Brotherhood of corruption: a cop breaks the silence on police abuse, brutality, and racial profiling

322 Pages·2004·1.02 MB·English

by  Juan Antonio Juarez

Juarez AUTOBIOGRAPHY $24.95 (CAN $37.95)
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department in this memoir of violence,
readers who care about fairness in law enforcement HH
drugs, and men with badges. Juarez
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PROFESSOR MICHAEL L. SEIGEL RR wanted to make a difference in gang-
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and First Assistant U.S. Attorney reveals, he ended up a corrupt member of
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A Cop Breaks the Silence on Police Abuse,
Police and other urban law enforcement agencies.” working as a narcotics officer, Juarez
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The author is donating one-third of the Brutality, and Racial Profiling
eventually joined his fellow officers in
proceeds from the sale of this book to MARILYN S. JOHNSON RR
crossing the line between cop and
Reading Is Fundamental. author of Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City Juan Antonio Juarez
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the better of him and he tried to reform,
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$24.95 (CAN $37.95) NN and the code of silence that keeps law
enforcers untouchable.
Jacket design: Arc Group Ltd
Author photo: courtesy Shaunna L. Juarez
Front jacket photo (top): © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS Distributed by Independent Publishers Group
Printed in the United States of America www.ipgbook.com
BROTHERHOOD
CORRUPTION
OF
★ ★ ★
A Cop Breaks the Silence
on Police Abuse, Brutality,
and Racial Profiling
Juan Antonio Juarez
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Juarez, Juan Antonio, 1966–
Brotherhood of corruption : a cop breaks the silence on police
abuse, brutality, and racial profiling / Juan Antonio Juarez.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-55652-536-2
1. Chicago (Ill.). Police Dept. 2. Police corruption—
Illinois—Chicago. 3. Police brutality—Illinois—Chicago. 4.
Racial profiling in law enforcement—Illinois—Chicago. 5. Juarez,
Juan Antonio, 1966–. 6. Ex-police officers—Illinois—Chicago—
Biography. I. Title: Police abuse, brutality, and racial profiling.
II. Title.
HV8148.C4J83 2004
364.1(cid:2)323(cid:2)0977311—dc22 2003028193
Cover design: Arc Group Ltd.
Interior design: Pamela Juarez
© 2004 by Juan Antonio Juarez
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 1-55652-536-2
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
To the great city of Chicago

AUTHOR’S NOTE
The life which is unexamined
is not worth living.
—
PLATO
I SPENT SEVEN YEARSas oneof the thirteen thousand police officers who
patrolled Chicago. Since my departure many police practices have
changed, such as wanton and indiscriminant beatings and the closed-eyes
approach once taken by the administration. Yet many questionable prac-
tices remain, such as the willingness to let rogue cops escape punishment
and the prevalence of racial profiling in the name of the War on Drugs.
While I was a cop I saw injustices that developed into patterns, pat-
terns ill suited to those who were sworn to serve and protect the public.
After I resigned from the Police Department and years later after finish-
ing my second master’s degree, I had time to reflect, dig deeper, and look
at my career. When I talked to my former supervisors I found more dis-
turbing trends. While I never questioned anything when I was a cop, I can
no longer remain silent.
This book may never have materialized if I hadn’t kept my FOP (Fra-
ternal Order of Police) handbook from my rookie year, which informed
me that one of my best friends today was the very first person I arrested.
He was also the first citizen I ever witnessed receiving a beating by a Chi-
cago police officer. In 1999, I began having vivid recollections about my
first arrest that left me a bit puzzled. The arrestee’s image vaguely resem-
v
Brotherhood of Corruption
bled a friend I had met in 1997, so I looked in my handbook and was
mortified to find my friend’s name in my book. I called him to verify that
he had been arrested in 1990. He told me he had and began telling me
his side of the story. Discovering this amazing coincidence started me on
a path that produced the book you now hold.
This is my story, an attempt to detail the events that shaped and
changed my life, for better and worse. To protect those who are a part of
my story, all names have been changed except my own. Other than that,
this is a work of nonfiction, based on conversations, interviews, public
records, and personal recollection. Finally, it is my hope that the infor-
mation contained in this book will raise public awareness about societal
injustices and empower people to seek the truth. This is why I am shar-
ing my story with you.
vi
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
1
A Taste of Authority 1
2
Shattered Family 5
3
Dreaming of an Escape 12
4
Out of the Shadows 18
5
Flight of the Phoenix 24
6
Initiation 33
7
Perks and Privileges 37
8
Good Cop, Bad Cop 42
9
Find ’em and Fuck ’em 54
10
A Piece of the Action 65
11
Prince of the City 70
12
Crossing the Line 83
13
Lucky’s Way 89
14
Sitting Ducks 99
15
The Need for a Change 104
16
Welcome to Paradise 110
17
Operation Iron Wedge 117
18
Operation Altgeld Gardens 128
19
Mistaken Identity: Wrong Place, Wrong Time 136
20
It’s Just a Numbers Game 143
21
Operation “Risky Business” 147
22
Big Money, Big Dope, Big Mistake 154
23
Hey, Where’s the Money? 158
24
A World Apart 167
25
Summer Mobile Unit 171
26
Nitwit Police 178
27
Dill Donald 182
28
Who Really Knows? 186
29
Time to Pay the Piper 194
30
The Youth Shall Pay 203
31
Summer Mobile Unit Redux 212
32
Tavern Team 223