City Council Shame: Ed Burke Is 10th Alderman Sentenced To Prison Since 2006 (2024)

CHICAGO — Ed Burke on Monday became the latest alderperson to be sentenced to prison, joining an infamous — and lengthy — list of elected officials to go from City Hall to behind bars.

Burke, 80, was handed a two-year prison sentence Monday on 13 counts for racketeering, attempted extortion, using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, corruptly soliciting things of value and federal program bribery. He was also ordered to pay $2 million in fines related to his conviction.

The longest-serving alderperson in city history — holding his seat for more than 50 years — Burke pressured developers to hire his private law firm and leveraged his political clout to secure jobs and favors for allies,according to his indictment. The Southwest Side alderman was found guilty in late December following a lengthy trial.

Burke’s sentencing caps perhaps the most significant and symbolic corruption case in recent City Hall history, with Burke and his fellow “Machine” politicians contributing heavily to Chicago’s image as a clout-heavy government where business depended on connections and favors.

Between 1973 and 2012, 29 aldermen were convicted of corruption.Since then, six others have been convicted, with each of them receiving prison time. Ten alderpeople have been convicted and sentenced since 2000.

Former Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), indicted for bribery, has yet to go to trial.

Despite the convictions, Chicago remains the United States’ most corrupt city,according to conviction data analyzed by theUniversity of Illinois Chicago’s political science department.

“They see there’s easy money and that there are many who are never caught,” Dick Simpson, a former alderperson and retired UIC professor, said previously. “The actions we see are only the tip of the iceberg.”

There’s a “long and pathetic tradition,” as one sentencing judge called it, of crooked Chicago alderpeople being indicted and sentenced to prison.

Here are the 10 alderpeople besides Burke who have been convicted and sentenced since 2000:

2006: Ald. James Laski, 2 Years

Ald. James Laski (23rd) served on the City Council 1991-1995 and was city clerk from 1995-2006. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2006 after being found guilty of taking $48,000 in bribes as part of the city’s controversial hired truck program during his tenure as city clerk. The program allowed for the city to lease private dump truck companies for city services, expending $40 million a year while crews performed little to no work. The program was phased out following an exposé by the Sun-Times that revealed widespread corruption and mob ties. The corrupt program also prompted an FBI probe.

2008: Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (First Conviction), 10 Months

Ald. Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak (10th) served on the City Council 1971-1987 and acted as council president 1977-1983 and chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party 1982-1987. An attorney following his time in office, Vrdolyak was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2007 on charges of bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud related to personal real estate dealings that were not related to his tenure as an alderperson.

Vrdolyak attempted to split a $1.5 million kickback off a $15 million real estate sale. He was initially sentenced in 2008 to five years of probation, alongside heavy fines and community service hours. A federal appeals court overturned the decision in 2010 and sentenced him to 10 months in prison.

2009: Ald. Arenda Troutman, 4 Years

Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) served on City Council 1990-2007 and was the first female alderperson to be charged while in office. In 2007, Troutman was arrested and charged with accepting a bribe from an FBI informant, infamously calling all politicians “hoes” while being secretly recorded. Troutman had taken $5,000 in bribes and was expecting another $10,000 from a real estate developer — who was cooperating with the FBI — in exchange for zoning changes. She ran a failed reelection bid in 2007 amid the scandal. Troutman pleaded guilty to bribery and tax charges in 2008 and was sentenced to four years in prison in 2009.

2010: Ald. Isaac Carothers, 28 Months

Ald. Isaac “Ike” Carothers (29th) served on City Council 1999-2010. In 2009, Carothers pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges after accepting over $40,000 in unreported home improvements, meals and sports tickets by a prominent real estate developer looking to rezone a massive rail yard into stores and homes. Carothers immediately resigned from City Council after being charged. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison in 2010 following a plea deal. His father, William Carothers, was an alderperson convicted on similar charges.

2013: Ald. William Beavers, 6 Months

Ald. William Beavers (7th) served on City Council 1983-2006 and the Cook County Board of Commissioners (4th) 2006-2013. He was found guilty on four federal charges of tax evasion in 2012 after failing to report $226,000 to the IRS, having spent much of the money on gambling. He was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $10,000 in 2013.

2013: Ald. Sandi Jackson, 1 Year

Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) served on City Council 2007-2013. She is the ex-wife of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former daughter-in-law of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. In 2013, Sandi Jackson pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns, failing to report roughly $600,000 to the IRS. Jesse Jackson Jr. also pleaded guilty to misappropriating about $750,000 in campaign funds to buy over 3,000 extravagant items, including thousands of dollars’ worth of Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee memorabilia. Sandi Jackson was sentenced to one year in prison while Jesse Jackson Jr. got two and a half years in prison. Both Jacksons resigned from office upon their respective sentences.

2019: Ald. Willie Cochran, 1 Year

A former Chicago police officer, Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) served on the City Council 2007-2019 and left office as the second consecutive alderperson in the South Side ward seat to be convicted, succeeding Troutman. Cochran pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting he swiped $14,000 from a charity fund intended to help struggling families in his ward. Cochran pocketed the money to cover his daughter’s college tuition and gambling expenses, according to his federal indictment. He was sentenced to a year in prison, with then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot calling the punishment “effectively a slap on the wrist,” according to the Sun-Times. At his sentencing, the judge said his name would be added to a “long and pathetic tradition” of crooked Chicago officials.

2019: Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (Second Conviction), 18 Months

Vrdolyak found himself back in court in 2019, pleading guilty to a count of tax evasion. Vrdolyak tried to help a lawyer evade $800,000 in income taxes as part of a scheme to siphon millions from the state’s $9 billion settlement with big tobacco companies in the ’90s, according to CBS2. Vrdolyak, 86, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released from a halfway house last year. Much of his sentence had been put on hold due to the pandemic. Neither of Vrdolyak’s corruption convictions were directly related to his role on City Council.

Sentence: 18 months

2021: Ald. Ricardo Muñoz, 13 Months

Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22nd) served 1993-2019, making him City Council’s longest-tenured Latino member. In 2021, Muñoz pleaded guilty to 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering after stealing from the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus to help pay a relative’s overdue tuition bill. Muñoz went on to swipe nearly $38,000 from the caucus between October 2016 and June 2020. The former alderperson took out cash withdrawals and rang up debit card charges while falsifying reports to hide the fraud. He used the money for iPhones, sports tickets, sightseeing trips and skydiving excursions. Muñoz was sentenced to 13 months in prison in 2022, according to NBC5.

2022: Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, 4 Months

A grandson to one Chicago mayor and nephew to another, Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) served in City Council 2015-2022. He was convicted in 2022 on two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of filing false income tax returns. His indictment came after a Sun-Times investigation found Daley Thompson bought a summer home in Michigan with a loan from the now-closed Washington Federal bank in Bridgeport. Daley Thompson received $219,000 in loans from that bank between 2011-2014 before he was elected to City Council in 2015.

Prosecutors said Daley Thompson filed for tax deductions on loan interest payments even though he was not making payments on the loans. He then lied to collection agencies and federal authorities to pay less, prosecutors said. The bank was shut down in 2017, just two weeks after its president was found dead of an apparent suicide. Daley Thompson had his license to practice law suspended and spent four months at Wisconsin’s Oxford federal prison, describing life behind bars as “absolutely horrible,” according to the Sun-Times.

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