With one officer awaiting trial for allegedly running a cocaine ring, at least four others under investigation in the case and federal prosecutors hinting that more indictments are on the way, the Chicago Police Department has launched an overhaul of its elite anti- gang unit.

The move, coming less than a month after the Los Angeles Police Department disbanded its own anti-gang units amid widespread corruption in the Rampart Division, is designed to increase supervision of Chicago's gang officers. Members of this city's gang detail--much like their LAPD counterparts--historically operated with little oversight as they nurtured relationships with some of Chicago's seediest characters in an effort to infiltrate drug rings and solve gang-related crimes.

That laissez-faire atmosphere may have worked to the advantage of Officer Joseph Miedzianowski, who federal prosecutors contend piloted a crew of crooked cops and drug-dealing informants. Over the last decade and a half, they allegedly bought and sold cocaine, ripped off drugs and cash from other dealers and even helped hide a murder suspect from fellow officers.