Corbitt, Michael 1944(?)-2004

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Corbitt, Michael 1944(?)-2004

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1944, in IL; died of lung cancer, July 27, 2004; had children.

CAREER:

Willow Springs, IL, Police Department, patrolman, beginning 1965, chief of police, 1973-81; Court of Cook County, IL, clerk of court, 1981-87.

WRITINGS:

(With Sam Giancana) Double Deal: The Inside Story of Murder, Unbridled Corruption, and the Cop Who Was a Mobster, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Corbitt had ties to the Chicago mob—called "the Outfit"—from the time he was a teenager. In his memoir, Double Deal: The Inside Story of Murder, Unbridled Corruption, and the Cop Who Was a Mobster, written with Sam Giancana, Corbitt recalled his career as a police officer who also performed tasks for organized crime. Indicted and brought to trial in the late 1980s, Corbitt at first kept silent about his ties to the Mafia. Only later, when he learned that the mob was going to have him and possibly one of his sons killed, did Corbitt decide to reveal the extent of the corruption in the suburb of Chicago where he once served as chief of police. The book recounts Corbitt's long association with the Mafia and his eventual conviction in 1988 for being an accessory to the murder of a mob lawyer's wife, which resulted in a prison sentence of twenty years. He served approximately ten years of his sentence and was paroled in 1998 after agreeing to become a whistleblower.

Library Journal critic Sarah Jent called Double Deal a "frank and enjoyable book" that "gives readers a window" into the world of Chicago's organized crime families between 1960 and the late 1980s. A Publishers Weekly contributor credited the book with providing "new evidence of the extent of organized crime's involvement with the government." Gilbert Taylor, writing in Booklist, commented that Corbitt "unwittingly illustrates the crass, self-serving Mob mentality."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Corbitt, Michael, and Sam Giancana, Double Deal: The Inside Story of Murder, Unbridled Corruption,and the Cop Who Was a Mobster, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.