Suspended Chicago Police Officer Arrested on Federal Charge

A suspended Chicago Police officer assigned to the elite Special Operations Section (SOS) was arrested today on federal charges for allegedly planning the murder-for-hire of a former fellow police officer. The defendant, Jerome Finnigan, was charged in a criminal complaint with using a telephone with intent to commit murder-for-hire of a former Chicago Police officer who is a potential witness against him in an ongoing federal investigation as well as a pending state criminal prosecution.

Finnigan, 44 , who was suspended from duty in 2006, was arrested early this morning outside his home on the city’s Southwest Side by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents then began executing a search warrant at his home. Finnigan was scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in U.S. District Court. The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Richard A. Devine, Cook County State’s Attorney; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.

“The complaint charges that in the face of serious pending state charges and a federal investigation that could result in additional charges, the defendant solicited the murder of a fellow police officer who he believed would be a witness against him. The gravity of this conduct speaks for itself,” Mr. Fitzgerald said

According to the FBI’s detailed complaint affidavit, Finnigan first discussed the subject of commissioning the murder of his former fellow officer, identified as CW-1, in July 2007 with another police officer, identified as CW-2, who subsequently began cooperating with law enforcement unbeknownst to Finnigan. Finnigan and CW-2 discussed hiring street gang members who would kill CW-1 for $5,000, using the term “paint job” as a code to refer to the murder. Finnigan asked CW-2 for money to pay for the murder of CW-1, the complaint alleges. Read more at chicago.fbi.gov