Lou Tanner was a cop working the west side of Chicago. Now in all America there may be a more God forsaken piece of real estate, but as far as Lou was concerned this was the arm pit ofthe western world! That’s not to say that Lou was unhappy working here, because you see Lou was a vice cop in one of the most corrupt cities in the world. If you wanted to make a lot of money real quick and easy, the Big Windy was the place to be! Being a vice cop just made it all the easier. On the outside Lou looked like any other $40,000 a year working stiff. A three year old car, a comfortable bungalow on the far northwest side, Catholic school for his two sons, anda two week vacation to Florida once a year with the wife. That was on the outside. Underneath all that average Joe appearance was the life of a man on the take. For some cops the “take” would mean taking a sawbuck to let a speeder walk on a twenty over violation. Two cops to a squad and maybe ten hits per day added up to only half a C-note apiece. Not bad, but no where near what Lou and his pals in vice knocked down.
Last week Lou and his partner Dave Katz were following up on a tip that a big cocaine buy wasgoing down behind a old brick two flat on west Harrison. The two cops were watching the drop point from the inside of an old panel truck Lou kept for just such occasions. It was loaded with the latest electronic surveillance gear as well as a small army’s worth of firepower. One of Lou’s favorite sayings was, “You can’t ever pack too much heat on the West Side!” When Lou observed the buy going down he signaled Dave who was hiding in an adjacent garage. Both cops then rushed the startled dealers who were quickly handcuffed and thrown to the ground.They frisked one of the punks and found $5000 in cash and at least $10,000 worth of cocaine!At this point Dave explained the facts of life to the handcuffed dealers, they could keep half the coke and walk with no questions asked, or put up a stink and spend the next five to ten at the state pen in Joliet. Even these dumb fuckers could figure out their next move, and two minutes later they were hightailing it down the alley a little poorer for their trouble! Now five grand split two ways was not half bad! Later on they could sell the coke to dealers they were friendly with, and probably knock down another grand apiece on that. That was life on the West Side. Big money and for big stakes.
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