CLick On the pictures to see full size versions. Long ago there was a young lady I had the hots for in a big way (Yes, I know that hots is not a word). She was pretty, incredibly bright, and had some real elegance about her. She had a love for children and basic kindness that you don’t often see in someone her age. I met her parents and could understand she came from a much more stable home than mine. I was raised by a single, welfare mom and suddenly found myself way out-classed. For whatever reasons things did not workout they way I had hoped. Sadly for me, we went on our separate ways. From time to time I’d run into this lady in various places where our job had taken us. Whenever this happened my heart would skip a beat or two. I left my hometown Chicago, and moved to Arizona where I founded my detective agency. As a private eye and soon a TV news producer too, my career took me to the highest profile criminal events in Arizona and throughout the country. There’s no question that ...

There's a video link at the bottom of this story... At the request of Phoenix Gazette reporter, J.W. Brown, I reluctantly agreed to examine a court file of a murder case she covered where a jury just convicted a young man. She told me that there was a lot more to the story and that she felt things were very wrong. She also told me self-defense was the defense. In case you don’t know, I’m a licensed private detective. The following day, I requested the file from the court clerk and expected to get a typical murder case file that would be several volumes thick. To my surprise they handed over the thinnest murder file I’ve yet to see. It had only contained 20 or so pages! That was a clear sign that the assigned public defender had not challenged much of anything throughout the two-day trial. I would learn later that she thought that an acquittal was a sure thing. It should have been. Based on the conviction, if this defendant got the lightest sentence that Judge Ron Reinstein coul...

Yes I was trying to buy a little shack to call home. I had to pass this one though because there was no plumbing or electricity in the whole place. I found out this was really a tomb! Actually this is the seldom photographed rear of the Taj Mahal from across the river. Be sure to click on all the photos so you can see the big picture! Okay, I confess that I really don't like Indian food. Thank God for TGIF. This was my fine dining. No you can't order any beef here! Here's the maharaja returning to his 80 wives and 200 concubines after a tough battle. My driver has a cell phone! I captured six hours of video with that Canon XL1S camera this trip. This was my second trip to India. There was no question I'd spend a little time with the cops. The good news was that a bail bondsman was close by. The bondsman set me up with the local fixer and they let me go home! Actually these were the railroad cops I met on a train ride from Delhi to Amritsar.

There can be no better place to mine stories and events than The Chicago Police Department. We’ve had so many disappointments come along in that regard. There was the two television seasons of Michael Mann’s Crime Story, written by former Area Six Robbery sergeant, Chuck Adamson that starred former Area Six Burglary dick, Dennis Farina. I loved the series until it became more about Las Vegas and the mob than our city and cops. The truth really was that Las Vegas was controlled by the mob operating out of our old First Ward Democratic organization with the help of too many exempt rank officers. Dennis Farina got his acting start in community theatre on Chicago’s North Side. I’m not sure of all the details of just how it came to be, but two great careers happened. I met Farina when I did a substitute shift, working a security gig for Goldblatt’s Department Store at Lawrence and Broadway in the mid 1970’s. Other than that I never worked with him again. I know Farina has a brother who was ...

I’m asleep in my own bed in Marina Del Rey CA., when I hear knocking and pounding on my door. I go to the door and two uniformed sergeants from the Chicago Police Department with drawn guns take me into custody. They demand to know were my uniforms and gun belt are located. I tell them and they escort me to that closet. They order me to put it all on. One grabs my old hat and puts a shield on it. My heart starts pounding. As I button my shirt and find that both my protective vest and shirt along with the pants shrunk a little while hanging in the closet. Next I put on my jacket the other sergeant puts that new ugly design police star on my jacket. Next they take me to an airplane where they have other kidnapped former and retired coppers, there were some on board I used to know. Soon we're standing roll call at 54 West Hubbard, in the old Mass Transit Unit squad room. An inspector is present. He tells us what a sorry bunch we are and the Watch Commander says it’s time to go to work...

This was always acceptable until that awful day on 9/11, when simple box cutters in the wrong hands facilitated the carnage. Were the box cutters responsible or the faulty attitude and policies of the FAA and the airlines? The FAA’s old “plan” was to have the flight crews and passengers always give the hijackers everything they wanted. Personally, I never thought that idea made any sense at all. The responsibility for the administration for security on airplanes has still NEVER been turned over to law enforcement professionals. Instead that duty is that of civilian patronage hacks in the FAA and the new TSA. Two of the four hijacked planes on 9/11 had unarmed, off duty trained police officers on board. They stood by helpless and perished with everyone else. Had these officers their side arms, 9/11 would have been just another day on those two planes. Of course that stupid policy not to interfere with hijackers or their demands should have been replaced by the judgment, training and exp...

Why can't I be 28 again? It's not fair! I want to do those last thirty years over again!