The Frawley-Cooley emails, more to come

Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

Since last February 27, Illinois PayToPlay (IP2P) has posted five emails sent to Robert “Bob” Cooley by Daniel T. Frawley. Here are links to the five articles that highlighted those emails:  February 27;  March 1; April 8; April 17; and April 19.

There are more to come in the days ahead.

IP2P readers know that Cooley was the star witness in a series of Chicago trials in federal court in the early 1990’s that, as part of Operation Gambat,resulted in over a score of convictions involving a sitting Federal Judge, prominent Illinois politicians, and the Chicago City Council’s 1^st Ward Alderman, a member of the Chicago “outfit”.

IP2P readers also know that Daniel T. Frawley was once a Chicago cop, then a business partner of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, and is now a sentenced felon who pled guilty to bank fraud. They also know that Frawley cooperated, for years, with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the investigation of Rezko and, although not called to testify against Rezko, helped put Tony behind bars.

Frawley was recently sentenced for one year and one day, after multiple sentencing delays. The judge tainted his sentence by questioning Frawley’s mental stability.  At IP2P we believe his sentence was as much, perhaps more, about what he knows than what he did.  And, that the timing of the jail time is aimed to keep him quiet until after the November election.

We suspect that the reference to Frawley’s potential mental instability by the sentencing judge was aimed at impugning his credibility in these emails, even after the feds used Frawley to gather information on Rezko, and in “at least a half-dozen different criminal investigations”.  Although Frawley has committed to making restitution of over four million dollars, probation was never in the cards for him.  (or was it ?)

Meanwhile, the two big Chicago daily newspapers, the Tribune and the Sun Times, have displayed no interest in pursuing multiple story leads that have surfaced from Frawley’s emails to Cooley.

IP2P asks - Why is that?

We think Steve Bartin, writing for the website NewGeography.com, in an article entitled “Blago’s Historic Sentencing: Organized Crime in Illinois,” may have hit upon the Tribune-Times problem when he asked, “Could a more vigilant press have stopped the amazing political career of Rod Blagojevich?”

The answer to Bartin’s rhetorical question is – Yes, of course.

That endemic Chicago corruption continues to exist is due, in no small part, to the complicity of the city’s two major daily newspapers, be that complicity benign, malignant, or a blend.

Nationally, Chicago is recognized as synonymous with corruption.

IP2P asks - Where’s the shame at the Tribune and Times?

In the future, IP2P will release more Frawley-Cooley emails, providing the two papers more leads to ignore.  Until, perhaps, the citizens of Chicago begin to pressure their two major newspapers to take their jobs seriously.

A somnolent press cannot long remain free.