Used price: $4.00
Buy one from zShops for: $4.50
This is a well researched, well-written, compelling chronicle of a case that would would have great impact on an eyewitness to a murder. It also a fascinating narrative on the influence that the mob once wielded over the criminal justice system in Chicago. It is a fascinating birdseye view into a criminal justice system so rife with corruption, it will keep the reader riveted to its pages. It is also the story of one man who tried to be a stand up guy and do the right thing under this corrupt system and found himself the one paying the price for its shortcomings.
Bob Lowe, a working class stiff who worked at a gas station, had the misfortune to stumble into the murder of Billy Logan, a neighborhood acquaintance, one night. In the mean streets of Chicago's West Side, Bob saw Harry Aleman blow Billy away with a sawed-off shotgun. In that one brief moment, simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Bob's life and that of his immediate family would change forever. From that moment on, it would be Bob, and not Harry, who would be on the run.
Placed with his family in a witness protection program that was ineffectual and problematic, characterized in a negative way by the corrupt judge who presided over the trial, and seeing a murderer vindicated at his expense, Bob Lowe saw his life, as he knew it, simply ebb away. He became awash in a haze of booze and drugs, doing some crime and doing some time. His life was a continual lost weekend, until he was finally able to pull himself out of the personal morass into which he had descended. Over a quarter of a century later, he would find himself finally vindicated at Harry Aleman's second trial for the murder of Billy Logan, as Harry Aleman would finally get the verdict he should have gotten over a quarter of a century earlier. The wheels of justice did, indeed, grind slowly.
Though Bobby told the police he had been an eye witness (much to his family's dismay) and had identified Harry's picture in a mug book, nothing happened. It was buried. Harry Aleman was well connected with the local mob and a nephew to one of its kingpins. Authorities estimated Harry had killed over 20 people. Four years later the case was reopened, and this is when Bobby's personal hell began. Before the trial (estimated to be a slam dunk), Bobby, his wife and three children were placed in one seedy motel after another. They had to give up their jobs, the children changed schools on a weekly basis, and they lived off fast food. The trial was a farce, Aleman was found not guilty and the Lowes entered the Witness Protection Program without adequate identification to secure a decent job. Bobby spiraled down and lost his job, his family and self-respect. Finally, he got his life back together, discarded his false identity, and regained his family. In 1997, the case was reopened again, 25 years after the crime. Bobby had no choice but to testify again.
Possley and Kogan do a masterful job in presenting this complex case without wasting a word. Bobby's character is done so well, you feel like you have known him all your life. The research and documentation are meticulous. The only mystery that remains is Harry. He was an excellent husband and adoring father that just happened to be a cold-blooded killer. I would buy another book explaining to me what made Harry tick.
Sadly, the message I received was to never, ever admit to being a witness to a mob killing. The Witness Protection program, which is devastating and mind shattering even if it worked perfectly, was a farce for the Lowe family. "Everybody Pays" is true crime and investigative journalism at its finest.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
Used price: $30.00
Used price: $8.25
Collectible price: $15.76
Used price: $6.00
Used price: $21.29
Buy one from zShops for: $24.00