If you thought Chicago's mobster reputation died with Al Capone, think again, gumbah.

Robert Cooley's new book, When Corruption Was King is an inside-view of The Outfit in the 1980s and 1990s. The former first Ward bagman and mob attorney-turned-squealer's account is, like most mob stories, predictably entertaining, horrifying, distasteful.

These 1st Ward Guidos are not people you'd want to go outta your way to meet. The pictures of one guy that they hung up on a meathook and tortured with a blowtorch kinda give you an idea why.

But there's more here. It's also a story about city government. Big city courts and politicians who are full of petty corruption. In Chicago, that's the system.