- The 3 1/2-year undercover operation took place in the 1980s. The first listening device ever placed in a judge's chambers occurred in the undercover phase, when the narcotics court chambers of Judge Wayne Olson were bugged. In order to acquire evidence of corruption, agents obtained U.S. Department of Justice authorization to present false court cases for the undercover agents/lawyers to fix in front of the corrupt judges.The first defendant to be found guilty was Harold Conn, the Deputy Traffic Court Clerk in the Cook County judicial system. Conn was convicted in March 1984 and was one of the many bagmen in the ring of corruption. The last conviction was that of Judge Thomas J. Maloney, who was indicted in 1991 on bribery charges and convicted in April 1993 of fixing three murder cases for more than $100,000 in bribes.A total of 92 people were indicted, including 17 judges, 48 lawyers, ten deputy sheriffs, eight policemen, eight court officials, and state legislator James DeLeo. Out of the 17 judges indicted in the trials, 15 were convicted. One judge, Richard LeFevour, was convicted on 59 counts of mail fraud, racketeering and income-tax violations, getting 12 years in prison. Ten years after the undercover case concluded, the historical investigations, prosecutions and trials concluded in 1994.
The systemic corruption lead to the formation of the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County, a group assembled in August 1984 to examine the problems of the Cook County courts. The group also issued recommendations that were designed to contribute to a period of reform in the courts. The Commission wrote a total of 165 recommendations for the courts of Cook County. Operation Greylord lead to many other similar investigations targeting corruption in Cook County including Operation Silver Shovel, Incubator, Lantern, Operation Gambat, and Safebet. Operation Greylord was also a turning point in the use eavesdropping devices in order to obtain evidence for trial.
The key undercover FBI agents and lawyers were David Grossman, David Reis and Terrence Hake. Hake was a Cook County prosecutor, who complained about the bribery and corruption in the Murder and Sexual Assault preliminary hearing courtroom in Chicago. The FBI and United States Attorneys Office learned of his complaint and recruited him to pose as a corrupt prosecutor and later as a bribe-paying criminal defense attorney.
Operation Greylord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greylord
Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau ... theIllinois State Police into corruption in the judiciary of Cook County, Illinois ...
Articles about Operation Greylord - Chicago Tribune
articles.chicagotribune.com › Featured Articles
In an ironic way, Robinson's conviction brings Greylord full circle: He lied to a grand ..."In that whole sordid business he was the one shining light," said Illinois ...
Greylord Fallout Hits Judges - Chicago Tribune
Apr 2, 1986 – The Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday significantly broadened the financial... The new rules result directly from the federal Operation Greylord ...
Greylord Review - Combined Counties Police Association
www.ipsn.org/greylord.html
Bio & Jim McGough (Biography) 6304 N Francisco Av Chicago. Il 60659 ... A look back at Operation Greylord and Operation Gambat, the far-reaching 1980s ...
Greylord: the aftermath Nina Burleigh - Illinois Periodicals Online ...
www.lib.niu.edu/1989/ii890838.html
Following the egregious misconduct by lawyers exposed in the federal Greylordinvestigation, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed the Blue Ribbon Committee ...
Operation Greylord: Brockton Lockwood's Story: Brocton Lockwood ...
Operation Greylord: Brockton Lockwood's Story [Brocton Lockwood, Harlan H. ...reported to Chicago to fulfill the obligation all southern Illinois judges have to ...
Illinois Law, Politics and Corruption: Operation Greylord and Beyond ...
https://iicle.inreachce.com/.../eddfc103-1ae5-4e28-bb6e-1618f36e4963
Nature or Nurture? Public Corruption in Illinois. How do law and politics in Illinois brew situations like that revealed in the Greylord investigation? Greylord ...
Operation Greylord | TheHolderPosition.com
www.theholderposition.com/tag/operation-greylord/
I am requesting you pardon and expunge the records of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were convicted and sentenced by “Operation Greylord” ...
MY PLEA TO GOVERNOR QUINN: PARDON THOSE CONVICTED BY
www.theholderposition.com/.../my-plea-to-governor-quinn-pardon-thos...
Nov 4, 2009 – Governor Quinn, thousands of Illinois residents were affected by theGreylord corruption. The FBI did an incredible job at rooting out the evils ...
He Survived Operation Greylord | Feature | Chicago Reader
www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/he-survived...greylord/Content?oid...
Dec 1, 1988 – According to the Chicago Tribune, just one of some 75 Greylorddefendants ..... In 1973 he was appointed to the Illinois Pollution Control Board.