Chicago police indicted

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32880, 1 April 1972, Page 17

Chicago police indicted

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter-r-Copyright) CHICAGO, March 31. A federal grand jury has indicted eight policemen, a former policeman and another man on extortion and perjury charges after a 14-month investigation into alleged wide-scale police corruption involving narcotics, prostitution and gambling operations.

The indictments handed down on Thursday centred on the largest group of policemen to be accused of specific criminal activity since the same number of police were convicted for operating a burglary ting in Chicago 11 years ago. A former police vice coordinator and a reputed crime syndicate gambler were also indicted. The indictments against the 10 accused contained accusations from one tavern owner that he had been made to pay out as much as SUS2S a week over a three-year period. Some police were also alleged to have made “bag rounds” of tavern owners, collecting fees for protection, with individual officers receiving pay-offs of to $lOOO. Extortion charges covered alleged pay-offs to police by owners of 10 taverns and liquor stores in the Austin district in north-west Chicago extending from 1964 to 1971. Five of the accused police-

men were immediately suspended by the Police Superintendent, Mr James Conlisk, who said that he would request their dismissal by the Police Board. The other three are already under suspension and face dismissal. The former policeman resigned from the force a year ago. He was then vice coordinator in the Austin district, responsible for overseeing liquor licences and detecting prostitution, gambling, and narcotics peddling. The extortion charges carry a maximum gaol sentence of 20 years and a $lO,OOO fine, while conviction of perjury before a grand jury is punishable by five years gaol and a $lO,OOO fine.