A: We all know about the 1919 Black Sox scandal; we've heard of a boxer taking a fall; we know there's been point-shaving in college hoops. But that's on the field, in the ring, on the court. What about in the court?

One would think it would be a little more serious if a judge was paid to fix a murder trial, wouldn't you say? Well, in the 1970s and '80s, the Cook County Circuit Court system based in Chicago was so corrupt and dirty that two federal investigations, Operations Greylord and Gambat, were undertaken to expose it.

Lots of judges went to jail for their underhanded dealings, but the worst of the worst was the not-so-Honorable Thomas J. Maloney. During the 13 years he spent on the bench, from 1977 to 1990, the fix was on in as many as six of Maloney's murder trials. He took bribes ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 from gangs to convict members of other gangs for murder or manslaughter.

Eventually, however, the justice got a little justice of his own, and he was indicted and sentenced to 15 years and 9 months in prison. In fact, Maloney's the only judge in Illinois history to be convicted of fixing a trial - any trial. There was actually another corrupt judge — Judge Frank J. Wilson — exposed in the same Greylord operation, but Wilson had a slightly more novel idea on how to remedy the situation. He committed suicide.