TO CA TCH Aadding machine, for example? Minkcoats or any other expensive furs arealways suspected. If a person can affordthem, they usually don't have topawn them."Sometime it's intuition-maybe experience-but something makes yousay, That's got to be wrong. '"FOR EVERY ITEM Kucic has circled assuspicious, a clerk makes up a"suspect" card. This card is immediatelychecked against Kucic's "alpha"file to see if there is any previous suspectcard on the person. As in the jeweltheft case, a pattern may begin to developthat aids detectives in solving acrime. The suspect cards are sent tothe respective areas for Pawn Shopdetectives' investigation."Steal" cards are made up in Recordingand Transcribing on all "identifiableitems" from case and supplementary reportsthat are submitted and are filed inthe Lost Property section of Record Inquiry.These steal cards are filed byserial number for any machines, radios,televisions, cameras, etc. There areseparate files for watches and bicyles,and a miscellaneous file for items valuedover $500.If the description of an item on apawn card matches that on a steal card,a tracer report is made out. This is sentto the area in which the pawn shop islocated, and the Area Pawn Shop detectiveinvestigates.14 <strong>CHI</strong>C<strong>AGO</strong> PO<strong>LICE</strong> STARTHIEF"...(continued from page thirteen)AGAIN AND AGAIN in talking abouttracing stolen property, DetectiveKucic used the words, "identifiableitem." An item must be identifiable topositively determine whether or not itis the particular one stolen. When anofficer investigates a case where anythingis taken, he must get as muchdescriptive information as possible. Onlya serial number on any kind of officemachine, for example, can positivelyidentify an item as the one which wasstolen. On jewelry, officers should findout the type, number, size and cut ofstones, the type of metal used, orwhether there were any inscriptions. Onfurs, any labels or monograms may helpidentification.Commander Griffin suggests that inall cases where detectives investigatingburglaries, thefts, etc., find serial numberson stolen items which had not beenoriginally reported on the case report,they immediately submit a progresssupplementary report listing all theitems with the serial numbers, so thatthese numbers can be placed in the lostproperty files immediately. He also suggeststhat any time any police officerrecovers any identifiable property, possiblythrough raids or from prisoners,and the owner is unknown, that an immediatecheck be made to Lost Propertyrecords on PAX 417 to determine if asteal card is on file.AWN SHOPS ARE REQUIRED by law toP submit daily reports to the PoliceDepartment, listing every item pawnedor sold, a detailed description of it,serial number (whenever possible), andthe name, address and age of the personpawning or selling (the pawn shops requestidentification.)These reports go to the Pawn ShopRecords where they are reviewed by aLiaison Officer from the Burglary section.Three female clerks in this sectionmake up "pawn" cards of identifiableitems obtained from these sheets, whichare filed in the Lost Property files.The jewel theft clear-up is a dramaticexample of the reason for these reportsand the need for Pawn Shop investigators.TWO WEEKS AFTER the jewel theft,Detective Michael Clancy, then thePawn Shop Liaison Officer (now asergeant), was reviewing these sheetswhen he noticed that the name of JamesHenry" began appearing on the pawnsheets; each time the man was pawningwedding and engagment rings at variouspawn shops, and every address he gavewas different.Detective Clancy circled the suspiciousitems. The sheets then went toone of the clerks, who wrote up a"suspect" card for each circled item.These "suspect" cards were sent toDetective Edward 1. Kucic and ThomasEgan, D .D.A. #1-Burglary, for investigation.On checking each item atthe respective pawn shops, it was foundthat the pawned jewelry was similar indescription to the items taken from thejewelry salesman's car.Kucic and Egan also found that allthe addresses given were fictitious. Acheck of the records section disclosedthat a J ames Henry had been arrestedin 1955 and sentenced to the IllinoisState Penitentiary. His photo was obtained,but a canvass of the pawn shopswith the photo disclosed he was notthe man pawning the jewelry.It was also found that a BruceHenry'" had been arrested in 1962, andclose check of the pawn shop sheets revealedthat a Bruce Henry had recentlypawned a tape recorder and camera onthe near north side.
Det. Kucic reaches for a sheafof pawn shop sheets.The detectives found Bruce, and itwas learned that James Henry, theman who allegedly was pawning thejewelry, was a brother of Bruce's. Brucesaid his brother was in Kentucky, andhe also disclosed that his brother hadlost his wallet and identification cardsabout six weeks ago.Pictures of the five men arrested andthe one still sought, a Nicholas Farina, *were shown to Henry. He pointed toFarina's picture and said, "That's JoeVendetta; he served time with mybrother. "Back to headquarters the detectiveswent to get a picture of Vendetta, whowas a known narcotic addict. It turnedout that Farina strongly resembledVendetta.Henry's mistaken identification turnedout to be a break in the case, however.VENDETTA'S PHOTO was shownaround the pawn shops, and 10pawn brokers positively identified himas the man pawning the jewelry.The detectives, ac<strong>com</strong>panied by Det.M. Rogers, located Vendetta's apartment,and as they entered the vestibule,- Vendetta was starting down the stairs.He saw the detectives and turned andfled back up.Kucic and Rogers ran around to theback; Kucic saw a second story windowraised, and a pouch thrown out. Hevaulted over a waH and picked it up. Itwas full of jewelry. Vendetta lockedhimself in his wom, but he had no backescape and finally let the detectives in.He confessed that he had thrown thejewelry out, that Farina had left it withhim for safekeeping but had not yetreturned for it. He also said he beganpawning the jewelry to get money fornarcotics.Vendetta was sentenced to prison, andFarina was subsequently caught and alsosentenced to prison. Of the other fivemen involved, three were sentenced toprison and two were given three years'probation.*Actual name has been changed.Pawn Shop Detective Nick Rossi, Burglary, Area4, checks serial number on a typewriter.ALTHOUGH THERE ARE only nineArea detectives assigned as PawnShop investigators, they perform a bigand necessary job. Detective Kucic saysthat it is impossible to estimate howmany clear-ups were made by thesemen or through their cooperation withother units. But last year their work resultedin recoveries of stolen goodsworth $97,918.51.That's a record not to be "pawnedoff" lightly. *AUGUST, 1966 15
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