Chicago Alderman Edward Burke indicted on expanded federal racketeering, bribery charges
CHICAGO - Powerful Chicago Alderman Edward Burke was meeting with a fellow alderman in October 2017 when he allegedly expressed his displeasure over the way developers of the old main Chicago post office had so far failed to throw any business to Burke's private law firm.
"As far as I'm concerned, they can go f - _ themselves," Burke told Alderman Daniel Solis, who was working undercover for the FBI and secretly recording the conversation, according to a sweeping federal racketeering indictment filed Thursday against Burke.
When Solis noted the developers would soon be before Burke's Finance Committee requesting $100 million in tax increment financing for the massive project, Burke responded, "Well, good luck getting it on the agenda," the indictment alleges.
The conversation is at the center of the 59-page indictment outlining a series of alleged schemes in which prosecutors say Burke abused his City Hall clout to extort private legal work from companies and individuals doing business with the city.
In addition to the attempted extortion of the old post office developers, the 14-count indictment accuses Burke - the city's longest-serving alderman and a vestige of the old Democratic machine - of trying to
