Daley excelled in the rough politics in the notoriously corrupt Chicago. Would he have been as successful in another city or state? Perhaps not, but Daley was the perfect match for Chicago. He was a man whose less than pure ethics was understood by Chicagoans. Perhaps he wouldn 't have been as understood and accepted in another environment. Although he dealt with known corruption, Daley operated within a strange dichotomy, a parallel universe. While he was not known to take a dime, he operated with others who did. As boss, he would just tell them not to get caught. He was a devout Catholic who attended mass every morning while he allowed the poor to suffer for years in inadequate housing and under brutal police abuse.