DRUG DEALER TESTIFIES SHAW SOLD HIM BADGE

Dolton Mayor William Shaw angrily denied a drug dealer's federal court
testimony Wednesday that he bought a village marshal's badge from the mayor
for more than $30,000.

"He is out of his mind," Shaw said from Springfield, where he is serving
his dual role as a state senator. "That is totally untrue."

The dealer, Arthur Veal, is a prosecution witness against Chicago police
Sgt. William Patterson and officer Daryl L. Smith in their trial on charges
of conspiring to possess cocaine.

Under questioning by Patterson's attorney Phillip Turner in an attempt to
undercut Veal's credibility, Veal testified he bought a marshal's badge
from Shaw for $30,000 to $40,000.

He said he later flashed the badge to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agents when he was stopped at a Texas airport in June 2000. Agents
discovered he was carrying about $5,750, records show.

When the DEA agents called the Dolton Police Department about the badge,
they were told he worked for the village, Turner said. The agents seized
the money but let Veal go, he said.

Veal, owner of a Dolton trucking company, was arrested in November 2000 and
pleaded guilty to smuggling 88 pounds of cocaine in two trips that year. He
was sentenced last month to 10 years in prison.

Veal also testified he obtained Cook County sheriff's badges through the
office of an unidentified 3rd Ward alderman of Chicago. He said he sold the
badges for more than $1,000 each.

He did not say when he allegedly bought the Dolton badge or the sheriff's
badges. But he indicated the sheriff's badges were obtained during the
administration of Sheriff Richard Elrod, who was voted out of office in 1986.

Shaw said Veal was one of about 20 people in Dolton selected as village
marshals, who could be called to service in emergencies. The marshals were
given badges but have never been called to duty since the position was
created in 1997, Shaw said.

"He was a legitimate trucker, as far as I knew," Shaw said.

Shaw said he did not know if the police conducted a criminal background
check for the marshals. Veal was a convicted felon.

Veal said he returned the badge to the police department in December 2000.
He was called to a meeting with police officials who said they heard he was
involved in conduct unbecoming a police officer and they asked him to give
the badge back, he testified.

Earlier Wednesday, federal prosecutors played secretly recorded tapes of
conversations between Veal and Patterson. They contend the tapes show the
men plotting to steal $20,000 in cash and five bricks of cocaine the FBI
planted in a South Side apartment.

On a Jan. 19, 2001, tape, Veal tells Patterson, "The dope and the money
gonna be in the same place." Patterson responds, "OK."

In one videotaped meeting in Veal's office, Patterson's 6-year-old daughter
sits on Patterson's lap while the men discuss business.