Crime & Law

Feds Seek to Dismiss Bribery Charge Against Alderperson Turned Mole Danny Solis Who Helped Secure Ed Burke, Michael Madigan Convictions

Federal prosecutors are seeking to dismiss the bribery charge against disgraced ex-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis, whose years serving as an undercover mole for the government led him to being dubbed one of the most significant informants in recent memory.

The former 25th Ward alderperson provided key evidence that helped secure the convictions of two Chicago political giants, longtime 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke and powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

That evidence largely came in the form of voluminous secretly recorded audio and video tapes, which included indelible lines enshrined as part of Chicago’s long history of political corruption.

Solis began operating as an undercover mole after he was approached by federal investigators in 2016, who presented him with evidence of his own bribery activities, which included accepting sex acts, Viagra, free weekend use of an Indiana farm once owned by Oprah Winfrey and a steady stream of campaign contributions in return for official City Council actions.

He continued making recordings through 2018, but his cover was blown in early 2019, when the Chicago Sun-Times reported on an affidavit that had been mistakenly unsealed and revealed Solis had been recording Burke as part of the government’s investigation.

In April 2022, Solis was formally charged in a criminal information with corruptly soliciting, accepting, and agreeing to accept campaign contributions intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with city of Chicago transactions.

Days later, he entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors in which he agreed to help the feds with their criminal cases, and in turn, would see his bribery charge dismissed at the end of a deferred prosecution period set to end next Tuesday.

Now, months after he testified for the feds against Madigan, prosecutors will ask a judge to follow through on that dismissal.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, who led the prosecutions of Burke and Madigan and helped craft the deferred prosecution agreement, previously called Solis one of Chicago’s “most significant cooperators in the last several decades.”

Defense attorneys used more colorful language to describe him, referring to the longtime alderperson as a “malignant tumor,” a “stage actor” and a “walking crime wave.”

As part of his cooperation agreement, Solis wore a wire and recorded numerous phone calls and in-person conversations at the FBI’s behest, sometimes feeding others false information given to him by the feds in an effort to root out any potential illegal activities.

“When I was undercover, I was basically lying all the time,” Solis testified late last year.

Solis spent parts of six days across November and December 2024 on the witness stand in Madigan’s trial, where he detailed for jurors the longtime speaker’s alleged efforts to illegally steer business to his private property tax law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, amid efforts to develop various Chicago properties.

Madigan also allegedly agreed to help Solis find a valuable position on a state board in exchange for Solis funneling tax work to Madigan’s firm.

Madigan was convicted on six charges tied to that board seat. Ultimately, though, the jury failed to convict him on nine charges related to those schemes.

Madigan’s defense team painted Solis as an opportunist and a liar who would do whatever it took to keep himself out of prison.

“We all have regrets in life,” Madigan, who testified in his own defense, said on the witness stand earlier this year, “and one of my regrets is that I ever had any time spent with Danny Solis.”

Solis at trial also detailed his own charge, saying it consisted of “trying to solicit campaign contributions from a developer that had a pending application” before the Zoning Committee, which Solis chaired.

Madigan was ultimately convicted in February on 10 charges, including bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud counts, finding he used his immense political power to enrich himself and his allies. That same jury acquitted the former speaker on seven other counts and deadlocked on several others, including all charges relating to Madigan’s confidant and codefendant Michael McClain.

Jurors watch former Ald. Danny Solis testify in the corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke on Dec. 12, 2023. (WTTW News)

While Solis also took the witness stand at Burke’s trial in late 2023, he did so that time as a defense witness after prosecutors opted not to call him themselves. Still, the Solis recordings played a major role in Burke’s convictions.

Burke was accused of using 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.

In those recordings, jurors heard and viewed conversations between Solis and Burke discussing the renovation of the Old Post Office and whether Burke could get any tax work from the developers, the New York-based 601 West Companies.

In one instance, Burke asked Solis “So, did we, uh, land the tuna?”

When Burke grew frustrated that 601 West had not yet hired his firm, he said in another call that “If we’re not signed up, we’re not going to do heavy lifting,” before adding that the “cash register has not rung yet.”

Solis testified for approximately three hours in that case and admitted he was trying to “save himself” by recording his longtime colleague.

“I was trying to help myself by recording Ed Burke,” Solis testified. “But I wasn’t trying to get him to say a particular thing.”

Burke, who was tried in 2023, was convicted on 13 of 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion. He has since been sentenced to two years in prison.

---