The Chicago Police Department’s second in command announced Tuesday he will retire this summer after about 34 years on the force.
Anthony Riccio will retire Aug. 1 as the department’s first deputy superintendent, a post he’s held since 2018.
“With more than three decades of experience, he has served as a steadfast example of a true Chicago police officer — someone who simply wants to protect this city,” police Superintendent David Brown said in a statement Tuesday. “Those who have worked with the First Deputy are lucky to have learned from him.”
Traditionally, the first deputy superintendent is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the whole department. But Riccio’s role changed in January when a sweeping reorganization of the department separated its crime-fighting operations from a new bureau focusing on CPD’s reform efforts to improve its policing practices.
When that took shape, Riccio took charge of the crime-fighting operations while another police official, Barbara West, was tapped to head the reform bureau.
There were rumblings of Riccio’s retirement prior to protests late last month that were sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Riccio most recently spoke out last week against Chicago police officers seen on video making popcorn, drinking coffee and sleeping on a couch in a South Side campaign office of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush while, officials said, nearby businesses were being looted amid unrest following those protests during the last weekend in May.
At a news conference with Rush, Riccio called the officers’ conduct “absolutely indefensible” at the same time he was standing shoulder to shoulder with colleagues elsewhere in the city being pelted with rocks.
“They didn’t just let down the community,” Riccio said. “They let down fellow officers.”
Before being named first deputy superintendent under former Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Riccio served as chief of the department’s bureau of organized crime, overseeing specialized citywide units that, among other things, focus on long-term investigations into gang activity, drug trafficking and gunrunning.
He also served as deputy chief of the bureau of detectives under former Superintendent Garry McCarthy. As the second-highest-ranking official in that bureau at the time, Riccio oversaw hundreds of detectives.
Before that, he served as commander of the Area Central detective division, supervising detectives who investigated shootings, homicides, robberies and other crimes for much of the South Side, parts of the West Side and downtown.
During his time at Area Central, he oversaw detectives investigating the January 2013 slaying of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, a high school honor student and drum majorette who was shot and killed in a park just a week after she had performed at festivities for then-President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Two reputed gang members were convicted of murder in the case that drew national headlines and became a symbol of the city’s entrenched violence.
Earlier in his career, Riccio served as lieutenant of the former Belmont Area violent crimes unit, supervising investigations into homicides and shootings on the North Side and downtown. While assigned there, one of the most high-profile cases he supervised was the December 2006 fatal shooting of Willie B. Posey, the bodyguard of former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Terry “Tank” Johnson. An alleged gang member was convicted of murder in his slaying.
Riccio himself briefly made news shortly after Mayor Lori Lightfoot was elected last year when it was revealed that he took a vacation in June 2019 despite her order barring CPD’s top leaders from taking time off over the traditionally violent summer months. But Johnson had approved Riccio’s time off before Lightfoot took office, and Riccio was not disciplined.
Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne contributed.
