May 2003
FBI Chicago participated in Operation TopOff II, a nationwide
training exercise designed to assist federal and state authorities with
investigating and responding to a terrorist attack.
March 2003
Scott Fawell, Chief of Staff to former Illinois Governor George Ryan, was
convicted of racketeering. Fawell became the 65th and
highest-ranking defendant in Operation Safe Roads, a five-year
investigation of corruption in the Illinois Secretary of State's office
under former Governor Ryan.
January 23, 2003
Chicago-area native Michael
Alfonso was placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives"
list. A registered sex offender, Alfonso is wanted by Illinois
authorities for the murder of two former girlfriends.
August 1, 2002
FBI Chicago opened a satellite office at Chicago's Midway Airport to
assist local authorities in providing a strong law enforcement presence in
recognition of increasing traffic at the airport.
July 25, 2002
FBI Chicago selected a location at Roosevelt and Damen in Chicago as the
site of its future headquarters building. The anticipated opening of
the office is January 2006.
June 15, 2001
Betty Loren Maltese,
President of the Town of Cicero, was indicted, along with nine
others, by a Federal grand jury on charges of wire, mail, and
bank fraud and racketeering. The indictment was the culmination
of a five-year investigation headed by the FBI. Maltese and eight
co-defendants subsequently were convicted at trial in August
2002.
January 2001
The last defendant in
Operation
Silver Shovel, former Cicero Collector Gerald Resnik,
was sentenced in U.S. District Court, bringing to an end the
probe of public corruption. A total of six aldermen and
twelve others were convicted in the most successful investigation
of public corruption in Chicago's history.
October 19, 2000
William A. Hanhardt,
retired chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department,
was charged in a Federal grand jury indictment, along with five
others, of masterminding a nationwide jewel theft ring.
December 1998
Chicago Police Officer
Joseph Miedzianowski, along with 14 others, was charged with
running a drug distribution ring based on Chicago's northwest
side. Described as the most corrupt cop in Chicago's history,
Miedzianowski was convicted in U.S. District court in April 2001.
March 26, 1998
The first of several
indictments was returned in the federal probe of point-shaving
schemes in the Northwestern University football and basketball
programs during 1994 and 1995. A total of eleven individuals,
including eight student athletes, was charged and convicted.
July 11, 1996
The first indictment
was made in FBI Chicago's Operation Foul Ball. This
nationwide case investigated sports collectible dealers who created
and distributed large quantities of forged sports memorabilia,
such as jerseys, shoes, bats, balls, hats, and photographs, which
were allegedly signed by famous athletes. By the end of
the investigation, a total of seven men had been found guilty
of selling forged sports memorabilia.
December 20, 1995
The first indictment
was made in FBI Chicago's Operation
Silver Shovel, which investigated public corruption in
city government. During the course of the investigation,
six City of Chicago Aldermen, in addition to twelve other local
officials, were convicted of accepting bribes.
October 19, 1990
A Cook County Circuit
Court Judge, an Illinois State Senator, a Chicago Alderman, and
two others were charged by a federal grand jury as a result of
FBI Chicago's Operation Gambat investigation. These
individuals were charged with crimes relating to corruption in
the Cook County Circuit Court, the Illinois Senate, and the Chicago
City Council. Four of those charged were convicted; the
fifth defendant died awaiting trial.
August 2, 1989
The Attorney General
announced the indictment of 46 current and former traders and
brokers on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board
of Trade. The indictments were the result of a two-year
FBI Chicago investigation in which four Agents posed as traders.
November 21, 1986
The first of two federal
grand jury indictments was returned as part of the FBI's Operation
Incubator. A total of fourteen local officials were
charged with accepting bribes, including a Deputy Water Commissioner,
the Cook County Clerk, a former Mayoral Aide, and four Aldermen.
January 21, 1986
Five men, including Joseph Aiuppa, the reputed leader of organized crime in Chicago, were
convicted of skimming over two million dollars from Las Vegas
casinos that were secretly owned by the mafia. The direct
result of the FBI's Strawman investigation, these convictions
virtually eliminated the hierarchy of organized crime in Kansas
City, Milwaukee, and Chicago.
August 10, 1984
300 FBI Agents and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Agents, assisted by Cook County State's
Attorney Investigators, executed 14 search warrants at suburban
Chicago locations as part of Operation Safebet.
This FBI Chicago investigation targeted political corruption and the organized crime control
of illegal prostitution activity throughout the Chicago metropolitan
area and resulted in the indictment and conviction of more than 75 individuals.
July 20, 1984
Alton Coleman, an FBI
"Top Ten" fugitive, was arrested in Evanston, Illinois,
following a series of murders, attempted murders, rapes, kidnappings,
and auto thefts. On January 7, 1985, Coleman and his accomplice,
Debra Brown, were sentenced to 20 years in prison for the
kidnapping of a Kentucky college professor. On April 30,
1985, Brown was convicted of murder for the beating death of
an Ohio woman and sentenced to life imprisonment. On January
24, 1987, Coleman received his fourth and final death sentence
for the murder of a nine-year-old girl.
March 15, 1984
Former Deputy Traffic
Court Clerk Harold Conn became the first defendant to be convicted
in FBI Chicago's Operation Greylord investigation into
corruption in the Cook County Circuit Court. This was the
first undercover operation to investigate corruption in the courtroom,
a major turning point in investigating public corruption.
Nearly 100 people, including 13 judges and 51 attorneys, were
indicted and convicted as a result of this investigation.
May 28, 1978
a bomb exploded at the
University of Illinois at Chicago, injuring one individual.
For the next 17 years, FBI Chicago, along with nearly all of
the FBI's 56 field offices, investigated 16 related bombings
perpetrated by an individual known as the "Unabomber."
After an extensive investigation, the "Unabomber" was
identified as Theodore Kaczynski. Kaczynski was arrested
in April 1996 and later sentenced to life imprisonment
for the bombings, which left three dead and twenty-three others
injured.
December 29, 1942
FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover personally led FBI Agents in the Chicago apprehension
of Basil "The Owl" Banghart, Roger "The Terrible" Touhy, and Edward
Darlak. They and five members of their
gang had escaped from the Stateville Penitentiary in Joliet,
Illinois, on October 9, 1942. Two of the escapees, James
O'Connor and St. Clair McInerney, were killed while resisting
arrest.
November 27, 1934
Lester E. Gillis, also
known as "Baby Face" Nelson, died in a gun battle with
FBI Chicago Agents Herman F. Hollis and Samuel Cowley on a highway
near Barrington, Illinois. Both Agents were mortally wounded.
July 22, 1934
Special Agent W. Carter
Baum was killed during a gun battle with members of the John
Dillinger Gang near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Baum was part
of a team of FBI Chicago Agents sent to northern Wisconsin after
Dillinger and his associates were spotted in a local cabin.
July 22, 1934
FBI Chicago Agents led
by SAC Melvin H. Purvis tracked John Herbert Dillinger, public
enemy #1, to the Biograph Theater on Chicago's near-west side.
Dillinger was shot and killed by Agents Herman F. Hollis and
Samuel Cowley when he attempted to draw a gun, thus ending a
thirteen-month crime spree which resulted in ten people dead,
seven people wounded, and eleven banks robbed of more than $100,000.
March 27, 1929
Alphonse "Scarface"
Capone was arrested by FBI Special Agents in Florida after he
failed to appear as a witness in a federal prohibition case in
Chicago.
February 14, 1929
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred in Chicago between
rival bootlegging gangs. FBI Chicago conducted ballistics
tests in the case, leading to the eventual creation of the FBI Laboratory.
October 11, 1925
Special Agent Edwin J.
Shanahan of FBI Chicago became the first FBI Agent to be killed
in the line of duty. Shanahan was shot while attempting
to arrest Martin James Durkin, a professional auto thief.
On January 20, 1926, Agents captured Durkin in a railroad car
near St. Louis, Missouri, and arrested him for Shanahan's murder.
August 21, 1920
FBI Chicago was created. At that time, the FBI was
known as the Bureau of Investigation. The first Special
Agent in Charge (SAC) of FBI Chicago was James P. Rooney.