Journalists In Chicago Bought A Run-Down Tavern During The 1970s As A Front For An Undercover Operation That Exposed Corrupt City Inspectors
In the late 1970s, reporters from the Chicago Sun-Times bought a run-down tavern in River North, Chicago.
The building was filled with leaking pipes, frayed electrical wires, and a number of other obvious code violations, but it didn’t really matter because the bar wasn’t supposed to be a real business.
It was just a front for an undercover operation—one of the most elaborate in the entire history of American journalism.
The phony bar was only up and running for a few months in 1977, but that gave the investigative team more than enough time to document evidence of unlawful activities for a 25-part series that was published in January 1978.
During the 1970s, reporters constantly received calls from small business owners claiming that city inspectors were shaking them down for bribes.
However, the business owners were too afraid to go on the record since it might come back to bite them.
So, Pam Zekman, a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times, decided that the only way to catch the corrupt city inspectors in the act was to pretend to be a small business owner herself.
Her boss agreed, and with help from the Better Government Association, she was able to purchase a bar.
Bars and taverns were their best bet because they were subject to more regulation and inspections than most other small businesses.
Tierney – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Zekman and colleagues installed cameras into the ceiling of their new bar, which they named The Mirage. Reporters took their places as bartenders, while a photographer posed as a repairman.
The undercover reporters waited and watched for city inspectors. During the two months they were in business, they found plenty of corrupt inspectors willing to accept bribes as low as $10 for them to look the other way when they saw rats, roaches, raw sewage, and other violations.
The journalists even encountered a sleazy accountant who went by the name of Mr. Fixit. He instructed them on how to pay off a city inspector.
Once they got all the information they needed, the reporters closed down the tavern and spent the next couple of months writing up all they had witnessed. They pieced together a 25-part series that detailed bribery and tax evasion.
The first stories were published on January 8, 1978. That same day, 60 Minutes also did a segment and got Mr. Fixit to admit on national television that he regularly committed tax fraud.
The investigative work of Zekman, writer Zay Smith, and the lead investigator for the Better Government Association, Bill Recktenwald, earned the team international acclaim. They were put in the running for the Pulitzer Prize.
In the end, no one went to jail, but several city and state workers got suspended or lost their jobs. Additionally, there were many major reforms in city and state codes.
Today, the bar is under new ownership. It has been renovated and was renamed the Brehon Pub. No official undercover stings have taken place there since The Mirage.
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