THE UNDERCOVER AGENT

Two remarkable stories about the state of law enforcement--one
exasperating, one encouraging--broke in Chicago last week. Both story
lines intertwine in one elaborate saga. We aren't often captivated by
press releases.

But the opening passage of a U.S. Justice Department account
succinctly juxtaposed the story lines:

A six-passenger, twin propeller engine aircraft flew on May 13 this
year into west suburban DuPage Airport where three men awaited its
arrival. Two of them--Ahyetoro A. Taylor and Raphael Manuel, both Cook
County Sheriff's Office correctional officers--accompanied an
individual whom they believed brokered large-scale drug transactions
but, in fact, was an undercover FBI agent.

They boarded the aircraft, which was operated by two other undercover
agents, and began counting packages of what was purported to be at
least 80 kilograms of cocaine stashed inside four duffel bags.

Taylor, Manuel and the undercover agent they accompanied removed the
duffels from the plane and took them through the airport lobby to the
trunk of the agent's car in the parking lot. Taylor and Manuel, in a
separate car, followed the agent to a nearby retail parking lot, where
the agent parked and got into the officers' vehicle.

Together, the trio watched as yet another undercover agent arrived,
removed the duffels from the trunk of the parked car, placed them in a
Mercedes and drove away. The FBI agent posing as the drug broker then
paid Taylor and Manuel $4,000 each--allegedly their most profitable
payday in the corrupt relationship they began with the undercover
agent at least a year earlier.

On Tuesday the Justice Department announced charges against 17
defendants, 15 of them Chicago, Cook County or suburban law officers.
They're accused of providing armed security for what they believed to
be cocaine and heroin transactions. They were paid, the government
alleges, to serve as lookouts, ready to intervene in the event honest
police--or rival drug dealers--tried to interfere with the purported
drug trafficking.

News coverage focused on the charges and didn't dwell on the second
story line: One FBI agent spent more than a year undercover,
pretending to be a drug broker and working shoulder to shoulder with
allegedly corrupt cops carrying firearms.

Imagine the risk he took. Had the agent dropped his guard or been
caught secretly recording conversations, we don't begin to know how
many people would have wanted to exterminate him: His testimony could
doom the 17 charged thus far to long sentences in prison.

He had taken a job at a Harvey strip club, the Skybox, to investigate
reports from FBI informants that law officers in southern Cook County
were engaging in robbery, extortion and the distribution of narcotics
and weapons.

The agent isn't from Chicago and had few if any connections here when
he agreed to work undercover; he was selected in part because he'd be
unlikely to bump into anyone here who might recognize him and greet
him by his real name. Such lonely and perilous duty includes
surreptitious contacts between an agent and his superiors, both to
give him personal support and to make sure he doesn't let himself
drift beyond his assigned role into the alleged misconduct he's
investigating.

According to the government's version of events, the agent made sure
before each of the purported drug transactions that the corrupt
officers providing protection were armed and knew the specific amounts
of narcotics involved.

On occasion he found himself taking advice from fellow law officers on
how best to avoid detection during major drug deals. "The best spot
for y'all to do that, believe it or not, is the train station," Harvey
Police Officer Archie Stallworth, who was suspended last week from a
second job as a Metra conductor, allegedly counseled the agent. "Fast
food places, that's where we [law enforcement] be looking."

In other conversations, officers allegedly bragged that they could
distract or divert any clean cops who might come upon the drug
transactions. "We know how to politic with the local authorities in
case they try to stick their noses in stuff like that," Raphael Manuel
allegedly told the agent. "Then that way it gives everybody else a
chance to split."

If this riveting case goes to trial, the FBI agent whose undercover
work made it possible will testify.

At that point defense attorneys can aggressively challenge his tactics
and his conclusions.

We're amazed at the extent of this alleged corruption among
law-enforcement officers.

But we're also impressed that an undercover agent would risk so much
to infiltrate that alleged corruption.