The embattled alderman and his top political aide, Peter Andrews, have been charged with racketeering in a detailed 59-page indictment that significantly adds to the allegations against Burke.
Ald. Edward M. Burke and his top political aide were charged Thursday with racketeering in a wide-ranging 59-page indictment, which contains the most details yet of the alleged trail of corruption left by once one of the most powerful politicians in the city.
Among the new charges in the indictment, Burke is accused of shaking down the developer of the Old Post Office development for legal work and attempting to derail a proposed fee increase by the Field Museum, because it was not responding to his inquiry regarding a job for the child of a Burke acquaintance, former Ald. Terry Gabinski.
The charge itself, racketeering, is stunning, given that it was created to combat mobsters and organized crime, and the racketeering enterprise named in the indictment is the government of the City of Chicago itself.
For the first time, the indictment details conversations secretly recorded by then-Ald. Danny Solis, who the Sun-Times first reported had been cooperating with the feds for two years. Solis secretly recorded numerous conversations involving Burke, according to the indictment.
Solis allegedly acted as a middleman in helping Burke shake down the developer of the Old Post Office for legal work in return for Burke helping the project along, according to the indictment. Solis recorded Burke indicating that Solis would effectively get a kickback through a middleman, likely a lawyer, for helping Burke get legal business.
Burke was eager for the business, asking Solis “So, did we land the, uh, the tuna?” according to the indictment.
Burke is also recorded telling Solis that he was “a believer in sharing the wealth,” according to the indictment.
When the developer of the Old Post Office was not quick to hire Burke’s firm for legal work, Burke noted to Solis that “the cash register has not rung yet,” according to the indictment.
Burke’s anger grew at the developer’s failure to hire his firm and allegedly told Solis that he was not “fond of the way they’ve conducted themselves up until this point, and as far as I’m concerned, they can go f—- themselves,” according to the indictment.
The Sun-Times reported in January that the developer was cooperating in the federal investigation of Burke.
Burke was also added as defendant in a pending federal bribery case involving a Lake Forest developer, Charles Cui, court records show.
Cui stands accused of allegedly using Burke’s law firm for property tax appeal work as Cui sought a sign permit that was critical to a redevelopment project on the Northwest Side. Burke was not originally charged in the case, which was brought earlier this year, but was implicated throughout the charges against Cui.
The new revelations arrive six months after the feds rocked City Hall in the midst of a pivotal election, one that ended with a landslide victory for new Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The first bombshell arrived when the FBI raided Burke’s City Hall office Nov. 29, papering over the windows and spending about seven hours inside.
Earlier that morning of the raid, FBI agents also paid a visit to the Mount Greenwood home of Andrews, the Sun-Times has reported. Andrews is the chairman of Burke’s Burnham Committee, the alderman’s largest campaign fund.
Then, in early January, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Burke, charging him with attempted extortion. They alleged he shook down a pair of Burger King executives who had wanted in spring 2017 to remodel a restaurant near 41st and Pulaski. Along the way, they sought a building permit and an aldermanic acknowledgment letter from Burke.
Burke wound up taking the executives to lunch at the Beverly Country Club, where he allegedly told them his private law firm handled property tax reductions. One of the executives “read between the lines” and believed Burke was soliciting work in exchange for his help with permits for the restaurant, according to the feds.
Later, Burke allegedly gave the green light to a ward employee who offered to play “hardball” with the executives when they failed to hire his firm. Eventually, the company agreed to steer business his way — and quick City Hall permit approval allegedly followed — but Burke’s firm was not hired in the end.
A few weeks after those allegations appeared in the criminal complaint unsealed Jan. 3, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Solis had also been entangled in the investigation.
The retiring 25th Ward alderman and then-chair of the city’s Zoning Committee had begun secretly recording Burke two years earlier, after federal investigators built a corruption case against him. Solis allegedly received sex acts, Viagra, use of a luxury farm and campaign contributions in exchange for shepherding official City Council actions, according to an explosive federal court affidavit first obtained by the Sun-Times in January.
The back-to-back revelations put public corruption front-and-center in the mayoral and aldermanic elections this year. The campaign ended in April with the election of Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor. However, Burke managed to hold on to his aldermanic seat even with a corruption charge hanging over his head.
In April, Burke faced additional problems when Cui was charged with bribery for allegedly using Burke’s law firm for property tax appeal work as he sought a sign permit that was critical to a redevelopment project of Cui’s on the Northwest Side.
When Lightfoot took office May 20, she promised reform and complained of public officials who enrich themselves with “shady back-room deals.”
“Stopping it isn’t just in the city’s interest,” Lightfoot said in her inaugural address. “It’s in the City Council’s own interest.”
On Wednesday, at her first City Council meeting, Lightfoot made quick work of Burke by quickly dismissing the alderman’s complaints about the City Council rules drafted by her administration.
Burke Indictment by jroneill on Scribd
