Catanzara wins second term as FOP president

John Catanzara Jr. captured nearly 57% of the 7,192 votes for president of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7. His opponent, Robert Bartlett, had argued that Catanzara’s confrontational approach alienated potential union allies.
By Chip Mitchell | WBEZ Chicago




Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara speaks to reporters in October 2020 after Shomari Legghette was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer.


Fending off a tough challenger, a bombastic former patrol officer has won a second term as president of the union for 10,000 rank-and-file Chicago cops and 6,000 police retirees.


John Catanzara Jr. captured nearly 57% of the 7,192 votes for president of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, WBEZ reported. He defeated Robert Bartlett, a detective who won 43% after six months of campaigning in which he warned fellow cops that Catanzara’s confrontational approach was turning away potential union allies.

“Coppers today don’t go to union meetings, so they’re uninformed and opinionated and they get what they deserve,” said Patrick Murray, a retired officer who helped assemble Second City, a slate of challengers led by Bartlett.

“They’re going to get John Catanzara, a complete self-serving disaster,” said Murray, who lost to a member of Catanzara’s Vision and Voice slate in the race for financial secretary.

Catanzara, 54, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Results of the vote were announced Friday night after a month of balloting.

His slate also captured most other elected posts on the union’s board of directors, who will serve four-year terms and remain in office until 2027.



Chicago Police Detective Bob Bartlett, shown at a 2019 news conference, fell short in his bid to oust John Catanzara, the incumbent

During his first term, Catanzara led a 28-member board with no Black members. His early moves included threatening to expel a Black cop from the union for kneeling with protesters upset about George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

Catanzara also defended the Jan. 6 rioters at the U.S. Capitol. He apologized for those statements after a rebuke from the FOP’s national leader.
RELATEDChallenger for FOP president says incumbent has alienated everyone — and hurt rank-and-file cops

Later in 2021, the Police Board opened a hearing about whether to fire Catanzara, who was still a CPD member, due to alleged misconduct in 18 incidents — mostly Facebook postings that deployed vulgar or allegedly racist language. The hearing, scheduled for three days, ended after the first day with Catanzara’s retirement, a move that did not require him to step down from the presidency.

Catanzara also led resistance to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city employees, at one point likening it to Nazi methods, another statement for which he apologized.

During the vaccination fracas, Catanzara encouraged FOP members to disobey orders to report their vaccination status, leading some to be stripped of their police powers — and some members to accuse him of hypocrisy because he had been vaccinated.

But Catanzara, campaigning for reelection, said he had no regrets.

“Literally 3,200 officers were granted an exemption [from vaccination] because we … didn’t go hide in a corner like every other union in this city did,” Catanzara said in a YouTube video targeting cops this month. “I’m damn proud of that fight.”