Former Rukn seeks clean slate in wake of his acquittal in retrial of 1984 gang killings
Prosecutors make deals with 2 killers to fight move for a certificate of innocence

By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune reporter
December 1, 2013

It was an extraordinary hearing highlighted by testimony about a notorious Chicago gang's hit squads, a Cook County judge who went to prison for taking bribes to fix murder cases and an unprecedented agreement by prosecutors to reduce the sentences of two admitted killers called to testify.

At issue is whether Nathson Fields, a former member of the gang El Rukn, will be awarded a certificate of innocence. A judge is scheduled to issue a ruling in February.

Fields was originally convicted of a 1984 double murder ordered by gang kingpin Jeff Fort. But Thomas Maloney, the judge who presided over the bench trial, himself was later convicted of pocketing $10,000 to fix the trial, only to return the money in the midst of the trial when he suspected the FBI was onto the bribe. Maloney convicted Fields and a co-defendant and sentenced both to death.

After Maloney's sensational conviction years later, Fields won a new trial and was acquitted in 2009 of the double murder. He was released after spending 17 years in prison.

Now he wants a certificate of innocence to clear his name, but county prosecutors have strenuously fought back. To prove that Fields was the actual killer, they made deals with two former Rukn "generals" to testify at the civil hearing — not a criminal proceeding where such maneuvering is commonplace.

The hearing itself was described by participants as a history lesson on one of the more notorious, flamboyant and murderous street gangs in recent Chicago history.

El Rukn — a term that testimony showed meant "the cornerstone" — emerged in the 1970s after Fort and other Black P Stone leaders went to prison in 1968 for using a $1 million federal grant to buy guns and drugs.

It operated under cover of a so-called religious organization out of a heavily fortified former movie theater called the "fort" that once stood near Pershing Road and Drexel Avenue. For years, Fort ran El Rukn from behind bars, participating by phone in weekly meetings of the Royal Council, his leadership team, according to testimony.

Fort, now 66, is serving an 80-year sentence in the supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his 1987 conviction for plotting acts of domestic terrorism in exchange for $2.5 million from Libya. He isn't scheduled to be released for 25 more years, according to prison records.

One of the gang's former generals, Earl Hawkins, testified at the hearing that Fort ordered the slaying of Jerome "Fuddy" Smith, a suit coat-wearing leader of the rival Black Gangster Disciples' Goon Squad, because Smith was interfering with Rukn drug sales in a public housing complex on East Pershing Road.

Smith and Talman Hickman, another reputed Goon Squad member, were shot as they stood outside the complex. Hawkins, who testified that he took part in the murders of 10 to 20 people, said he saw Fields fire the five shots that killed Hickman.

During the hearing, Fields denied taking part in the double murder or having any position of authority in the gang, testifying that besides going to El Rukn religious and community-building meetings, the only other work he did was for the gang's private security outfit, working at Comiskey Park for a Michael Jackson concert.

Fields maintained he is not seeking a certificate of innocence for leverage in the lawsuits he's filed against the city but simply to clear his name.

"It's about justice," a transcript of the hearing quoted him as testifying. "It's about what's right."

One of Fields' attorneys, Leonard Goodman, criticized the "unprecedented" deal offered to Hawkins and Derrick Kees, another Rukn killer who tied Fields to the 1984 killings.

"The state is going to let people out of prison to say it their way," Goodman said. "This has never been done in the history — that we can tell — of civil cases."

In exchange for his testimony, Kees had the remaining five years cut from his state sentence but will continue serving the rest of his 25-year federal prison sentence. Hawkins had three years shaved off his sentence.

"They're still serving significant federal time," Assistant State's Attorney Brian Sexton said. "They'll probably be in their 70s when they get out."

Prosecutors allege that Fields was himself a Rukn general who was aware at the time of the trial of the $10,000 the gang paid to Maloney to fix his case. Fields previously served more than 12 years in prison for a 1971 murder in Dixmoor.

"He is not truly innocent," Sexton said of Fields.

A bit of background on the judge.

Thomas J. Maloney (1925–2008) was a judge in Cook County, Illinois who served from 1977 till his retirement in 1990. Since 1981, the court was being investigated by the FBI in Operation Greylord,[1] and he was eventually convicted[2] on four counts of accepting bribes (including fixing three murder cases). He served 12 years of a 15 year prison term from 1994 to 2007.[3]
The web magazine Judiciary Report has said of Maloney that he "easily qualifies as one of the worst judges in history"

Convicted cases[edit]
In the eventual trial (1991–1994), the jury found convincing evidence in the four following cases:
On Leong mafia acquittal: Four years after joining the bench (May 1981), Maloney acquitted hitman Lenny Chow and two other members of the On Leong mafia in a murder case where William Chin had been shot in Chicago's Chinatown. Mafia representative William Moy told noted mafia lawyer Robert Cooley that he wanted a guaranteed not-guilty verdict. Ward secretary and political boss Pat Marcy (subsequently indicted) assured Cooley that the Judge could be bought but would be expensive.[10] Moy agreed to pay $100,000, a portion of which Marcy gave to Maloney for the fix. At trial, Judge Maloney found a dying declaration by Chin as unreliable, thus acquitting the defendants. Subsequently, Cooley became an informant, and tape recordings of a conversation with Pat Marcy constituted a key piece of testimony.[10]

Ronald Roby: In 1982, Maloney gave a mild sentence to Roby (probation) in a deceptive practices case. The bribe was arranged by attorney William Swano through bagman Lucius Robinson, who had earlier been identified by Maloney as his dealing man. "Roby testified that a bribe was to paid out of his $5,000 'fee.' Soon after, according to Robinson's testimony, he passed along $2,300 to Judge Maloney at a McCormick Place lounge Maloney had suggested as a meeting place. Robinson also testified that a few days later, while riding alone with Judge Maloney in the judges' elevator, Maloney gave him $200-$300 for his work as a bagman on the case."[10]

Owen Jones acquittal in felony murder: Jones was charged of beating a man to death with a pipe during a burglary. Swano approached Maloney through Lucius Robinson, but FBI investigations had started and Swano was approached by attorney Robert McGee in court, saying that Robinson had become "too hot" as bagman, and that McGee, who had earlier practiced with Maloney, would be taking over now. Maloney suggested that Jones be convicted on voluntary manslaughter, thus reducing his sentence from twenty to nine years. Jones' mother agreed to pay the $4,000-$5,000 bribe. After trial, Jones was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to nine years.

El Rukn gang bribe: Two members of the El Rukn gang were charged with double murder in June 1985. Initially, Swano arranged for a $20,000 bribe (of which $10,000 was to be paid to Maloney). The money was paid by Alan Knox, an El Rukn "general", and Swano handed over a file folder with the money to McGee at a restaurant. However, by then, the investigations had intensified, and three eyewitnesses identified a defendant as the murderer. Maloney had second thoughts and later McGee called Swano on June 19 and told him that the deal was off. The two defendants were subsequently sentenced to death.

Impact[edit]

After Maloney was convicted, a number of cases involving El Rukn members were re-opened,.[11]
Altogether, seventeen judges were sentenced in the investigations into Operation Greylord. However, as the Chicago Tribune put it in his obituary, Maloney was "the first — and remains the only — Cook County judge to be convicted of rigging murder cases for cash".[5] Mental Floss describes it as "the worst of the worst was the not-so-honorable Thomas J. Maloney".[12]
Other cases involving judges accepting cash in murder cases include James McGettrick of the Cuyahoga County Court.[13][14]

Bracey vs Glamey[edit]
In 1981, the gangster William J. Bracey was convicted of triple murder and sentenced to death by Maloney. After Maloney's conviction, he claimed that his judgment be investigated for possibly being influenced by bribery.[15] The Supreme Court in 1997 held that a sufficient factual case had been made for discovery of facts in the matter under habeas corpus law