VICE COP

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 of the 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 America. If you wanted to make a lot of money real quick and easy, the Big Windy was the place to be, and 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, and a 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 was going 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, and it was loaded to the gills 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, and 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.

Money. The money was good. Safety deposit boxes. Unnumbered foreign bank accounts. One other thing made being a vice cop on the West Side so, uh shall we say "interesting", was all the free pussy that a cop could handle. Most of the whores were controlled by a few powerful pimps and in order for the girls to stay on the street and out of jail the pimps had either pay the cops off in cold hard cash, drugs, or give the boys in blue a little taste of the poontang! Last week Lou and Dave had just arrested a hooker named Amber. Just as they were putting her into the squad car up drives Amber's pimp, Joey C. Now Joey was in no mood to have one of his girls off the street for even and hour or two, so he pulled Lou over to the side and told him that he and Dave could have a nice party with a couple of new young bitches he had just turned out. They were both eighteen and built. Just let Amber take a walk and the party would start over at the "house". Ten minutes later the two cops were inside an old storefront building Joey C. used as an office. In back were a rabbit warren of rooms that the girls could use with their tricks, and waiting in two of the rooms was the new talent Joey had promised.

...CONTINUES IN THE MEMBERS SECTION