Jan. 26--A federal jury Tuesday convicted John Bills on all charges of a 20-count indictment that alleged the former city official took up to $2 million in bribes and gifts in return for steering tens of millions of dollars in red light camera contracts to an Arizona company.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall set May 5 for Bills' sentencing.
The largely suburban jury of seven men and five women began deliberating Bills' fate about 3 p.m. Monday after a two-week trial that offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes intrigue at City Hall often referred to as the Chicago Way.
Bills, 54, was charged with accepting lavish gifts, meals and hotel stays along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a cash-for-cameras bribery scheme that grew Chicago's network into the most prolific ticket-writing machine in the nation.
As a lieutenant in Madigan's formidable patronage army, Bills rose through the ranks to become the No. 2 in charge of the city's Department of Transportation. He spent decades as a top-earning precinct captain and vote-getter for Michael Madigan, the powerful speaker of the Illinois House.
U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon's team presented evidence at trial that Bills met with Madigan and former Mayor Richard M. Daley as part of his efforts to help camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems, but prosecutors have never implicated any elected officials in the scheme.
They did offer evidence that Bills counseled company executives on what well-connected lobbyists to hire to court favor with Daley and Madigan. In addition, they say Bills ordered the admitted bagman in the conspiracy to use bribe money to contribute a total of $5,500 to Madigan's political war chest as well as to a nonprofit foundation supported by the mayor.
