Chicago Police Unit Sued as a Racketeering Enterprise

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The owner of a Southwest Side bar raided in 2004 by officers of the police Special Operations Section filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing city and police officials of engaging in a "racketeering enterprise" that allowed rogue cops to terrorize and harass people for several years without fear of discipline.

Filed one day after interim police Supt. Dana Starks disbanded the unit, which was mired in a deepening corruption scandal, the owner of Caballo's bar, Barbara Heidegger, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking more than $5 million in damages for violation of civil rights that allegedly took place during the March 2004 raid.

Video of the raid—led by indicted Officer Jerome Finnigan—appears to have been the last straw in a heap of allegations against the elite unit.


Two men who were arrested in the raid are preparing a separate suit, said Christopher Smith, a lawyer for Heidegger and the two men.

For more on how certain criminally minded individuals can make it to the top,in Chicago,read this.