THE RUNNER SCREENPLAY - BRIAN R. LUNDIN (booksvooks .txt) 📗

to get out of the rain or cold or stopped in the rear room of a tavern for a drink. His beat or walking post was 47th Street State Street to Cottage Grove Avenue one of the roughest areas of the district, but Richard was very seldom challenged on the street. The bookies knew that he didn’t take money and quickly plied their trade elsewhere. Richard was aware of all the bad things his fellow officers were doing and hated the way his people were being treated, but he was only one black man in a sea of white and he was well aware of the “Blue Code.” Never, but never did a police officer inform on a fellow police officer, black or white. He was a good cop, an honest cop, a brave cop and he was fair. The tough young punks, who snatched old women purses, terrorized street corners and rolled drunks respected Hollis. They knew he would never give them a bogus case and they also knew if he caught them breaking the law they were “Shit-house” bound. He never got the free “Blowjobs” from the prostitutes that walked 47th street or hustled the illegal vendors. He always stopped at the businesses on his beat and refused their offers of protection money. He never slipped into the Regal or Met Theaters or goofed off at Chili Macs restaurant when he was on patrol like some of the other cops did, especially on cold or rainy nights. He chased the panhandlers and drunks who begged and harassed rider departing the 47th Street CTA Elevator Station so roughly they never came back. In 1947, with the help of Alderman Bonito, Richard was promoted to Sergeant and re-assigned to the 2nd District. Although, he supposedly supervised ten white officers, they paid him very little attention; they ignored his orders and were generally disrespectful and insubordinate. When he tried to suspend or discipline a variant officer; Commander Harness would overrule his recommendations for suspension. In 1950, he was promoted again, to Lieutenant, with the help of Alderman Bonito, and again was re-assigned to the 2nd District as a Field Lieutenant. The Field Lieutenant was the ranking supervisor on the street. He supervised three white sergeants and forty-five white beat or patrol officers, but things were still the same; he could not discipline any of his white police officer subordinates the only thing that was different that by being a Field Lieutenant he was entitled to a cut of the money in the “Commander’s Club.” The “Commander’s Club,” was the name given to a fund controlled by Commander Harness. Organized crime operations, selected gamblers, pimps, dope dealers and other illegal operations in the district were charged a fee or “Nut,” to operate in the district and not be concerned about police interference. Their “Nut or monthly charge for protection depended on the size of their operation. A minor operation, like a “Wine Joint,” that sold whiskey before the legal hours of noon on Sunday’s, could be charged $50.00 a month, a big “Skin Game,” operation, a southern card game, could be charged $75.00 a month, independent dope dealers and prostitutes were usually charged $100.00 dollars a month. However, the biggest contributor to the club was the “Outfit,” or Chicago’s organized crime, which was charged $3-4,000 a month. The outfit had over 300 bookies, over fifty whorehouses, gambling dens and loan sharks working in the district. Jerome McLemore was a member of the club and his fee was $2,000.00 a month. Every month the Commander’s “Bagman,” SERGEANT ELLIS the vice sergeant collected the money for the commander, it was understood if anything went wrong, like a federal investigation, he would be the one to take the heat and even go to jail. The Commander’s Club,” received over $20,000.00 a month from the various illegal activities. The District Commander determined who got a share of the money. Sergeant Ellis received $600.00 a month, the five vice men who were responsible for investigating vice activities in the district got a nut of $400.00 a month, the three Field Lieutenants received $300.00 a month, six selected sergeants got $150.00 a month and the three Watch Commanders’ got $350.00, a month but Lieutenant Hollis refused to accept his nut and the Commander Harness kept it. AREA DEPUTY CHIEF WILLIAM O’HALLORAN
and some of the brass downtown got a cut and the Commander kept the rest. The commander’s nut usually averaged between $10,000 and $12,000 a month and the rumor was that Commander Harness was making so much money he had to bury it in his backyard. Richard was well aware that by refusing his nut the rest of the police officers would view him with suspicion. An honest police officer was not to be trusted in the 2nd Police District, but there was nothing Hollis could do about it after all he could not go to the police. Hollis big career break came in 1960 when he was still a Field Lieutenant. TENNESSEE SENATOR ESTES KEAUVER chaired a United States Senate Subcommittee known as the “Keauver Committee,” which was investigating, police corruption, crime and interstate commerce in the country’s most corrupt cities. The committee probed into operations of organized crime and gambling with special attention given to police corruption, the committee aimed it sights on the Wabash District and District Commander Harness. All of the big brass that for years had been receiving their nut from the commander ducked for covers. The FBI had placed hidden recording devices on some of the members of the club and had recorded conversation between Sergeant Ellis and their informants. Additionally they had recorded videotapes of Ellis receiving payoffs from gamblers and mob figures. The government granted some of the vice-officers immunity and they agreed to testify against the Commander and Sergeant Ellis. They provided the committee with over-whelming evidence of police corruption and payoffs. Commander Harness was given an option, retire with a full pension or be indicted and goes to trial. The Commander took the first option and retired; he knew that there was a strong probability that he would be convicted if he went to trial and that could mean a long prison sentence and the lost of his pension. The Commander had made a fortune and could retire in comfort, his “Bagman,” Sergeant Ellis was not as fortunate he was convicted and sentenced to three years in a federal prison in a Dilute, Minnesota. The other incident that helped Richard Hollis also involved police corruption. In 1959, the Chicago Police Department was involved in another scandal. Burglars on the north side were partners with district police officers who allowed the burglars to hide the proceeds of their burglaries in their squad cars. An old woman going to the washroom to take a piss saw the police officers putting televisions and other items in the squad car. The woman recorded the squad car number and called the police. When the police arrived and searched the squad car they found over $100,000 dollars worth of stolen goods. The scandal prompted MAYOR RICHARD J. DALEY to fire the police chief and appoint O.W. WILSON as superintendent of police in 1960. O.W. Wilson was the nation’s foremost expert on police administration. He implemented an ambitious program of reorganization, emphazing efficiency rather than ward politics. Wilson closed police districts, raised hiring standards and bough new squad cars, which eliminated most of the foot patrols. Wilson also improved police relations with the black community. He recruited more black officers, promoted black sergeants and insisted on police restraint when dealing in racially charged incidents. In Chicago the appointment to District Commander was political, the alderman of the ward, the preachers and prominent members of the district all had a say as to the appointment of a District Commander. Again Alderman Bonito came to Richard’s aid, even through his ward was on the far north side of the city, and he still had influence. Being the highest-ranking black officer in the department, Richard Hollis was the logical choice to be the commander of the largest black police district in the city.

In June 1960 with a lot of white and black media coverage, Mayor Daley appointed Richard Hollis the Wabash District, District Commander. In attendance at Commander Hollis swearing in was CAPTAIN “BIG BILL” TURNBO, the Watch Commander at the Wabash Street Police Station. Turnbo’s father, Charles Turnbo, was a precinct captain in the Mayor’s home 11th Ward. Charles Turnbo and the mayor were classmates and good friends both had attended DeLasalle Grammar and High school. As a young police officer, Turnbo had served on the Mayor’s Body Guard Detail. Captain Turnbo advanced rapidly in the department; in five years he was a captain, a process that usually took over fifteen years. Charles Turnbo, an overweight, Irish police Captain resisted Hollis and every chance he got tried to circumvent Hollis’s directives. Captain Turnbo, according to civil service ratings was superior to Commander Hollis who had the civil service ranking of lieutenant and he resented not only that, but also that a black was over him. The Captain allowed the officers on his Watch to shake down the gamblers, traffic violators and tavern owners in the district. The officers on Turnbo Watch had to kick back a hundred dollars a week to him. Commander Hollis was aware of what was going on and he knew that the captain was also on the Mobs payroll. Hollis first act, as District Commander was to try to transfer the captain out the district, but he could not, the captain was too heavy with the downtown brass, Hollis decided to wait Captain Turnbo corrupt ways and greed would eventually bite him in his ass. Seated across the desk in Commander Hollis office was SERGEANT REGINALD LUNDGRIN that was called Reggie. Sergeant Lundgrin worked directly for and reported directly to Hollis. Lundgrin was forty-two years old and had been a police officer twenty years. Reggie, as his boss called him and the commander were close friends. Reggie had risen through the ranks, like Hollis, but unlike Hollis, he did not have any clout. He had attended various junior colleges in the city, and after fifteen years of balancing schoolwork a family and his police duties he finally received a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Chicago State University. Lundgrin had an athletic built with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Reggie’ mother was black and his father Swedish. Reggie was fair-skinned and could have easily passed for white, but he was all black. Reggie had inherited many of his father’s ethnic features; he was Nordic in appearance, with piercing blue eyes, stood six-foot four inches tall, had a head of blond shoulder length hair that he always wore in a pony-tail and a full white beard, which made him look very much like either a scholar or one of the legendary Vikings. Reggie had worked for Hollis when he was a Watch Commander and was one of his best officers, honest and hard working. After his promotion to detective, Reggie was assigned to the Wabash District, as a Station Detective, whose duties involved investigating serious crimes committed in the district. Hollis observed Reggie as he developed into one of the best detective or “Dicks,” in the district. Reggie was diligent, patient and had a practiced confidence air. Reggie made sergeant two months before Hollis promotion to District Commander and he gladly accepted the offer from Hollis to be his personal investigator.

INT. COMMANDER’S OFFFICE-DAY

The Commanders office had an old fashion desk, an air condition unit in the only window and there were space heaters on the floor. Pictures of the commander’s wife and family were on the desk and there was numerous Department Commendation awarded for an outstanding police action and other awards on one wall. One Commendation read, “On 4 January 1946, while assigned to walking post #3, Patrolman Hollis interrupted an armed robbery