The Tangled Web
The Life and Death of Richard Cain-Chicago Cop and Hitman
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3.7 • 9 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
The Tangled Web tells the dramatic story of Detective Richard Cain, the man the FBI described as “possibly the most corrupt police official in the history of Chicago.” Cain led double life—at once a chief investigator and a “made” man, both a detective who led raids on gambling rings and a soldier carrying out hits for Mafia bosses. Using years of research, interviews, family anecdotes, and rare documents, Michael Cain creates a comprehensive and compelling biography of his half-brother. This edition features an all-new introduction by the author. In a story that reads like the plot of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Cain played both ends against the middle to become a household name in Chicago and a notorious figure in both the Mob and the world of Chicago law enforcement. Before his execution by shotgun in Rose’s Sandwich Shop, Cain’s legend would grow to the point of rumored involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the FBI’s plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. Filled with fascinating and until-now unknown facts, The Tangled Web tells the full story of this one-man crime wave.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Richard Cain (1931 1973), shot to death in a Chicago sandwich shop, was most probably murdered by members of the Chicago Mafia. The author, Cain's half-brother, presents in numbing and amateurishly written detail the life of a "made" man who joined the Chicago Police Department to be mobster Sam Giancana's man on the inside. Cain achieved some fame for being an aggressive vice cop, as well as notoriety in the killing of an alleged child molester, although he was cleared of any charges. Through Giancana, Cain became involved in a CIA plot to kill Fidel Castro (though the author found no evidence to support rumors that Cain was connected to the JFK assassination). And thanks to political connections, Cain was eventually appointed chief of the Special Investigations Unit of the Cook County Sheriff's Department. Cain continued to work both sides of the law, was convicted on several charges and spent several years in prison. Despite the author's painstaking research, the descriptions of his subject as an intelligent and handsome man with savoir faire, who dazzled women with his charm and his risk taking, are less convincing than the story of a hardened criminal without a conscience. Photos.
