An imprisoned Chicago cop claims in an interview with Playboy he’s innocent of a plot to kill a fellow officer – and blames his former partner for being the one who wanted to carry out a hit.
Last year, Jerome Finnigan was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to a murder-for-hire plot and tax evasion for failing to report stolen cash as income.
In court, he admitted he tried to arrange the murder of a fellow cop he suspected was talking to the feds about thefts that he and other members of the Special Operations Section were committing on drug dealers and innocent citizens alike.
But in the April edition of Playboy, Finnigan changed his story, laying the blame on ex-partner Keith Herrera, who wore a wire on Finnigan to expose the murder-for-hire plot.
In 2007, Herrera was “raging” about killing SOS informants, Finnigan told Playboy.
“To humor Herrera – and prevent him from acting on his threats – Finnigan says he pretended to contact a professional hit man to do the ‘paint job,’ a term he picked up from reading I Heard You Paint Houses, Charles Brandt’s book about the mobster who claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa,” wrote Hillel Levin, author of the Playboy story.
“Finnigan then told Herrera he got a quote of $40,000 for the job from the professional – a price he knew Herrera couldn’t afford,” Levin wrote.
“But Herrera wouldn’t let the scheme die. He claimed to have found his own contractor at a more reasonable price, and he asked Finnigan for a picture he had of [the target] that Herrera could show his hit man. They met at their local Walgreens and Finnigan handed it over.”
Two days later, on Sept. 26, 2007, Finnigan was arrested based on the information Herrera provided the FBI – as well as secret recordings he made of his conversations with Finnigan.
Finnigan’s account in Playboy is starkly different than what the feds accused him of doing – and he admitted doing in his plea agreement.
According to federal prosecutors, Finnigan told Herrera in July 2007 that a relative of his knew Two-Six gang members willing to kill a police officer for $5,000.
Then on Sept. 23, 2007, Finnigan allegedly told Herrera they might as well take care of all the witnesses against them, prosecutors said.
Herrera came forward and began cooperating with federal authorities because he was worried Finnigan was serious about killing a cop, according to Herrera’s attorney, Robert Kuzas. Kuzas called Finnigan’s description of the murder-for-hire plot “complete fiction.”
Herrera is facing sentencing on April 13 after pleading guilty to corruption charges in the Special Operations Section investigation. He was never charged with plotting to kill another cop.
The SOS unit, whose officers roamed citywide to seize guns and drugs, was disbanded after the crimes of Finnigan, Herrera and other officers were exposed.
