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CNN Live Today

Top Chicago Cop Could Spend Time Behind Bars

Aired April 29, 2002 - 14:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A sentencing hearing underway for a man who was once one of Chicago's top cops. William Hanhardt put away some of the city's most notorious criminals, and now this 33-year police veteran will find out how long he will serve for his own crimes.

Chicago bureau chief Jeff Flock now with his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man is the mastermind of a multimillion-dollar jewel theft ring. Why should you care?

Because this man is also this man.

They called him the cop's cop: beloved and inspirational Chicago police commander, once a tough detective with the best street informants, embraced by the mayor, trusted deputy and friend of the police superintendent.

RICHARD BRZECZEK, FMR. POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: Bill Hanhardt was probably the best of the best during his 32, 33-year career in the Chicago police department.

FLOCK: Where did Bill Hanhardt go wrong?

BRZECZEK: I have asked that question of myself 10,000 times in the last couple years.

FLOCK: Richard Brzeczek was the youngest police superintendent in United States history. Hanhardt was one of his top deputies. They were friends for years after both retired from the police force.

BRZECZEK: I never noticed any change of lifestyle, nothing that would give me any indication that something was going on.

FLOCK: But something did change in Hanhardt. The question is, was it after he retired from police work in 1986, or was he, as some suggest, a crook and a cop at the same time?

THOMAS KIRKPATRICK, CHICAGO CRIME COMMISSIONER: The higher a person is in the department, the tougher it is to investigate them. FLOCK: The now 73-year-old Hanhardt, who tried to kill himself the night before his trial was to begin, admitted using old police contacts to help case jewelry salesmen for the heist.

But was the man, who was a consultant on the 1980 movie, "Thief," and who was the inspiration for the tough cop played by Dennis Farina on the TV show, "Crime Story" -- could he have been working for the mob and the police department at the same time?

Brzeczek can't believe it.

BRZECZEK: He put a lot of these people in the penitentiary.

FLOCK: Hanhardt's family shared these pictures of him with us, asking only that we say something positive in our story about him in return.

It is because there is so much positive to say about Bill Hanhardt that makes the rest such an incredible story.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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