Elliot Ness had nothing on Linkie
Casimir Linkiewicz - seen in a suit in the photo to the left with the Calumet CIty police chief closing the Paddock Club on May 2, 1959, - was known as a tough-as-nails cop. Times Archive Photos
Jerry Genova may be credited with cleaning up Sin Strip, but a military hero turned police chief was one of the first to give it a shot.
Casimir Linkiewicz - known as "Linkie" by the cops who served under him - ran the department in the 1960s with an iron fist and was determined to rid the strip of vice.
IF YOU GO
The Calumet City Historical Society has a permanent display on Linkiewicz, including photos, war medals and other memorabilia. The historical society is located at 760 Wentworth Ave. and is open Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Linkiewicz was a Calumet City native and graduate of Thornton Fractional High School, which later became TF North High School.
Linkiewicz served at a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, where he was wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart where he was wounded in the Guadalcanal and Gilbert Island campaign.
He returned to Calumet City after the war and was named police chief in 1959 by Mayor Joseph Nowak with specific instructions to clean up the declining Sin Strip.
He began by ticketing cars illegally parked on State Street and went on to be appointed to head a vice unit created by the Cook County state's attorneys office aimed at dealing with the problems on the strip.
Retired Calumet City police Capt. Tony Lucito remembers Linkiewicz using military tactics to fight vice on the strip.
"Every tavern had a slot machine," Lucito said. "I remember Linkie going out there with a sledge hammer and smashing them."
Lucito and retired Calumet City police Lt. Jerry Janiga said it was tough working for Linkiewicz, who ran the department like a military unit. But when he was gone, they missed him.
"We didn't know how good we had it," Janiga said.
Linkiewicz served as chief until 1972, when he retired. He went on to serve as chief of police in Lynwood until 1976. He died in 1994 at 77 in Lake Forest, Calif.
