Books for the Armchair Detective in Your Life

The story of Chicago gangsters in the 1920s is legendary. Less talked about is the tale of the politicians who allowed those gangsters to thrive. During the heyday of organized crime in the Prohibition era, Chicago mayor "Big Bill" Thompson and Gov. Len Small were the two most powerful political figures in Illinois. Thompson campaigned on making Chicago "a wide open town" for bootleggers. Small sold thousands of pardons and paroles to criminals, embezzled $1 million, and was then acquitted after mobsters bribed the jury. This book is the story of those Jazz Age politicians whose careers in government thrived on and endorsed corruption and racketeering, from Chicago to Springfield. It complements author Jim Ridings's groundbreaking biography, Len Small: Governors and Gangsters, which was praised by critics and situated Ridings as a trailblazer among Chicago crime authors.

Robert Pohl, the other half of the Walking Shtick duo, brings us Wicked Capitol Hill. Pohl includes such historic crimes as the affair between the Congressman and the Capitol Hill cobbler's daughter that ended in murder at the hands of the press. Tales range from the backrooms of Congress and the docks of the Naval Yard to the bars of 8th street and the grave of an infamous madam buried at the Congressional Cemetery. Pohl has worked to balance the tales between those of government officials misbehaving on the Hill and of truly local crimes.

Defined by a tangled web of deception for more than a century, Northwest Indiana's political culture involved secret handshakes, tapped phone calls, backroom deals and murder.

Found submerged in his car with a rock on the gas pedal, city official Babe Lopez's execution-style murder rocked East Chicago. Shot and killed at a political fundraiser, power broker Jay Given's murder occurred while four hundred guests mingled in a neighboring room. Former Lake Station mayor Keith Soderquist stole thousands of dollars from his reelection campaign and the city's food pantry account to gamble at local casinos. Author Jerry Davich explores the hidden political scandals and highly publicized court cases of public servants once sworn to serve and protect.