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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Michael Sneed

Brass from the past: Top Chicago cops? I’ve known a few

Mayor Richard Daley (left) chats with Police Supt. Matt Rodriguez at an event in 1997. (Rich Hein/Sun-Times file)

It was quite a speech. Stunning. 

“In order for our [police] officers to love someone else, we have to love them,” said Larry Snelling, 54, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick as the city’s new top cop.

“Empathy. Problem solving. Transparency. Telling the truth,” Snelling promised the city at his introductory news conference last Monday, pumping his lectern like a loaded rifle, pledging to tackle violent crime as his top priority.

 “Safety has to be a collective effort,” the son of Englewood cautioned. “We can’t do it without every member of the city being a shareholder.”

How about them apples! 

 It was new cop lingo in the nation’s third largest city, a city overwhelmed with guns, drugs, street crime, angry citizens, and a beleaguered police force of roughly 12,000.

His appointment prompted a peek into this reporter’s aging notepad; a flashback to 14 or so former Chicago top cops I’ve known or covered since 1967, when legendary Chicago Police Supt. O.W. Wilson (1960-1967) was just retiring. 

Police Supt, Orlando W. Wilson chuckles as Mayor Richard J. Daley presents him with a police baton, one of several gifts given to the retiring police chief at a farewell luncheon at the old Sherman House in 1967. (Pete Peters/Chicago Sun-Times file)

Mayor Richard J. Daley had tapped Orlando W. Wilson, the highly respected dean of criminology at the University of California’s Berkeley campus, as the first civilian in modern history to head (and clean-up) the tarnished department. Lauded for years as Chicago’s best top cop, Wilson netted a magnum opus obit in the New York Times in 1972.

 But it was Wilson’s successor, Supt. James Conlisk, Jr., who landed in my first top cop notebook, during the city’s 1968 Democratic Convention riots. Bloody police batons, disgruntled officers called “pigs;” and angry anti-Vietnam War protesters dominated the violent Chicago headlines.

Police Supt. James Conlisk at a news conference on two-officer squad cars in 1970. (Chicago Sun Times archives)

 (This street reporter was assigned to bail out Chicago Tribune reporters arrested during the melee … and take notes on the way. It was wild.)

 So, from my dog-eared notebooks, here’s some memories of a few of those top cops.

  • Supt. James O’Grady (1978-79) suddenly “resigned” after Jane Byrne beat Mayor Michael J. Bilandic. Mayor Byrne replaced O’Grady with Comdr. Joe DiLeonardi. “Joe D” was popular with reporters because he liked talking to us.
Joe Dileonardi, then acting police superintendent (center), listens as Mayor Jane Byrne (left) shares a joke with Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch (right) at a ceremony in 1979. (Chicago Sun-Times archives)

Taking a short hiatus from the Trib, I was briefly Byrne’s press secretary during Joe D’s tenure. Sadly, DiLeonardi’s deputy superintendent, Jim Riordan, was shot and killed while trying to stop a gunman threatening patrons of a bar in June of 1979, becoming the highest-ranking Chicago police officer killed in the line of duty. 

Riordan was killed by a drunk former Iowa policeman named Leon Washington, who was threatening patrons with his gun at the popular Marina City bar. Off duty at the time, Riordan saw the rampage, tried to escort Washington out and was shot three times. He died hours later at a hospital with Byrne at his side.

 Sentenced to 35 years in prison, Washington was excoriated by a Chicago judge who cited the case “as the dangerous result of widespread ownership of arms.” 

Sound familiar?

  • Supt. Richard Brzeczek, 1980-1983, suffered a career marred publicly at times by drinking and womanizing — even cheating on his mistress — before winning final redemption as a public advocate for marital counseling along with his wife, Liz, who remained his partner for life.
Mayor Jane Byrne (left) announces Richard Brzeczek is her choice to serve as police superintendent in 1980. (Sun-Times archives)
  • Fred Rice, Jr., (1983-1987) became the city’s first Black superintendent, when Mayor Harold Washington appointed him to succeed Brzeczek. Rice was a low-key guy whose tenure sadly saw the department’s first woman killed in the line of duty, Officer Dorelle Brandon.
Mayor Washington (right) with newly appointed Fire Commissioner Louis T. Galante and Police Supt. Fred Rice Jr. in 1983. (Chicago Sun-Times archives)
  • From 1992 to 1997, Matt Rodriguez served as the city’s first Hispanic top cop, introducing the city to community policing. He had an unfortunate habit of dining with a restaurant owner with alleged ties to the mob, eventually putting a sad period to his police career. (The Old Town eatery quickly became hangout for “hungry” reporters.) 
Mayor Richard M. Daley (right) and Chicago Police Supt. Matt Rodriguez call on Chicagoans to act responsibly while celebrating Bulls victory in 1996. (Ellen Domke/Sun-Times file)
  • From 1998 to 2003, Terry Hillard, a former police bodyguard for Byrne, held sway as a top cop for all the right reasons. A respected, highly innovative leader, he built successful community relationships, adopted a new police star, renamed “patrolmen” police officers and talked incessantly about his granddaughter — all with a Carolina accent.
Chicago Police Supt. Terry Hillard smiles after presenting commendations to police officers in 2003. (John H. White/Chicago Sun-Times file)
  • From 2003 to 2007, the legendary Phil Cline, known amongst his brethren as a highly respected cop’s cop, introduced programs — some controversial — that accompanied a remarkable drop in the city’s crime rate. Known as a guy who gave straight answers and got the job done, Cline continues to honor the 600 Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty as head of the Gold Star Families and Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. 
Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline sits in front of the case containing the retired stars of Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty at police headquarters in 2003. (Brian Kersey/AP file photo)
  • Former FBI agent Jody Weis’ selection as superintendent (2008-2011) was startling because cops and feds are not necessarily coosome twosomes. But Weis was considered fair, returned phone calls, actually seemed to like the media, and frequently participated in anti-gun neighborhood marches with Father Michael Pfleger.
Chicago Police Supt.Jody Weis in 2011. (Scott Stewart~Sun-Times file)
  • It was hard not to like Garry McCarthy (2011-2015), a sharp guy despite his massive ego and constant references to his New York cop roots. The New York talk lessened with his marriage to Chicago attorney Kristin Barnette McCarthy — whom he nicknamed “The Viking.” Despite the New Yawk accent, McCarthy was a strong Chicago police presence and innovator until Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired him amidst the uproar over the death of young Laquan McDonald, killed by 16 police bullets. 
Mayor Rahm Emanuel (left) and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy appear at a news conference in 2015 announcing first-degree murder charges against police officer Jason Van Dyke in the Oct. 20, 2014, death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP file)
  • Finally, Eddie Johnson (2016-2019), Rahm’s favorite police superintendent, who served until Rahm’s successor, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, fired him over a drinking and driving incident. Before his public downfall, Eddie Johnson achieved almost heroic status defying Gov. Bruce Rauner’s edict to stop an anti-gun march down the Dan Ryan Expressway with Father Pfleger. Instead, the city’s top cop chose to join hands with with activist priest. 
Mayor Lori Lightfoot looks on as Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson speaks during a news conference in 2019. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file)

  Best of luck, incoming Police Supt. Larry Snelling, who has daughters named Hermione and Jasmine.

  I love their magical names ... and the new Larry lingo.  

Larry Snelling, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s nominee for Chicago Police superintendent, smiles during his introductory news conference on Monday. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file)

Saturday birthdays: actor John Stamos, 60; actress Krya Sedgwick, 58; singer Lee Ann Womack, 56; actor Matthew Perry, 54...Sunday birthdays: weatherman Al Roker, 69; actor Andrew Garfield, 40; singer Demi Lovato, 31; Connie Chung, 77.

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