Dec. 10--Filmmaker Lee Daniels, executive producer of the Fox hit "Empire" (which films in Chicago), is developing a biopic about one of Chicago's most infamous residents of the 1970s.
Linda Taylor, dubbed the "welfare queen" by this very newspaper, became notorious (if not by her given name then certainly by the Tribune's nickname) when her Cadillac-driving and fraudulent doings (not to mention $150,000-a-year income) became a regular feature of Ronald Reagan's campaign speeches, in which she was cited as a typical example of welfare abuse -- as opposed to that of a blatant criminal.
One of the earliest articles about her in the Tribune dates back to 1974, when she was charged with grand larceny, having "bilked the Illinois Public Aid Department of an estimated $100,000 a year (through) fraudulent welfare claims," wrote investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner George Bliss, who noted, "The Tribune first alerted authorities to her activities here."
Daniels will base the movie version of her story on an extensive 2013 report from Slate executive editor Josh Levin, which delves into just how bizarre and scary a con artist Taylor was.
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