L'histoire Complete de la Mafia - Chicago
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TVTranscription
00:00 The following video is a derivative work of the French Public Broadcasting Corporation.
00:03 Chicago.
00:06 For years, the Mafia has been spreading corruption,
00:11 racketeering and murder.
00:13 It manipulates local administration,
00:17 courts and the police.
00:19 It was outright all-powerful.
00:22 The FBI is fighting an unequal battle against its terror professionals.
00:27 Their influence is such that they usually leave the courthouse free.
00:30 These people can afford anything.
00:34 But thanks to totally unexpected reinforcements,
00:38 the feds will finally be able to free the city from the mafia.
00:42 Chicago.
00:55 The second largest city in the United States.
00:58 Famous for its countless skyscrapers and its dreadful illegal activities.
01:04 Activities that have been taking place under the city for a long time.
01:12 Built on the outskirts of Lake Michigan in the middle of the 19th century,
01:18 Chicago is partially based on pilots.
01:21 And its basement has become the general district of the Pegres.
01:25 In the days of prohibition, in the 1920s,
01:33 smuggling alcohol is a lucrative business.
01:36 Gangs are at war without mercy to take over the monopoly.
01:40 Al Capone destroys the competition,
01:44 and the Mafia is left alone at the head of the Pegres.
01:49 For 30 years, the organization of Capone, the Outfit,
01:52 will gradually exercise its hand on all illegal activities in Chicago.
01:57 No crime can be committed on its territory without its green light.
02:02 April 26, 1962.
02:08 Two young Mafia members, Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia,
02:13 take a car in a row.
02:16 [Mafia]
02:18 On board, the Scalevos brothers and a passenger.
02:22 The Scalevos are linked to the Mafia.
02:25 Due to a dispute with them, McCarthy and Miraglia were savagely beaten.
02:30 They decided to take revenge.
02:32 Frank Culotta is one of their friends.
02:37 We were crooks, we were hanging out together.
02:44 We were a bad couple.
02:46 Billy and Jimmy told me they wanted to kill the Scalevos,
02:50 and I was supposed to go along with them.
02:53 But the night it happened, I was bowling with a girl.
02:58 Culotta says they left without him.
03:01 McCarthy and Miraglia follow the Scalevos' car to the Mafia's head.
03:06 Once the brothers are parked,
03:10 McCarthy and Miraglia empty their magazines on the car.
03:13 [Gunfire]
03:15 But the attackers made a serious mistake.
03:23 They shot two of the outfit's associates.
03:26 Immediately informed of the murders,
03:32 the organization sends one of its lieutenants,
03:34 Tony Spilotro, to talk to Culotta.
03:36 The two men are old friends.
03:40 He met me at a bowling.
03:42 It was quite obvious that the Mafia knew about Billy and Jimmy,
03:46 but they thought they were three or four on the case.
03:49 As Culotta often teamed up with McCarthy and Miraglia,
03:54 Spilotro tells him he is suspected of helping his friends to kill the Scalevos.
03:58 And he said, "Listen, I got a tendency to,
04:01 if they think you're here,
04:03 they're going to whack you,
04:05 and tell me the truth, because I can get you out of here."
04:09 So I emptied my bag.
04:11 Culotta says McCarthy and Miraglia killed the Scalevos,
04:16 and he swears he wasn't involved.
04:18 Spilotro promises to protect him if he attracts the two murderers into a trap.
04:24 Culotta meets McCarthy at a fast food restaurant on North Avenue.
04:31 Spilotro and his men forcefully take him to Cicero,
04:35 a suburb controlled by the Mafia.
04:38 Well, they take him in a basement,
04:40 because it's a bit more secluded,
04:42 where it's a little quieter,
04:44 and the noises can't be heard.
04:46 He tells me that they tortured Billy.
04:49 Spilotro first questions him at the ice picker.
04:54 He wants to know who else was there that night.
04:57 And Billy wouldn't come out to him,
05:02 so finally they stuck his head in the ice.
05:05 And they started tightening him down,
05:08 and when the eyes popped out of his eyes,
05:11 he said that Jimmy was the only one with him.
05:14 And then they cut his throat.
05:16 Spilotro is convinced by McCarthy's version.
05:22 A few days later, the outfit takes Jimmy off.
05:27 He is whipped and killed.
05:31 Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia are abandoned in a car trunk,
05:34 in the south of the city.
05:36 For the Chicago peggers, the message is clear.
05:40 Who wants to play smart with the Mafia,
05:44 pays for his life.
05:46 This double execution also shows a complete contempt for the law.
05:52 For the police,
05:54 it's time to try to take Chicago back.
05:58 The outfit works like a business.
06:00 In the back, the man who holds the reins is the president,
06:03 Tony Accardo, a veteran of the Al Capone era.
06:06 Nicknamed Joe the Beater,
06:09 he doesn't have his own way to smash skulls with a bat.
06:12 His right arm, the general director, is Sam Giancana.
06:19 Accused of murder when he was still a teenager,
06:24 he was recruited as a man of the mafia.
06:27 Giancana was our model.
06:30 We admired him, we respected him.
06:32 He didn't hesitate to come and fight.
06:34 Then there's the CIA.
06:37 The five administrators set up their own operations
06:40 and share the benefits with the organization's leaders.
06:43 At the head of a team,
06:45 each administrator leads a sector of the city.
06:48 The big avenue's boss is Joe Elombardo, the clown.
06:51 A killer specialized in wear and tear.
06:54 This was in the fever of Joe.
06:58 He was a clown, you know, a funny guy, always joking.
07:01 But he had like a hair trigger, you don't know.
07:04 He'd start at the quarter of a turn,
07:06 and it was like a normal joke.
07:08 He was making the jokes and you were making the jokes.
07:11 Fear and intimidation are his business.
07:15 A merciless wearer, Elombardo,
07:18 lends to exorbitant rates.
07:20 His clients are often impenitent players
07:24 who desperately try to settle their interests
07:27 without ever being able to repay the capital.
07:30 Bad payers are violently called to the order.
07:33 In the 60s, thanks to such unscrupulous men
07:37 who make money,
07:39 the outfit is more than a billion dollars
07:42 between the detour of the casino's profits,
07:45 the wear, the racket, the game, and the pornography.
07:49 When Red Wemmett wanted to open a sex shop
07:55 in a neighborhood dominated by the mafia,
07:58 he had to buy his peace.
08:00 The deal was 50% of the pipe shows.
08:05 At that time, it was $1,000 a week.
08:08 And we agreed upon 500.
08:10 The guy said, "A deal is a deal.
08:13 "Even if you go bankrupt, I'll come and tax you.
08:16 "Whether you're the money or not."
08:19 Grasped by so much money and power,
08:24 Sam Giancana, outfit number two, leads the big life.
08:28 He celebrates with the stars,
08:30 notably Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe.
08:33 He also meets young senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy
08:37 and tries to infiltrate the government.
08:41 The discreet mafia godfather, Tony Accardo,
08:44 disapproves of the strass and glitter on his right arm.
08:47 The organization didn't like him going to Kennedy's.
08:51 They were too media-driven.
08:53 And, in turn, the Kennedys don't want to be associated with the mafia.
08:58 The Americans can't stand him having so badly violated the law.
09:03 John Drummond spent 40 years investigating the outfit.
09:10 The Chicagoans had the impression,
09:12 during the two decades following World War II,
09:15 that the mafia could act in any way,
09:17 that it was untouchable.
09:19 In the early 60s, the president's brother,
09:22 Justice Minister Robert Kennedy,
09:24 launches a generalized attack on the mafia.
09:27 The crime syndicate has become too powerful,
09:31 too organized, too rich.
09:33 I am intimately convinced that we must adopt new laws
09:38 to expand the FBI's action field,
09:40 so that it can come to the local authorities.
09:43 The FBI is in charge of gathering evidence against the mafia.
09:49 To get convictions in these organizations requires a lot of work.
09:55 It took hiding the microphones in offices,
09:57 phones, cars, and even on people.
10:00 These hearings provide valuable information,
10:04 but they are not accessible in court.
10:08 The FBI must be content to harass Giancana,
10:11 the number 2, by watching him relentlessly.
10:14 In 1965, he refuses to testify in front of a major federal jury.
10:21 Which means a year in prison.
10:24 At his exit, the godfather, Tony Accardo,
10:31 advises him to give up.
10:33 Giancana talks too much about him.
10:37 His lifestyle, his color, was not well appreciated by Accardo.
10:41 It attracted the attention of the media about the organization.
10:45 Instead of being sent six feet underground,
10:48 Giancana exiles himself to Mexico,
10:50 and Accardo replaces him in his functions.
10:53 Clever and making little talk of him,
10:57 the godfather watches the tracks,
10:59 to never be involved.
11:03 Under his tutelage, the outfit gains in power,
11:06 and infiltrates every area of the city.
11:09 The mafia reigns in total impunity on the streets of Chicago.
11:13 The FBI must reconquer the city.
11:19 At the end of the 60s, and at the beginning of the 70s,
11:23 Washington finally gives him the necessary arsenal to achieve it.
11:27 The law on the security of the streets and the control of crime
11:31 allows the presentation in front of a court
11:34 of the elements obtained by listening.
11:36 The RICO law then facilitates the prosecution of organized crime.
11:40 Then the witness protection program
11:43 puts them in the shelter of the reprisals.
11:46 However, when the FBI finds informants
11:51 who have the courage to testify,
11:53 the courts seem to be struck by paralysis.
11:56 Most of the mafias who appear are acquitted.
11:59 The branches of the mafia are more extensive
12:02 than the feds imagined.
12:04 In 1973, the wheel turns in their favor.
12:09 Chuck Crimaldi, angry with the outfit, is accused of murder.
12:14 The feds offer him immunity in exchange for information.
12:18 Crimaldi tells them that a fund collector for the mafia
12:23 was killed by two men,
12:25 Tony Spilotro and Sam DeStefano, said the madman.
12:29 Both are put on trial.
12:31 Sam was dangerous and totally crazy.
12:34 He did crazy things.
12:36 He believed in satanism.
12:39 He would drool when he was angry.
12:41 Sam the madman himself assures his defense
12:47 by speaking in a voice recorder.
12:49 The preliminary hearings turn to the big jokes.
12:53 It's a disgusting cockroach that drooled.
12:56 If there is one thing that the most hardened mafias
13:00 run away like the plague, it is advertising.
13:03 For the outfit, which frightens the cameras,
13:06 Sam the madman's six maids are terribly dangerous.
13:09 Sam was like that.
13:11 And they had to eliminate him.
13:13 On April 14, 1963, two maids of the outfit
13:17 silence Sam the madman for good.
13:21 The mafia does not hesitate to kill its own
13:23 to avoid the spotlights.
13:25 To the surprise of the FBI, the judge acquits
13:30 Sam's accomplice, Tony Spilotro.
13:32 The pill is hard to swallow.
13:41 But the federalists persist in the search for informants,
13:44 their best weapon against the mafia.
13:48 It was then that early 1974, the hood "Joe Lombardo"
13:52 says the clown, is put to the test for having
13:54 turned a million and a half of the pension fund
13:56 of the truckers' union.
13:58 Lombardo will be brought to justice.
14:02 The police do not have enough elements to bring him down.
14:06 But the boss of a small company decides to testify.
14:10 Daniel Seifert.
14:12 Honest businessman, Seifert has associated
14:17 with the mafia.
14:19 My husband, Daniel Seifert, wanted to get into
14:25 the fiberglass industry.
14:27 And Mr. Lombardo lent him money.
14:29 The business flourished for a few years.
14:33 And one day, Daniel realized that it was a cover
14:37 to whiten the funds.
14:39 Lombardo's dirty money buys raw materials
14:44 and the services necessary to manufacture fiberglass.
14:47 Once sold, he recovers a percentage of the profits.
14:52 Of the money.
14:54 Joe was laundering his money and Seifert did not want to go to jail.
14:58 He was going to speak.
15:00 He was going to testify in charge.
15:02 The news reaches the ears of the outfit.
15:05 Friday, September 27, 1974.
15:10 A day of work like any other for the Seiferts.
15:13 Our youngest one, Joseph, 4 years old at the time,
15:17 said he didn't feel good and wanted to come to work with us.
15:21 Daniel Seifert is outside when the mafia visits his family.
15:26 Despite the hood, Mrs. Seifert believes she recognizes
15:31 one of the attackers.
15:33 I recognized him by his stature and his gestures.
15:41 I was convinced that it was Mr. Lombardo.
15:44 We heard a gunshot.
15:48 And at that moment, the man who was pointing a gun at my dad
15:53 came out and said, "Stay there. Don't move."
15:57 So I waited, I don't know how many seconds it was.
16:03 Then, Mrs. Seifert comes out.
16:07 There was a man outside armed with a shotgun.
16:13 And my husband was at the other end of the parking lot.
16:20 He was badly injured. It was the last time I saw him alive.
16:25 It will be the last memory that little Joseph Seifert will keep of his father,
16:31 a body lying on the parking lot.
16:34 I remember seeing my father through the car window.
16:37 That scene has stayed with me my whole life.
16:41 Mrs. Seifert does not tell the police that she recognized Lombardo.
16:48 This mother of three young children is terrified at the idea of what the mafia could do if she spoke.
16:54 I was very worried, very anxious.
17:00 We lived in a kind of constant state of alert.
17:04 Without the testimony of Daniel Seifert, the procedure cannot be completed.
17:09 Lombardo benefits from a non-place.
17:11 All the defendants walked.
17:14 I still see their smiles with a grin on their face.
17:18 And the government has had it bad for years and years.
17:27 On July 18, 1974, the federal government has a new opportunity to attack the mafia.
17:33 Former number 2, Sam Giancana, was extradited from Mexico to testify
17:39 about the participation of the Crime Union in the CIA plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.
17:45 Giancana wants to return to command.
17:53 He made it known that he was coveting his old job and a big part of the cake.
17:57 But for Ricardo and the others, it was out of the question.
18:01 Fearing that the godfather would kill this precious witness,
18:07 the federal government placed him under surveillance for almost a year.
18:10 On February 18, 1975, Giancana prepares his favorite meal.
18:21 Sausages with white beans.
18:23 Suddenly, and without him being informed, the police in the front of his house are volatile.
18:31 I asked a Chicago police officer.
18:35 They were told to evacuate the scene immediately.
18:41 A mysterious killer enters the house and assassinates Giancana.
18:49 Seven bullets in the head.
18:51 The outfit silenced his former number 2.
18:58 No one will ever be convicted for this execution
19:02 and no one knows why police protection was lifted.
19:06 I can't believe it, given the degree of surveillance,
19:10 that all of a sudden, he was found alone the night he was shot.
19:17 At the end of the 70s, the trial of a mafia hero could finally lead to prison.
19:23 Harry Hellman, the boxer, is put on trial for the murder of a member of the truckers' union, William Logan.
19:33 And this time, the federal government has two eyewitnesses.
19:37 A man named Bobby Lowe has testified that he saw Harry Hellman kill this man.
19:45 And the other witness was the driver of the car in which the killer took the flight.
19:50 The Chicago mafia needs a tenor to get Hellman acquitted.
19:55 So they turn to Bob Cooley.
19:58 From the start, I had the reputation of knowing the right people,
20:03 having the right contacts, but above all, getting results.
20:07 Cooley is in the midst of social success.
20:15 Defending the mafia would give him access to a standard of living and privileges that his family never benefited from.
20:21 I came from a modest family.
20:24 My father has been a simple police inspector all his life because he was the honest person.
20:29 Winning this trial would strengthen his reputation with Outfit.
20:34 Playing his trump card, he promises to make Hellman acquitted.
20:42 He was holding a non-culpability verdict because it makes it extremely docile to know that the organization has the strength to protect everyone.
20:52 However, Cooley will not benefit from any protection if Hellman is convicted.
20:58 I was ready to leave town if I lost.
21:01 I knew what would have happened if I didn't keep my commitment.
21:05 I would have been killed, for sure.
21:10 Cooley makes the risky bet to meet Judge Frank Wilson.
21:14 I agreed to pay him $10,000 to trick the trial.
21:19 He was a nervous person, and I was afraid that he was going to be convicted.
21:23 I didn't feel it.
21:24 But the bet turns out to be a winner.
21:27 Lo and behold, everyone was stunned when the judge acquitted Harry Hellman.
21:34 He rejected the testimony of Law as not credible.
21:38 This surprising acquittal triggers a general outrage.
21:43 Scandalized, the citizens understood that the only solution was to have Uncle Sam, the FBI, the FISC, the Ministry of Justice intervene.
21:53 Otherwise, there would never have been any conviction.
21:59 The influence of the mafia on the courts may have aroused controversy,
22:02 but the outfit will continue to reign in the city as long as the FBI does not come to an end.
22:08 Hellman's acquittal made Bob Cooley a real star of the milieu.
22:15 Gangsters flocked to his office.
22:17 All means seemed good to him to defend his clients.
22:20 I used both money and the effects of the game.
22:24 I had more than one round in my bag to get them out.
22:27 I was putting a point of honor in it.
22:29 Chicago is divided into 50 districts, each run by a municipal advisor who distributes contracts and municipal jobs.
22:38 The pot of wine poured to the judge who recognized Hellman not guilty of murder came from the most prosperous and powerful of all, the first district.
22:51 And here, the man who makes the rain and the fine weather is none other than the district secretary, Pasqualino Marconi, better known as Pat Marcy.
23:00 Marcy is a long-time ally of the mafia.
23:04 Tony Accardo and he both worked for Al Capone.
23:08 Pat Marcy, Capone's former gunman, became the boss of the first district.
23:14 He supported absolutely everyone, including the governor.
23:19 [Music]
23:21 Pat Marcy and Fred Rotti, municipal advisor in Verreux, have their habits in this restaurant.
23:27 Bob Cooley, the mafia's top lawyer, is regularly invited to their table.
23:33 Once I became a part of the gang, I was able to help friends become judges and my family do a lot of things.
23:42 It's hard to explain how powerful these two were.
23:47 I'd say nothing was impossible for them.
23:49 At the restaurant, Marcy and Rotti distribute contracts and municipal jobs while taking their percentages.
23:57 Pat Marcy was a notorious mafia.
24:01 And all the judges, at the federal or national level, came to show him their respect.
24:06 To become a magistrate, you had to be in the cash register.
24:10 With Marcy, the mafia holds the political future of the city in its hands.
24:16 Marcy gives back to disadvantaged communities in order to trick the votes.
24:19 I went with him and I often saw him give $5 to the voters who would come in.
24:23 In exchange, the person would come out and someone else would go to the lobby instead.
24:28 For each election, if they didn't like the result, they would change it.
24:33 In 1979, Cooley is a witness to the full power of the outfit
24:41 when the new chief of police, Joe DiLeonardi, takes draconian measures against crime and corruption.
24:47 Fred Rotti then launches an ultimatum to Mrs. Le Maire.
24:53 Either she denies DiLeonardi, or he blocks the city.
24:57 Through Marcy, the crime syndicate controls the municipal services that manage the Chicago.
25:04 Jane Byrne has no choice but to remove DiLeonardi from his post.
25:10 The mafia then succeeds in a stunning turn of events.
25:13 Many politicians, judges and police officers are at the mercy of the outfit.
25:19 The FBI can't do anything about it if it doesn't put an end to the mafia infiltration of the courts.
25:27 Yet the magistrate remains silent, until one of its honest representatives decides to kick the bucket.
25:36 Bretton Lockwood, a judge from southern Illinois, is outraged by the corruption that is haunting the Chicago courts.
25:42 Once I found out that some judges were bought, maybe 10% of my colleagues were just plain-looking guys.
25:53 Once I found out, I decided not to be part of the system anymore.
26:00 But before I quit, I wanted to talk to somebody.
26:06 In early 1981, Judge Lockwood calls the Washington Department of Justice, who persuades him to help him fight the outfit.
26:13 They basically said, "If you confirm all this, we'll intervene."
26:19 I said, "Okay, but how do I get involved?"
26:22 And they said, "Wear a hidden microphone."
26:25 By hiding a magnet in one of his boots, the judge begins to collect overwhelming evidence against the corrupt justice of Chicago.
26:34 When I put the device on, it scared me to death.
26:38 This recorder is so heavy, it's like dragging a chicken leg.
26:43 And it's flopping, so I had to tighten it very tightly.
26:49 Because it damaged my foot.
26:53 But the judge continues his crusade.
26:57 He pretends to be as vigilant as his interlocutors.
27:02 So I went out and recorded substitutes for the prosecutor, police officers,
27:07 and the fund collectors who told me about their past or future operations.
27:12 And also about all the combinations in the different files they were interested in.
27:19 After three long years, the FBI had gathered enough evidence to close the case.
27:27 The operation, which is called "Greylord Code", will allow 92 people to be examined,
27:32 including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 10 deputy sheriffs, and one Illinois senator.
27:38 When "Greylord" is done with, the courts of the county of Cook will come out stronger, more efficient, more effective, and most importantly, more honest.
27:49 The extent of corruption confirms the worst fears of the inhabitants of Chicago.
27:54 Oh, it splashed, it came out on the front page.
27:57 People were shouting, "I told you, the judges are crazy, here's the proof."
28:01 Yeah, you're getting a lot of money.
28:03 But Operation Greylord failed to break the network of Pat Marcy.
28:08 He was warned before the investigation began.
28:13 And none of the warned people questioned him.
28:16 Not a single member of the CIA was put on trial.
28:22 In fact, Greylord only served to enrich Marcy even more.
28:25 Because all the judges involved had to be replaced, and the new ones had to pay to get in there.
28:32 Operation Greylord, however, radically changed the life of a man, Bob Cooley.
28:39 Greylord marked a decisive step for me, because I stopped the wine and the wine bottles.
28:49 These years spent in the service of organized crime have made him open his eyes to the unparalleled savagery of Outfit.
28:55 And when he has to expose a partner of the mafia who killed an innocent, he refuses.
29:00 They were just awfully bad.
29:04 They had beaten black people to death in the subway.
29:07 And they told me, "It's only a dirty black man, the deal."
29:10 It was like a drop of water that I don't know why made the vase overflow.
29:17 I just wanted to cut the bridges.
29:19 After all the scenes of violence and corruption that Cooley witnessed, this free murder is an electric shock.
29:27 They had meetings and a counter-meeting to find out who they were going to kill and how.
29:34 They would talk about it very naturally, as if we were discussing food.
29:39 Cooley decides to drop it.
29:42 But no one leaves the mafia.
29:46 If he runs away, they will track him down without rest.
29:48 They destroyed those who did not obey and it was going to be my turn.
29:52 Cooley then decides to play extremely big.
29:57 He will fight against the mafia.
30:00 On Saturday, March 8, 1986, Cooley went to the FBI offices.
30:10 I went to the FBI anti-mafia brigade and I said I wanted to contribute to the establishment of justice.
30:17 March 20, 1986.
30:20 In a hotel room about 20 km from the city, Cooley is recorded by the feds.
30:26 He explains to them how Pat Marcy, secretary of the first district and member of the mafia,
30:31 exerts his hand on the magistrates, politicians and Chicago police officers.
30:36 The feds suspect him of wanting to die.
30:39 They asked me if I was seriously ill and I said no.
30:42 So they wanted to know what motivated me and I said I wanted it.
30:46 Jim Wagner is one of the agents who questioned Cooley.
30:51 He is convinced that the heroism of the lawyer hides a desire to make an honorable amendment.
30:56 Bob had worked in the police before becoming a lawyer.
31:01 And according to me, he wanted to redeem himself and start over.
31:07 But given Marcy's stature on the local scene, the feds do not believe in Cooley's story.
31:13 In despair, the lawyer offers them to wear a hidden microphone.
31:18 As soon as I left the building, I told myself I committed suicide.
31:23 I really wondered if I had not signed my death warrant.
31:30 Wearing a small magneto taped to his back, Cooley begins to collect evidence against Marcy.
31:36 I wired him up dozens of times before his meetings with the crime syndicate.
31:42 The operation is codenamed "Gambat".
31:47 Cooley knows that if he is discovered, he will be savagely tortured and executed.
31:58 He would have tied me up and cut me with a torch, in the best case.
32:02 It was certain and certain, and that terrified me.
32:06 For three years, Cooley gathers with tenacity evidence against the judges and politicians under oath by the Outfit.
32:14 But Marcy is cunning and does not let herself be easily trapped.
32:20 The lawyer is waiting for the right opportunity.
32:23 She finally shows up.
32:26 June 5, 1989.
32:28 Cooley has an appointment with Fred Rotti to talk about urbanism.
32:32 Cooley's brother, a real estate lawyer, wants to change the zoning of the first district, the Fief of Marcy.
32:39 Rotti asked me what it was about.
32:42 I said that people wanted to renovate buildings, do this and that.
32:46 And that in my opinion, there were about a million, a million and a half.
32:54 Right on, Marcy arrives.
32:56 Marcy immediately took over.
32:59 What is this project? It's heavy. Who is the builder?
33:02 They know the rules, they have to pay.
33:05 Exactly, Pat, I wanted to know how much.
33:08 Marcy claims $ 7,500 for him and as much for Rotti.
33:12 I wanted to put my hands in the bag so that it really made noise.
33:17 Cooley records the two men as they ask and receive their subpoenas.
33:23 There is something to condemn them for.
33:25 They then attack other members of the CERAI.
33:28 Still equipped with his hidden microphone, they meet Marcy about the wine jar of a drunk judge.
33:38 In order to avoid indiscreet ears, they will talk outside.
33:41 When we go to walk in, like Pat has a lot of experience, he makes me go first and puts his hand right on the microphone.
33:49 Right on the wire.
33:52 Jim Wagner and the entire surveillance team are on the grill.
33:55 If the device is discovered, Cooley will be executed.
33:59 The suspense was unbearable.
34:03 But given his low self-esteem, Bob thought he was capable of getting out of all the bad things.
34:09 Cooley thought about it at full speed as he joined their table.
34:13 He sat down and I stood there.
34:17 And I started to say that I had back pain.
34:21 I said, "I'm wearing a corset but it's not doing me any good."
34:24 I said, "I've got the pain of martyrdom, I can't do it. I've got a back pain."
34:29 I'm not going to, you know, I wanted to get out.
34:33 And I said, "I've got to go, Pat. I've got to go see my doctor."
34:38 And I left.
34:40 Fortunately for him, Marcy believes him.
34:44 And Cooley continues to record his conversations with the locals of the first district.
34:49 He will succeed in gathering enough evidence to bring down the politicians at the auction of the outfit.
34:57 His mission is complete.
35:00 Cooley will vanish into thin air thanks to the witness protection program.
35:05 I left town in November 1989.
35:08 And the mafia didn't kill anyone for nine years after that.
35:11 They didn't all suddenly give up on the murder.
35:14 But they realized that they couldn't get away with it.
35:17 [Music]
35:24 October 19, 1990.
35:27 Operation Gambat dismantles the mafia network of the first district.
35:31 24 people who are said to be members of the Chicago elite are found guilty.
35:37 Among them, Pat Marcy.
35:43 Put on trial for association of rapists, organized criminal activity, corruption and racketeering.
35:49 He will have a heart attack during his trial and die shortly after.
35:53 Fred Rotti will be sentenced to four years in prison for association of rapists, corruption and organized criminal activity.
36:00 Judge Wilson, who accepted a wine pot for Harry Hellman 12 years earlier, will not stand being caught by his ties to the mafia.
36:09 He will commit suicide.
36:13 But Cooley is not completely done.
36:16 He persuades the prosecutor that the principle of the authority of the thing judged does not apply to Harry Hellman, and that he must be re-translated into justice.
36:25 Under the law, we have a right to engage in new proceedings, because the first time, due to the pot of wine, was a sham, and Mr. Hellman was never in jeopardy.
36:38 Hellman becomes the first man in the history of the United States to appear twice for murder.
36:43 Recognized guilty, he is sentenced to 300 years in prison, including 100 years in jail.
36:49 Thanks to the surveillance carried out by Cooley, the corruption of the first district was exposed.
36:58 And the judicial apparatus was reformed to review the method of nominating judges.
37:02 The FBI won a major victory against the mafia.
37:07 I am very proud of the work that was done, Bob.
37:09 It was remarkable.
37:11 It was one of the best in producing evidence that the Chicago FBI office has ever had.
37:19 It was the first time since Al Capone's incarceration in 1932 that the outfit has been so well-dressed.
37:28 Operation Gambat frees the city hall, the police and the Chicago police from the mafia.
37:37 However, it is impossible to go back to the big cap.
37:41 The federal authorities can do nothing against them.
37:44 In 1982, Tony Accardo, the godfather, dies.
37:49 According to the rumor, the former capo, Joe Lombardo, says the clown, takes his succession.
37:54 The outfit begins to change style.
37:59 Urban violence is too ostentatious.
38:03 In addition, the examination and legalization of floating casinos have made its ranks clearer and damaged its finances.
38:09 The new generation of mafiosos, graduates of universities, prefer to play the subtlety card.
38:14 They invest where they can hide their money.
38:20 They own construction companies, bars, restaurants and waste collection companies.
38:26 Now they are not as popular as they were.
38:31 However, the mafia has not given up on the fundamentals.
38:34 If a human being wants to be a prostitute or a drug addict,
38:39 if you are looking for a bookmaker or a drug dealer,
38:42 you always have the choice in Chicago.
38:44 The mafia is there to satisfy all the vices.
38:48 The weaknesses of individuals still bring a hundred million dollars a year to the outfit.
38:55 An unmerciful exploitation to which the federal authorities must put an end by sending the big guns behind the bars.
39:01 But these characters who cultivate the mystery are never compromised.
39:06 And it is therefore impossible to bring them down.
39:09 Until the day when a totally unexpected intervention changes the game.
39:13 On August 18, 1998, the FBI agent, Tom Bourgeois,
39:19 receives a surprising email sent by a mafioso under the covers, Frank Calabrese Jr.
39:25 I want to help the FBI and the government.
39:28 No one, not even my lawyer, is aware of this letter.
39:32 And it's better for my safety.
39:35 After receiving this letter, we went to see him.
39:40 He told us about certain forms of crime that we were interested in.
39:45 Frank, his father and uncle, are in prison for wear and tear.
39:53 [Music]
39:56 In exchange for a reduction in sentence, he proposes to deliver to the FBI dark family secrets.
40:01 For example, a murder that was organized by his father and committed by his uncle, Nick Calabrese.
40:07 The victim is another mafioso, John Fecarotta.
40:13 September 14, 1986.
40:19 Nick Calabrese drives around in a car with Fecarotta.
40:23 He suddenly shoots him in the head.
40:26 But only manages to injure him.
40:29 Fecarotta tries to escape to his burrow.
40:32 Calabrese is forced to finish him off in the street.
40:36 To kill him, Nick put on latex gloves, which he took off and threw near a bin of manure.
40:46 The police recover the gloves and keep them as a piece of evidence.
40:49 At the time, we didn't know how to make DNA be known yet.
40:52 May 1999.
40:55 According to Frank Jr., the federal police visit Nick Calabrese in prison.
41:00 They have a mandate to take DNA samples.
41:03 If Nick turns out to be the murderer, he will end up behind bars.
41:08 Calabrese was not afraid of it.
41:13 If the mafia learned that we knew he had executed a contract, his account was good.
41:18 He was caught between a rock and a hard place.
41:20 Either he helped us, or he got himself killed.
41:23 The outfit is that to avoid perpetuity, Nick Calabrese will probably accept the FBI's offer.
41:30 A reduction of the penalty in exchange for information.
41:33 And Nick Calabrese does indeed collaborate.
41:37 It's a first for a member of the mafia.
41:41 These revelations will be extremely precious.
41:43 It was a treasure trove of information.
41:47 He told us he had personally participated in several murders.
41:51 The FBI finally has what it has been waiting for for decades.
41:56 The testimony of a repentant who will make the leaders of the outfit fall.
42:00 He launches the operation "Secret Family".
42:04 Red Wemmett is a key witness to the investigation.
42:09 He started working for the outfit at the end of the 60s.
42:12 After barely three years, he could no longer stand sadistic violence.
42:16 They took advantage of the weakest.
42:21 They never went after someone who was going to hurt them.
42:24 As an FBI agent, Wemmett led a dangerous double life for 18 years, secretly recording conversations.
42:35 His testimony will allow to imprison some of the most infamous killers of the outfit.
42:40 He currently benefits from the witness protection program.
42:44 In April 2005, after 7 years of investigation, the operation "Secret Family" beheads the mafia.
42:53 14 of the top leaders are put on trial.
42:58 In particular, the godfather Joe Lombardo, the clown.
43:04 All the defendants have committed heinous crimes for the outfit.
43:08 Their trial includes 18 murders dating back 40 years, including the one of the federal witness Daniel Seifert in 1974.
43:19 On September 27, 2007, Lombardo is finally found guilty of the Seifert murder.
43:28 The accusation has required perpetuity.
43:33 This victory has a bitter taste for the Seifert family.
43:37 I am often told to turn the page.
43:41 But it's impossible.
43:44 Such a tragedy will never leave a mark on you.
43:46 The Chicago mafia has seen its direction decimated by the operation "Secret Family", but it has a spring.
43:55 I doubt that those of us who have been fighting organized crime for many years, will ever state that we have eliminated anything.
44:04 For the inhabitants of Chicago, organized crime is an integral part of the city's history.
44:11 It has always been present.
44:13 It will never be totally eliminated for good.
44:16 But you can't stop it.
44:18 I think "Secret Family" has been a big dent.
44:24 The message is clear.
44:25 Watch yourself, because we are here and we can get you.
44:28 The mafias are still fighting the Chicago pavement.
44:33 But they have lost their grip on these institutions.
44:36 The golden age of the outfit has been revolutioned.
44:40 The inhabitants and law enforcement have reconquered their city.
44:45 It is up to them to consolidate their victory.
44:50 The Chicago Mafia
44:52 The Chicago Mafia
44:55 The Chicago Mafia
44:58 The Chicago Mafia
45:01 The Chicago Mafia
45:03 (upbeat music)