Chicago Mob Associate William Hanhardt Leaves Jail: Former Chief of Detectives Released

John Kass reports:

The Chicago Outfit's top cop, former Chicago Police Chief of Detectives William Hanhardt, left federal prison Tuesday after a decade behind bars.

Once he was a rock star. If you want to understand Chicago you've got to understand that when Hanhardt would show up in a police district station, you'd think the Beatles had arrived. They'd crowd around him, because he was the guy who could make things happen.


He could make a detective with a nod of his head, or have somebody's brother-in-law transferred. He ran things. And his friends were the guys who ran City Hall.

On Tuesday he wasn't a rock star. He was an 82-year-old man eased into a Near West Side halfway house, to sleep there nights and walk free by day, to find a relentless truth: Things change.

For more on Hanhardt's amazing career click on this. Would you feel safe knowing Hanhardt could make it to the top if your town banned handguns???