Jailed cop Finnigan in trouble for threatening MCC inmate, officials say

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A jailed former Chicago police officer who has yet to be indicted after a 2007 arrest on charges he ordered a hit on another cop was just flagged for making threats in the downtown jail where he’s been housed for about four years.

Jerome Finnigan, 48, once a member of Chicago’s now-disbanded Special Operations Section, was allegedly involved with “threatening bodily harm” while behind bars at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to a letter from prison officials to a federal judge.

“We are required to notify the court of repeated or serious disruptive behavior by a pretrial inmate,” prison officials wrote in a letter to a federal judge. The letter goes on to say that Finnigan was involved in a Dec. 13 incident.

It’s unclear who Finnigan is accused of threatening. His criminal lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors have asked for 25 extensions on indicting Finnigan, who the Sun-Times previously reported had been cooperating with authorities. In a recent court hearing in a civil case, Finnigan said he waived his right to having an indictment brought within a certain period of time. Finnigan indicated in the hearing that he would not continue to waive that beyond Thursday, said attorney Louis Meyer. Meyer has two clients who are suing Finnigan.

Prosecutors allege the SOS cops robbed drug dealers as well as law-abiding citizens. In many cases, criminal charges against dealers were dropped when the SOS officers failed to show up in court.

The U.S. Attorney’s office would not comment on the extensions.

Finnigan was charged in 2006 with home invasion and kidnapping, among other charges.

In 2007, Finnigan was also charged with conspiring to kill a former coworker he knew to be cooperating with the government on the investigation.

Finnigan began working in the SOS unit in 1993. Between 2001 and 2005, 52 complaints were filed against Finnigan, making him No. 3 in the department in number of complaints of misconduct filed in that time period.