Book review: Operation Greylord

OPERATION GREYLORD
By Terrance Hake and Wayne Klatt. 279 pp. (2015)
American Bar Association Publishers

This book is the story of rampant bribery and fixing of cases in the Cook County, Illinois, court system. The book covers the period of the 1980s and 1990s. “Greylord” was the name the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave the operation to dig out corruption that existed in the courts during this period. Greylord is about judges, their clerks and bailiffs, and lawyers who were corrupt in many ways large and small. Greylord brought about changes in the Cook County judicial system and was a primer for many courts, both in Illinois and nationally, to review and improve their respective judicial systems (and increase judicial pay).

Prior to Greylord, Cook County courts (and some other Illinois county court systems) had faults that reflected poorly on our judicial system.

Historically, the corruption was in many court rooms. Many court rooms did not have a call sheet. If a lawyer wanted a case called out of turn, the lawyer slipped the clerk $2. If a lawyer wanted the case held until the lawyer did his or her business in another court, he or she slipped the clerk $5. Many clerks were sponsored by their committeeman. Clerks sold tickets to raffles, political fund raisers and outings for up to $100 per ticket. If the lawyer bought the raffle ticket, his or her case was called promptly or held awaiting the lawyer’s arrival. If there was no pay, the case might be called right at 9:30 a.m. if the lawyer was not there. Or, if the lawyer was there, the case would be called at 11:30 and maybe set over to the afternoon call.

Traffic and criminal courts are the primary topics of the author. In traffic court, in addition to paying to have the case called or held, there was a payment made for a result. Different charges had different rates. A DUI might be $500 for a first offense, $1000 for a second, etc. The judge’s bailiff was often the “bagman” who collected the tariff after the call or kept track of regular lawyer’s “accounts.” If the account was overdue, or not paid, the lawyer had poor results. The traffic court hallways had “regular” chasers that sought to represent defendants who came to court without a lawyer. The “chaser” was usually white, smartly dressed with suit, tie and shiny shoes. This lawyer would represent the unrepresented for the bond money the defendant had posted. The bond was assigned to the lawyer. If the defendant was found not guilty, the lawyer received all of the bond money proceeds. It was important that the sitting judge find the defendant “not guilty” so the bond proceeds would be available to the lawyer and the lawyer would settle up his “account” with the judge. The lawyer often had full access to the judge’s chambers and telephone whether the judge was on or off the bench.

In the criminal/felony court, the stakes were much higher and “justice” costs were much more expensive. Several judges “fixed” murder cases for $10,000 per acquittal.

Judge Thomas Murphy was convicted of taking bribes in murder cases. Judge Murphy was sentenced to 16 years in prison and died in prison at age 79. Judge Wayne Olson, a narcotics (and later a Domestic Relations) judge, took bribes from fixers standing in line. Judge Olson was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He died in federal prison at age 63. Many more judges and lawyers were convicted of fixing cases, lost their law licenses and spent time in jail.

One of the sad stories in this book is Terry Hake’s relationship with a lawyer and close personal friend. Terry’s friend practiced law in the same traffic/felony court area. The friend was paying judges for not guilty results. Terry never “tipped” his close friend that Terry was a secret FBI agent. Terry let his friend “go down” with the rest of the lawyers, judges and fixers. Should Terry have told his friend to stop paying judges for “results”? This is the dilemma that Terry faced. Terry lost a close friend who never spoke to him after Greylord was over.

As a lawyer in private practice, Terry represented an undercover FBI agent who posed as a defendant charged with DUI (driving under the influence). The undercover agent was placed on “supervision” and not given a conviction. Terry paid $100 to Judge “Dollars” Devine who took the bribe. Judge Devine was sentenced to 15 years in prison and died of cancer in prison. When the Greylord “heat” was on, Judge Alan Rosin, who was sitting in the Domestic Relations Division, went to his health club and committed suicide. Judge Frank Wilson took a bribe to free a mob hit man. Of all the judges charged with a crime, only Judge John Laurie was found not guilty. Judge Laurie retired.

Greylord brought about a lot of changes that improved Cook County’s judicial system. Greylord was also a “wake up” call to other courts in Illinois as well other states.

Greylord does not address the present issue of judicial campaign financing. Millions are being paid to judicial campaign funds. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that contributing millions to judicial campaigns is proper.

This book should be referred to from time to time as a reminder that neither judges nor lawyers should ever travel the route of fixing and bribing judges. The end result is prison, disbarment and the end of judicial and legal careers. 