Mob Cop: My Life of Crime in the Chicago Police Department

by Fred Pascente, Sam Reaves

Overview

Fred Pascente is the man who links Tony Spilotro, one of Chicago’s most notorious mob figures, to William Hanhardt, chief of detectives of the Chicago Police Department. Pascente and Spilotro grew up together on Chicago’s Near West Side, and as young toughs they were shaken down by Hanhardt. While Spilotro became one of the youngest made men in Chicago Outfit history, Pascente was drafted into the army and then joined the police department. Soon taken under Hanhardt’s wing, Pascente served as his fixer and bagman for more than a decade. Pascente also remained close to Spilotro, making frequent trips to Las Vegas to party with his old friend and help him rob the casinos blind. Mob Cop reveals information about the inner workings of the Outfit, and Fred Pascente’s positions as an insider on both the criminal and law enforcement fronts make this story a matchless tell-all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613736838
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,002,854
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Fred Pascente was a Chicago police officer for 26 years, serving as assistant and “bagman” to William Hanhardt. He was also a professional thief with close ties to the mafia, and a close friend and confidant of Tony Spilotro. Sam Reaves is the author of 10 novels and has served as president of the Midwest chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Table of Contents

1 There You Go 1

2 Paradise 8

3 Trouble in Paradise 21

4 The Machine 28

5 Grand Avenue 33

6 The Badlands 41

7 Tough Guys 49

8 Connected 59

9 Rush Street Nights 70

10 You're in the Army Now 79

11 Family Feuds 90

12 This Is a Policeman? 99

13 Street Smarts 107

14 Fun and Games 113

15 Bad Company 119

16 Card Games 127

17 Criminal Justice 140

18 Thunderbolt 149

19 Shakespeare 160

20 Working Both Sides 170

21 Gamblers 178

22 Occupational Hazards 188

23 Right-Hand Man 195

24 The Bank Dick 203

25 Detective Pascente 209

26 Found Money 217

27 The Chief 223

28 Family Guy 232

29 Rats 239

30 Internal Affairs 250

31 Dorfman 255

32 Politics 260

33 The Sun Sets in the West 264

34 Crime Story 270

35 Gone 276

36 Gypsies 281

37 Crazy Horse 285

38 Trouble 293

39 Demise 300

40 An Oxford Man 305

41 The End 313

Afterword 325

Acknowledgments 328

Editorial Reviews

"Worthwhile glimpse into the schizoid world of a corrupt cop.” —Kirkus Reviews


“A tale from the underworld that’s rich in Outfit history and the characters that come with it. Pascente’s memories unspool like letters from a dark and fading Chicago.”—Jeff Coen, author of Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob


“A detailed, gritty account of growing up around Grand Avenue and of life on both sides of the law, from someone who was a mob associate and a Chicago police officer—at the same time. Sam Reaves’s commentary that goes along with Fred Pascente’s story is excellent.”—John J. Binder, author of The Chicago Outfit
 


"The book is chock full of the dark side of both the police department and the mob but it is surprisingly also full of strong friendship, family devotion, unswerving loyalty and at times had me laughing out loud at some of the ridiculous antics on both sides of the law." —Chicago History Cop




“­Pascente’s tale is fascinating.” —Library Journal


“Fans of mobster stories will want to grab a copy of the foul-mouthed but fascinating memoir of Fred Pascente, the corrupt former Chicago cop who was tight with Tony Spilotro and a host of Las Vegas ne’er-do-wells. Written with novelist Sam Reaves, the book is titled “Mob Cop: My Life of Crime in the Chicago Police Department.” A friend and business partner of former Crazy Horse Too boss Rick Rizzolo, Pascente also was a member of Nevada’s casino Black Book. Pascente died in 2014, so I’m guessing the book tour is out.” —Las Vegas Review-Journal

From the Publisher

06/01/2015
There is a constant feeling of being in a Martin Scorsese film when reading this book. Pascente, an officer for the Chicago Police Department from 1968 to 1993, also happened to consort with connected mafia men and even participated in a few schemes before, during, and after he was on the force. Here, Pascente, with author Reaves (Cold Black Earth), shares the story of growing up in Chicago idealizing the mob. It's at this early age that the author sees the relationship the mafia has with the authorities and how one helps the other. It is suggested that joining the police force will be helpful, and along the way to becoming a cop, Pascente assists in cons and robberies, either by scouting for information or actually doing the looting. From helping criminals avoid arrest to scamming people at a Bruce Springsteen concert, Pascente describes living a dual life: serving the community and taking from those that he or others deemed worthy. He both brags and reprimands himself for his lifestyle over the decades. VERDICT Pascente's tale is fascinating. Reaves captures the former policeman's voice, and the book is a long one-sided conversation of Pascente laying out his sins. For fans of mafia stories and lovers of Scorsese films (the main characters in the film Casino were modeled after two associates of Pascente).—Ryan Claringbole, Coll. Lib. at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

Library Journal

2015-03-28
A former crooked cop looks back on his conflict-of-interest life as a policeman and midlevel grifter. Italian-American and native Chicagoan Pascente's nonfiction debut, co-written with crime novelist Reaves (Mean Town Blues, 2008, etc.), is a rollicking mess of a wiseguy memoir that vividly evokes the sights, sounds, and sins of a long-vanished criminal gangland of Chicago. Born in 1942 (he died in 2014) in a typically rough urban district of the city's Near West Side, Pascente grew up with future "made man" Tony Spilotro (immortalized in Nick Pileggi's book Casino), who would eventually be financially linked to Pascente's future police boss William Hanhardt. While Spilotro went on to become a mob heavyweight running a casino empire in Las Vegas in the 1960s, Pascente served in the Army before getting an early discharge for joining the police force; he ended up working under Hanhardt, who would exploit Pascente's gangland connections. During his more than 25 years as a cop, the author may have spent more time committing crimes than preventing them. The book is packed cover to cover with Pascente's pithy tales of the dirty deeds he and his corrupt cohorts (with cartoon gangster names like Johnny Bananas, Louie the Mooch, and Milwaukee Phil) pulled off for big money: insider bank scores, racetrack betting swindles, casino heists, mail and insurance scams, and plenty more. Pascente, for all his shady dealings, ended up doing very little jail time in a minimum-security prison for insurance fraud (although he did lose his police pension). Of course, his criminal curriculum vitae can't compare to those of Henry Hill or Whitey Bulger, but Pascente comes off about as affable as any criminal could. In the end, he expressed a modicum of shame and regret over his weakness for the lure of easy money. Not exactly a self-portrait of a criminal mastermind, but a somewhat worthwhile glimpse into the schizoid world of a corrupt cop.

Kirkus Reviews