Anti-Corruption - University of Illinois at Chicago

Operation Gambat 1986 to 1997
Operation Gambat was named for a gambling attorney who worked for the crime
syndicate for more than10 years before going undercover for the FBI to expose the
symbiotic relationship of the 1 st Ward Democratic Party and the Mob. Over the years
there had been many rumors that organized crime was a player in Chicago politics.
Gambat removed all doubts.
The gambling attorney, Robert Cooley, had been a Chicago policeman before going to
Chicago-Kent College of Law. He returned to the police force and then had a solo private
practice representing small-time hoodlums. Cooley bragged that he was very successful
representing criminal defendants and was adept at bribing judges. In 1977, he was
contacted by John D’Arco, Sr., a reputed mobster, former Alderman and then 1 st Ward
Committeeman. D’Arco asked Cooley to teach his lawyer son, John D’Arco Jr., an
Illinois State Senator, how to try cases. Cooley agreed in exchange for getting all of the
Mob’s criminal defense work. That deal was struck at the Counsellors’ Row restaurant
across LaSalle St. from City Hall. Cooley moved his office into the same building as
Junior’s firm Kugler, D’Arco and DeLeo. Pat DeLeo was Senior’s son-in-law and a
Chicago corporation counsel, a staff attorney for the City. 29
Early in1986, Cooley’s gambling debts were piling up; he was getting threats from
bookies; and he was aggravated that the 1st Ward bosses didn’t seem concerned about his
safety. Cooley decided then to visit the U.S. Attorney’s Strike Force Office in Chicago.
He became an informant and wore a voice recording device as he passed bribes to 1st
Ward intermediaries and numerous public officials. His cover was almost blown in July,
1989, when a Counselors Row busboy discovered a hidden video camera pointed at the
1st Ward table where D’Arco Sr., Alderman Fred Roti and Ward Secretary Pat Marcy
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met almost daily for lunch with other public officials, attorneys and deal makers.
Cooley escaped detection and continued to wear the wire and fix cases up until the Feds
charged Marcy with fixing murder trials, selling a judgeship and racketeering. Also
indicted for racketeering and other crimes were Roti, Pat DeLeo, and Judge David J.
Shields. John D’Arco Jr. was charged with tax evasion and extortion. He accepted a bribe
to arrange insurance legislation. 31 D’Arco, Roti, DeLeo, Judge Thomas J. Maloney,
Judge Shields, Judge Adam Stillo Sr., and mob hit man Harry Aleman were all convicted
as a result of Cooley’s undercover work. Marcy died before his trial by was completed.
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Cooley, Robert with Levin, Hillel, When Corruption Was King, Carroll & Graf Publishers (Avalon),
2004
CC Schmidt, William. "5 Indicted in Latest Inquiry Into Corruption in Chicago ."The New York Times,
December 20, 1990.
30
Dean Baquet and others, “Spy Camera Tied to Greylord; Organized Crime, Court Links Sought, Chicago
Tribune, July 16, 1989
31 st
William Braden, “U.S. indicts Roti, Marcy and D’Arco; Shields, DeLeo also accused in 1 Ward probe,”
Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 19, 1990.
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