He investigated legendary crimes, inspired TV writers

Richard C. Quagliano spent 32 years in police work between his 16 years with the Chicago Police Department and another 16 with the Cook County Sheriff's Department -- yet his family heard few of his "war stories."

Instead, they saw much of what his job was like on TV and in the movies.

Mr. Quagliano had been a member of the legendary criminal investigations unit within the Chicago Police Department. The unit became famous for cracking difficult robbery and burglary cases and became the basis for the TV show "Crime Story."

The show starred Dennis Farina, a former 20-year Chicago police detective himself, and one of the show's creators worked in Mr. Quagliano's unit.

Whether any of the main characters were based on Mr. Quagliano, not even his family knows for sure.

"If they were, my father never told us," said his son, Dick of Hoffman Estates.

Mr. Quagliano died Feb. 7. The Chicago native, who lived in Arlington Heights since 2001, was 74.

"He was a policeman's policeman," his son added. "He loved his job."

Mr. Quagliano joined the Chicago Police Department as a patrolman in 1956 after his Army discharge. He rose steadily through the ranks while helping solve some of the city's toughest crimes.

One of those was the murder of Valerie Percy in 1966. Another was an armed robbery of an armored truck in progress that Mr. Quagliano helped stop.

"There was open gunfire and a couple of guys got killed," his son recalled. "This was the stuff you see on TV."

When Mr. Quagliano made the move to the Cook County Sheriff's Department in 1971, he served directly under former Cook County Sheriff Richard J. Elrod as assistant chief. Consequently he oversaw some of the department's biggest cases, including the investigative work and recovery of bodies at the Norwood Park Township home of John Wayne Gacy.

Another case he helped solve was the 1972 murder of retired insurance broker Paul Corbett and his wife and sister-in-law in Barrington Hills. Members of a small terrorist gang, the De Mau Mau, eventually were convicted of the killings.

Mr. Quagliano retired from both the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff's Department at the rank of captain, in 1986.

His spent his retirement in far safer confines, taking fishing trips -- from Alaska to Venezuela -- and cooking for his large extended family and friends. In fact, family members said that when he remodeled his home he had an large stove with six burners installed, to accommodate his ambitious culinary plans.

Mr. Quagliano was preceded in death by his daughter, Laura. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Arlene, as well as his six surviving children, including: Dick of Hoffman Estates; Roger, Susan and Alene all of Buffalo Grove; Joan of St. Louis; and Mark of Burlington, Iowa; as well as 12 grandchildren.

Services were held previously.