Chicago's political giant Ed Burke goes to trial: Allegations of bribery, racketeering and extortion

CHICAGO - He served in the City Council for 54 years, and during most of that historic tenure was considered the most powerful alderman in Chicago.

But on Monday, former 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke goes to trial on sweeping corruption charges.

While it's a big, sprawling, complicated case, the central charges strike at the heart of Chicago politics.

"Ed Burke was charged in a federal grand jury indictment in 2019 with a variety of criminal charges," explained former FBI Agent Ross Rice.

It was a stunning development.

FBI agents swooped into City Hall with a search warrant, papering over the windows of Ald. Burke's Finance Committee Office.

Then, months later, the powerful political fixture was charged with 14 counts, including bribery, racketeering and attempted extortion.

Four years later, Burke and his legal team will be in a courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building starting Monday for a jury trial that is expected to last several weeks.

The story is 54 years in the making.

Former Chicago alderman and retired UIC political scientist Dick Simpson says Burke got his start as a Chicago police officer, taking over for his father as 14th ward alderman when he died in 1969.

Burke quickly amassed power and became one of the so-called "Young Turks" who would occasionally challenge legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 70s.

However, it was as leader of the "Council Wars" in the 80s, a faction of white aldermen who battled Black Mayor Harold Washington, that brought Burke political fame.

"They were so large that they could block most of the legislation proposed by Harold Washington. For instance a number of his appointments, a number of his budget decisions," said Simpson.

During Burke's long tenure in the City Council, he also had another job as a property tax lawyer and allegedly used his political clout to generate business for his law firm.

"So Burke from the very beginning used his power, particularly as head of the finance committee, to get businesses to hire him for property tax reductions," said Simpson.

The feds had been investigating Burke for years but couldn't crack the code.

Then there was a breakthrough. 

"The problem here was that he was caught on tape trying to get clients by using his clout in the City Council. So there was a quid pro quo," said Simpson.

FBI agents then built a corruption case against former Chicago Alderman Danny Solis, who then agreed to cooperate with the feds and wear a wire.

"He wore a concealed recording device. He recorded in-person meetings he had with Ed Burke. He recorded telephone conversations he had with Ed Burke," said Rice.

Later, investigators were able to obtain a warrant to tap Burke's phone. 

"According to court documents they intercepted over 9,000 conversations during an eight to ten-month period," said Rice.

Among those conversations was Burke allegedly shaking down the owners of a Burger King in his ward, holding up a driveway permit until they agreed to hire his tax firm for an appeal.

"When you have the defendant's own words in their own voice and can present that to the jury, there's no better evidence," said Rice.

The 59-page indictment outlines other schemes in which Burke tried to muscle developers to hire his law firm, including the Old Post Office development in the West Loop and a retail development on the Northwest Side.

Burke has said little publicly about the cases since the following brief statement before he was charged back in 2018:

"I've been in office for 49 years. I've been under investigation in the past. Nothing has ever come of it and I've always cooperated. And I'll cooperate with whatever this investigation is."

The trial will be watched closely by former Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan, who faces similar charges and was also secretly taped by former Ald. Solis.

"The Burke trial will be a good barometer as to how that evidence is received by a jury, how significant they consider it to be. How damning it is," said Rice.

In an unusual twist, Solis will testify — but not for the feds. 

He is being called as a defense witness by Burke's attorneys.

The judge has also ruled that prosecutors cannot talk about Burke's work in lowering the tax bill for former president Donald Trump, saving him millions of dollars on his namesake building along the Chicago River.