Former Ald. Ed Burke in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall on Dec. 5, 2023. (WTTW News)
Former Ald. Ed Burke ruled Chicago City Hall with an iron fist for decades, wheeling and dealing behind closed doors as he gripped the city’s purse strings as chair of the powerful Finance Committee.
But whether he will be remembered as one of the “rascals who saw Chicago as an opportunity to make a quick score” or as a statesman “who furthered the interests of this city” is in the hands of the nine women and three men who make up the jury that began deciding whether he is guilty of corruption.
The jury started deliberations around 2:15 p.m. Monday and is now tasked with sorting through the massive amount of evidence presented during the six-week trial, which included testimony from three dozen witnesses and 100 recordings made as part of a court-authorized wiretap and undercover efforts by disgraced Ald. Danny Solis.
They deliberated for approximately three hours before leaving for the day at 5 p.m.
The jury faces a mammoth task. If they do not reach a verdict before Friday, deliberations will be suspended Dec. 25 through Dec. 29 because of the Christmas holiday and resume Jan. 3.
Deliberations began after U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall spent more than three hours reading more than 300 pages of jury instructions.
Burke, 79, faces 14 charges of racketeering, bribery and extortion. Racketeering charges — usually brought against members of the mob or street gangs — allege a pattern of corruption unknown to its victims.
If convicted, Burke will become the 38th member of the Chicago City Council to be convicted of a crime since 1968 and will likely be sent to federal prison.
If Burke is acquitted, his legacy will largely be defined by the role he played in leading a group of White City Council members who worked to stymie Chicago’s first Black chief executive, Mayor Harold Washington, touching off what came to be known as Council Wars in the 1980s.
The longest serving member of the Chicago City Council is being tried alongside two co-defendants: his longtime aide Pete Andrews and businessman Charles Cui.
Andrews, 73, of Chicago, faces five charges, including attempted extortion and making a false statement to the FBI.
Cui, 52, of Lake Forest, also faces five charges, including bribery and making a false statement to the FBI.
A Moment 5 Years in the Making
On Nov. 30, 2018, FBI agents raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices, carting away boxes of evidence and setting off a political earthquake that that led to the election of Lori Lightfoot to replace former Mayor Rahm Emanuel while derailing the political careers of Burke’s allies and friends.
Federal prosecutors laid out four criminal schemes they told the jury Burke repeatedly — and brazenly — used his powerful position at City Hall to force those doing business with the city to hire his private law firm, formerly known as Klafter & Burke.
Burke victimized the people of Chicago, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker told the jury during the prosecution’s final arguments.
“Burke’s crimes are against people who deserve an honest and clean government,” Streicker said.
Streicker reminded the jury of Burke’s turns of phrase have already become an indelible part of Chicago’s long history of political corruption.
“So, did we, uh, land the tuna?” Burke asked Solis. “If we land the tuna there certainly will be a day of accounting, you can count on that.”
Burke’s own words are evidence of his intent, Streicker said.
“If we’re not signed up, we’re not going to do heavy lifting,” Burke said. “The cash register has not rung yet.”
In another conversation, Burke said the New York-based developer could “go f--- himself” if he thought Burke would help him win an $18 million subsidy and $100 million tax break from the city without hiring his private firm.
The jury heard Burke blame that developer’s religion for the failure to consummate the deal.
“(W)ell, you know as well as I do, Jews are Jews and they’ll deal with Jews to the exclusion of everybody else unless … unless there’s a reason for them to use a Christian,” Burke said.
Those recordings were captured by Solis, the disgraced former alderperson who acknowledged to the jury that he agreed to work as a government informant after being confronted by FBI agents who had gathered evidence of Solis’ own criminal wrongdoing.
“I was trying to help myself by recording Ed Burke,” Solis said.
Defense attorney Joe Duffy told the jury Solis was a “con man” who hounded Burke for 30 months, desperate to find something he could use to save his own skin.
It is not a crime for Burke to have a temper, or use profanity, Duffy argued. Nor was it illegal for Burke to ask firms and individuals with business before the city to hire his law firm, or even engage in “aggressive sales promotion.”
Prosecutors have charged Burke with performing as many as five acts in violation of laws preventing racketeering in connection with the redevelopment of the Old Post Office. The jury must convict Burke if they find at least two of those five acts to achieve his aims.
In addition, Burke is charged with orchestrating a similar scheme involving the owners of a Burger King in the city’s 14th Ward. For 54 years, Burke represented the Southwest Side ward.
In 2017, the owners of the fast-food joint needed city permits to renovate the eatery at 4060 S. Pulaski Road. Under the City Council’s decades-long tradition of aldermanic prerogative, they needed Burke’s sign-off — and prosecutors say Burke explicitly withheld that permission until the owners hired his private law firm to appeal their property taxes.
Much of the testimony about the alleged Burger King scheme centered on whether the restaurant’s owner, Houston-based TriCity Foods, needed a driveway permit before the company could proceed with planned renovation. Prosecutors have alleged Burke exploited the firm’s need for the driveway permit to extort the firm’s owners, Shoukat and Zohaib Dhanani.
All Burke did was enforce the city’s laws, Duffy told the jury.
Andrews was only doing his job when he demanded the Dhananis get a driveway permit, and had no knowledge of Burke’s efforts to sign the Texas businesspeople up as clients of his law firm, Patrick Blegen, Andrews’ defense attorney, told the jury.
Burke is also charged with threatening to block a fee increase for the Field Museum in 2017 because officials didn’t agree to hire his goddaughter as an intern.
But Burke took no official action to retaliate against the museum, and did not demand a job for his goddaughter, Duffy said.
However, the jury saw evidence museum officials offered to interview her for a full-time job as they worked to placate an infuriated Burke and protect the planned fee increase.
The final criminal scheme Burke is charged with crafting involves Cui, a businessman who transformed a long-vacant Six Corners bank building into a Binny’s Beverage Depot, Culver’s and gym.
According to federal prosecutors, Cui went to Burke when city officials denied his request for a large pole sign outside the former bank building that he redeveloped. Burke offered to help Cui, if he hired Klafter & Burke. Cui did, according to evidence shown to the jury.
Burke did nothing wrong when he pressed city officials to look into why a request for a pole sign on the Far Northwest Side had been denied, Duffy told the jury.
Cui’s attorney, Tinos Diamantatos, said his client did not intend to bribe Burke. Instead, he was looking for legal representation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
