Pubdate: Sat, 13 Apr 2002
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2002 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact:  http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Steve Warmbir
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

EX-COP GETS NEARLY 5 YEARS FOR DRUG DEALING

When former Chicago police officer John Galligan needed help paying the 
bills for his criminal defense attorney, more than 1,000 people showed up 
at the fund-raiser.

But Galligan's loyalty to friends, which inspired such a turnout, also 
proved his undoing, prosecutors said Friday as Galligan was sentenced to 
nearly five years in prison for helping his longtime partner, a notoriously 
corrupt cop.

"I stand before this court ashamed, humiliated," Galligan told U.S. 
District Judge Blanche Manning on Friday. The former gang crimes specialist 
and Vietnam War veteran apologized for bringing discredit to "the Chicago 
Police Department, the City of Chicago, family, friends."

Galligan, 52, with about 100 police department honorable mentions to his 
credit, was the partner of Joseph Miedzianowski, who was convicted last 
year of running a cocaine ring with a street gang.

Miedzianowski faces life in prison when he is sentenced in June.

Galligan's actions provide "a great example of someone who refuses to cross 
the blue line" of silence, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lausch said.

"It's a blind loyalty he had," Lausch said of Galligan. "He was not Joe 
Miedzianowski, but without people like John Galligan with their blind 
loyalty, people like Joe Miedzianowski could not exist."

Galligan pleaded guilty in November to giving an informant three grams of 
crack in the parking lot at the Maxwell Street police station in 1998.

Manning sentenced him to 57 months behind bars, the maximum allowed.

In an unrelated case Friday, two former Chicago police officers pleaded 
guilty to violating a defendant's civil rights by lying about evidence 
against people who had been arrested.

Matthew Craig, 39, faces a year in prison, while Xavier Castro, 52, is 
expected to be sentenced to two years behind bars, Assistant U.S. Attorney 
David Hoffman said. The men lied about the circumstances of one or more 
drug arrests they took part in.

Both men pleaded guilty to misdemeanors but agreed never to own a firearm 
again or work as cops anywhere.
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