Operation Greylord: The True Story of an Untrained Undercover Agent and America's Biggest Corruption Bust - Terrence Hake

Operation Greylord: The True Story of an Untrained Undercover Agent and America's Biggest Corruption Bust Terrence Hake ISBN 9781641051552

In 1980, Terrence Hake was a young assistant prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago when he agreed to assist the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in a secret investigation into the county court system—an institution widely known for entrenched bribery, corruption, and ties to organized crime.

For the next three and a half years, Hake worked undercover, untrained and increasingly stripped of his early naiveté. Posing as a corrupt prosecutor, he accepted bribes from defense attorneys in exchange for “fixing” cases on behalf of their criminal clients. Later, while practicing law privately, he continued his covert role by making illicit payments to judges and court personnel to secure case dismissals. Along the way, Hake was forced to build relationships with people he knew he would ultimately betray, wear a wire in bars and racetracks, and participate in unprecedented FBI tactics—including the secret bugging of a judge’s chambers.

The investigation, code-named Operation Greylord, became the longest and most successful undercover operation in FBI history and the largest judicial corruption case ever prosecuted in the United States. It led to bribery and tax charges against 103 judges, lawyers, and court officials, more than seventy indictments, and, tragically, three suicides.

When the final Greylord trial concluded in 1994, Hake had testified in 23 trials and had officially joined the FBI as a special agent. Until now, Operation Greylord has never been fully told from the perspective of someone who lived it from the inside.

About the Authors

Terrence Hake is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. He served as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office before becoming an FBI agent in Chicago. He retired from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008 and currently serves as Director of Internal Investigations for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office of Professional Review.

Wayne Klatt is a former reporter and news editor for the Chicago Tribune and co-author of several true-crime books, including Freed to Kill, I Am Cain, and Homicide: 100 Years of Murder. He is also the author of Chicago Journalism: A History, King of the Gold Coast, and an opera guide for children.

Operation Greylord: The True Story of an Untrained Undercover Agent and America's Biggest Corruption Bust Terrence Hake ISBN 9781641051552, 978-1641051552 & 9781627229203

Author
Terrence Hake