Prosecutors are expected to rest their case-in-chief on Tuesday, setting the stage for disgraced former Ald. Danny Solis (25th Ward) to be called to the stand to testify in the landmark corruption trial of his former friend and colleague.

If approved, the settlement would be the largest police misconduct settlement approved by the City Council in 2023, and the largest since May 2022, records show.

The vote on Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee, which came over the objections of at least seven alderpeople, means the full City Council will once again consider resolving the lawsuit filed by Darius Cole-Garrit’s family.

Prosecutors capped their case revolving around the Burger King near 41st Street and Pulaski Road by playing a recorded call between ex-Ald. Ed Burke and former mayoral candidate Gery Chico from June 2017.

The proposed settlement is set to be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee. A final vote of the City Council could come on Wednesday.

Former TriCity Foods official Jeff MacDonald told the jury a meeting with former Ald. Ed Burke “felt like a shakedown” because Burke made it clear “we were not going to get this permit until there was some neighborhood or philanthropic effort. Something to be involved with the city and the community.”

A restaurant group official said he was “taken aback” when Ald. Ed Burke brought up possible work for his property tax law firm as the pair discussed driveway permits for a Burger King undergoing a remodel in Burke’s 14th Ward in 2017.

Former Ald. Ed Burke faces 14 criminal charges, including racketeering, bribery and extortion, in a case that accuses Burke 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.

Some of Ald. Ed Burke’s turns of phrase have already become an indelible part of Chicago’s long history of political corruption. They are also now evidence in a federal trial.

Burke is charged with what prosecutors say are four criminal schemes, three involving the former alderperson’s side hustle as a property tax attorney. Perhaps the most elaborate scheme Burke is charged with involves the Old Post Office.

A probe by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that aldermanic prerogative has created a hyper-segregated city rife with racism and gentrification.

Evidence in Burke’s landmark corruption case moved into the third of four schemes the former 14th Ward alderman allegedly spearheaded, this one involving the massive Old Post Office building, which had been left vacant and run down for years before it was sold to 601 West Companies in 2016.

Jurors on Tuesday began hearing evidence of the second of four criminal schemes the longtime 14th Ward alderperson was allegedly involved in — this one involving remodeling work at a Burger King restaurant that was located in Burke’s district.

The jury heard the first direct testimony from someone who prosecutors allege Burke sought to extort by weaponizing his powerful position as chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee and the longest serving member of the City Council. 

While prosecutors said former Ald. Ed Burke was a “bribe-taker and an extortionist” who used his elected office to “line his pockets,” Burke’s attorneys said he was an “old school, hardworking public servant” devoted to Chicago and its residents.

Former Ald. Ed Burke entered the Dirksen United States Courthouse for the first time since June 2019 accompanied by his wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Burke, and a phalanx of attorneys.