46] Everybody knew me to be with the Elmwood Park crew. And that was Jackie Cerrone before Michael, I mean, before Johnny DeFranco. That was Jackie Cerrone. Okay. That was Giancana. That was Mo Giancana. Mo was moving at the clubhouse all the time. That was the major people. [1:05:13] And where was their clubhouse? What did they call their clubhouse? Was that the Survivors Clubhouse, or what was the name of their operation? Every group had one, sometimes more clubhouses. Right. That was where they would have card games in there. They’d have all kinds of other things going. the place was full of like in Marcos I call it Marcos but it was actually Jackie Sharon’s when I first got involved Jackie Sharon was the boss who became a good friend of mine, Jackie Sharon was the boss and Johnny DeFranco was, right under him and then a number of others as we go down, our group alone we had. [1:06:04] Minimum, I’d say, a thousand or more people in our group alone. And who knows how many others, because we had control of the sheriff’s office, of the police department, of the sheriff, of the attorney general. We had control of all that through the elections. We controlled all that. So you had 1,000 people. You’re talking about all these different people who we would maybe call associates. It would be in and out of our club all the time. Okay. Yeah. We’re talking a number of policemen, a number of policemen, a number of different politicians of all sorts that we had. I knew dozens of people with no-show jobs there. We had control of all the departments, streets and sanitation, of absolutely urbanizing. We controlled all the way up to the Supreme Court. What about the first ward, Pat Marcy, and the first ward now? Was your crew and Jackie Cerrone’s crew, did that fall into the first ward, or were they totally there? How did that relate, the Pat Marcy and the politicians? And I found out all this over a period of time. [1:07:28] Everything had changed right about the time I first got involved with these people. All these people you’ve read about, no one knows they were still alive. I met just about all of them when I got connected over there with the first word. A lot of the, we were talking about the gunmen themselves. All the Jackie not just Jackie but I’m talking about Milwaukee Phil Milwaukee Phil and all the rest of them they were over there at Councilors Row all the time because when they were to meet Pat Marcy, what they had there in the first war and, It just so happened, when I started in my office, it was with Alan Ackerman, who was at 100 North, where all their offices were upstairs. The first ward office was upstairs. [1:08:22] And below the office, two floors below, I found out on this when I got involved with them, we had an office. looked like it was a vacant office because the windows were all blackened out. That’s where he had all the meetings with people. When Arcado or Yupa, anybody else, any of the other people came in, this is where he met them. When the people from out of town came in, we’re talking about when, what do you think? [1:08:58] But when Alpha, when Fitzgerald, when all these people would come in, this is where they would have their meetings. Or these are the ones who would be out with us on these casino rides. When these people came in, this is where they would do the real talking because we’d go to different restaurants that weren’t bugged. If this office was checked every day, the one that they had down below, and nobody, nobody, their office was, I think it was on the 28th floor, the first ward office. You had the first ward office, and right next to it, you had the insurance office when everybody had to buy their insurance. Obviously at upper rates big office connected to the first ward office when the back there’s a door that goes right into into theirs but the people were told you never get off or you get off you get off at the office floor but then you you walk you you get off it and i’m sorry you get off it at the. [1:10:11] You don’t get off at the first ward office you get off at one of the other offices one of the other offices or the other floors and when you come in there, then you’ll be taken someplace else after that a double shop that’s where they would go and in fact when I had to talk to Petter Cary messages or whatever people like Marco couldn’t talk to Marcy. [1:10:41] Only a few people could. Only people at the very top level could. Marco, he was a major boss. He could not talk to Marco. If he needed, you know, whatever. Marco D’Amico. Marco was, you had, Marco was the one right under Johnny DeFonza. Yeah. Marco’s the one that was in charge. He was the one who was in charge of all the gambling. Not just in Chicago, but around all those areas in Cook County. We had not just Chicago. They were also the ones that were in charge of all the street tax, collecting all the street tax. That’s where the big, big money was also. Everybody paid. What happened was in the 70s, right as I got involved
The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Congressional candidate (TX19) and Lubbock Co. Commissioner Jason Corley talks about his reinstatement to office by a court on Friday and the appellate court rejecting his tormentors appeal this morning. It's all a glimpse into why the Bowtie Bully Curtis Parrish should not hold any elected office.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Oil and gas drilling rig count. Another mall bump up this past week.All the Texas high school football champions.Trump switches endorsement from Mayra to Eric in the GOP battle for TX34 where Republicans hope to beat liberal U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in the Rio Grande Valley next fall.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com
Courthouses are full of tension—families on edge, lives in limbo, futures decided in fluorescent-lit rooms. But on one afternoon in Washington, D.C., something else showed up that had nothing to do with judges, lawyers, or legal papers. A 12-year-old girl sits in a waiting area, dressed in purple, next to a stranger who's struggling just to breathe. Behind them: a wall of glass, metal detectors, and bored security guards. It's the least “haunted” place you could imagine. Until something on the other side of that glass demands their attention. Three deliberate knocks. What happens when you're the only one who sees the figure in black? The only one who hears the sound that changes everything in the space of a breath? And why, decades later, can she still remember the color of the clothes, the feel of the air, and the way everyone stared at her like she was the problem? #ghoststory #paranormal #WashingtonDC #courthouseghost #truehaunting #realghoststories #grimreaper #supernatural #hauntedDC #creepyencounter #spiritvisitor #RealGhostStoriesOnline Love real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story: