Ethics & Corruption
Chicago Ex-Alderman Sentenced to Prison, $2M Fine for Racketeering, Extortion
Prosecutors had asked for 10 years for the former city Finance Committee chairman
Alderman Ed Burke leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse after being arraigned for corruption.
Photo by Jeff Yoders/ENR
Ed Burke, formerly the powerful chairman of the Chicago City Council Finance Committee, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and fined $2 million at the Everett McKinley Dirksen federal courthouse in the city on June 24.
The sentence, by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, was far less than the six-to-eight-and-a-half years recommended by federal sentencing guidelines and the 10 years sought by prosecutors for Burke's 2023 conviction for racketeering and extortion crimes involving having developers hire his law firm as a way to advance projects before the city council.
"I don’t think that it is appropriate to say that the activity in 2016 to 2018 wipes out all of this [letters written to the judge in support of Burke's character],” she said. "I have this window right in front of me."
She also added, "I don’t know how to impress upon those who serve the public that what they are sacrificing might not simply be their own lives or freedom, they’re a part of this erosion. Part of this chipping away at our democracy."
The sentencing hearing also offered prosecutors a chance to enumerate how all of Burke's crimes defrauded the developers involved. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker had argued for the 97-month sentence because she said hearing, "At the pinnacle of power in city government," Burke “abused his power and exploited his office for private gain again and again and again and again and again over a period of years."
The amounts extorted from the three developers whose business with Burke was recorded by the FBI for the case were revealed by Streicker during the evidence phase of the hearing to be $105,000 for the Old Post Office rehabilitation from 601W Cos.; $65,000 for a Burger King in Burke's former Ward; $612,025 for a Binny's Beverage Depot seeking to put up a sign on existing store where developer Charles Cui (a co-defendant) acted as a go-between; and $47,500 for the Field Museum, whom Burke demanded an interview for his goddaughter for an internship in order to move forward business involving the museum by the city council.
