Kudos for Detective Robert Moon's Work

When U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office singled out the late Detective Robert Moon for praise during Monday's announcement of sweeping indictments against the mob, the investigator's old friends from the Chicago Police Department were pleased but not surprised.

For 18 years Moon, who died last November, was an awe-inspiring weapon in law enforcement's fight against organized crime in Chicago, his friends and colleagues said. He was a "walking encyclopedia of everything that went on in the mob," said Harrison Area Detective Cmdr. Steve Peterson, who worked with Moon on the federal organized crime task force. "Nobody came even close to what he did in those cases."

Moon died of cancer Nov. 30, months before the case he had worked on with many other detectives and agents for years came to fruition.

His absence was felt by many who were involved in the massive investigation. Prosecutors extended "special thanks" to Moon in Monday's press release. "The investigation would not have been successful without Detective Moon's hard work and dedication," it said.

Moon first began to build his knowledge of the mob in Chicago in the 1980s when he was assigned to a federal task force working on auto theft cases, Peterson said.

Moon was a "bulldog and tenacious, and willing to help with anything," said Chicago Police Deputy Supt. Hiram Grau, who now heads the Chicago Police Department's investigative units.

Thanks to David Heinzmann