Lately, we’ve been flooded with stories about law enforcement personnel killing civilians for no good reason, more or less on the spur of the moment. The deaths of Eric Garner and 12-year-old Tamir Rice are prime examples of this phenomenon.
There is a different type of bad cop, however, who appears to take real pleasure in meting out death and even – in some cases – torture for fun and profit. One of these fiends, former Chicago police officer, Steve Mandell, who was a suspect in at least five murder investigations dating back to his days on the Chicago force, has just received his comeuppance in the form of a life sentence with five additional years tacked on for good measure.
Scott Kaufman of Raw Story writes:
A former Chicago cop has been sentenced to life in prison, plus five years, for his role in an elaborate torture and murder scheme, FOX 32 News reports.
Steve Mandell was convicted in February for his role in the torture and murder plot. He and his accomplice, Gary Engel — who committed suicide in prison in 2012 — planned to abduct a wealthy businessman, Steve Campbell, and take him to a torture chamber they had built.
It is noted that Mandell, who had worked with Engel for Chicago PD in the 1970s, was actually convicted and sentenced to death previously for a murder he allegedly committed in 1990, but was released in 2004 after serving 14 years when his conviction was overturned on appeal.
Mandell temporarily triumphant
This time around, a second chance for Mandell seems rather remote based on the fact the current inculpatory evidence was obtained via wiretap which means the Feds had been watching him for a while. Although it does happen once in a blue moon (and of course it happened to Mandell in his previous case), it is rare for Federal convictions to be overturned.
In an earlier story that appeared on Raw Story, David Ferguson described the disturbing exchange between Mandell and Engel while they plotted Mr. Campbell’s abduction and torture, unaware, of course, that they were being recorded.
Mandell and Engel
As one might expect of a wannabe torturer, Mandell told Engel that the idea of torturing someone sexually aroused him. (The Federal prosecutors, borrowing language from the world of high tech, allege that the two men “had built a dedicated killing chamber” in the 5300 block of Chicago’s West Devon Avenue. The twosome had discussed how they would tie up their victim when Engel couldn’t resist describing “his plan to slash open the man’s penis.”
“You going to put a little blade there?” Mandell asked Engel.
Engel agreed that he would and compared a sliced penis to a sliced banana asking, “You know what a banana split looks like?”
Video surveillance
This pleased Mandell considerably and he “oohed and aahed” which inspired Engel to describe other means by while they would “defile the rich man’s body before finally killing him.”
Always the voice of caution, Mandell reminded Engel that they needed “to be mindful of the victim’s heart, lest he die too quickly.”
The torture was to be a means to an end designed to convince the wealthy victim to sign over real estate to them, after which they would bring the torture to a close and kill the poor man.
(Mandell and Engel were apparently posing as cops when they were arrested in 2013.)
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve referred to the video, stating:
“(T)he thrill you showed in putting another person in pain and in torturing was chilling. The glee on your face was very apparent.”
The judge also said:
“The public needs protecting from you. Your actions in this case, Mr. Mandell, were evil, and showed a complete disregard for human life.”
Kim Janssen writes for the Chicago Sun-Times that Mandell, who among other things is an incorrigible ham, ranted for half an hour after receiving the life sentence but that “his desperation was palpable”. Mandell’s zingers included that alleged fact that the case against him was “phantasmagorically ridiculous,” and that “even Helen Keller could see” that he had been framed.
“The judge twiddled her thumbs and openly looked at the clock as Mandell” raved.
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Good cop, bad cop. Good cop, bad cop. It is becoming increasingly clear that here in America large numbers of thoroughly corrupt individuals go into law enforcement. Most of the bad ones, however, are not psychopaths like Steve Mandell but rather are simply everyday garden variety thugs. Sadly, there is no relief in sight.