Putnam, Oct 2001, 25.95, 336 pp.
ISBN: 0399148108
In the 1970s, the Mafia owned Chicago more than the law-abiding citizens. The mob leaders used payoffs, bribes, assassinations, and jury tampering to conduct their business. They infiltrated the police and courts to insure that obviously guilty members were never convicted.
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One evening Bob Lowe, a loving decent family man, is walking his dog when he sees someone kill his neighbor Billy Logan. The police show mug shots to Bob and he identifies the cold-blooded killer as Harry Aleman, a mob enforcer. Bob is placed in the witness protection program, but while he testifies as to what he witnessed, the defense paints him as a lowlife fool.
Harry walks while Bob descends into a world of drugs and crime. He spends time in jail for robbery, but when he regains his freedom he manages to put his life back together. He reunites with his wife and children, but as things are looking up, he is asked to testify again at Harry's retrial. However, the once Good Samaritan has his own bogeyman to face and expects to be shredded again in court.
EVERYBODY PAYS is a true account of what happened to a decent individual doing his duty until the justice system nearly destroys him. As footnoted in the book, the courtroom dialogue comes from transcripts that add to the overall feel of a system out of control. This true story could have been quite a plot for a novel as Maurice Passley & Rick Kogen give Ann Rule a run for the genre's top true crime author.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner