Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file
Former Chicago Ald. Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak could be heading to prison this summer but his attorneys still fear “he could die” if put behind bars during the coronavirus pandemic.
Therefore, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow set a June 29 surrender date for the 83-year-old Vrdolyak during a hearing Thursday, triggering the Federal Bureau of Prisons to decide where Vrdolyak would serve his 18-month sentence for tax evasion. The judge also then left room for Vrdolyak’s lawyers to make a case that his surrender should be further delayed.
“I’m not going to jeopardize Mr. Vrdolyak’s health any more than it’s already jeopardized,” Dow said.
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Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), having no shame, took his normal seat Wednesday at the City Council as that august body resumed its in-person deliberations for the first time since its pandemic hiatus.
It was easy to forget about Burke this last year while the Council was meeting only remotely via video, the once powerful Finance chairman just another box in the Hollywood Squares except when he opened his yap, which was mercifully far less frequently than when he was the chamber’s loquacious ringmaster.
But there he was Wednesday, back in our face, a reminder that he hasn’t gone anywhere despite a federal corruption case now pending more than two years with no trial in sight. That’s his right, of course, having been duly reelected by the voters of his Southwest Side ward, which makes it no less galling.
Prosecutors revealed new details Wednesday in the corruption case against Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, shedding light on the cooperation of former Ald. Daniel Solis, an anti-Semitic statement captured in a wiretapped conversation and other evidence in the probe that rocked City Hall two years ago.
The revelations came in a 227-page response by the U.S. attorneyâs office to a flurry of pretrial motions filed last year by lawyers for Burke and his two co-defendants, developer Charles Cui and 14th Ward political operative Peter J. Andrews.
In it, prosecutors denied accusations by Burkeâs lawyers that the longtime alderman was unfairly targeted by overzealous federal agents. They also denied having Solis bait Burke into doing anything illegal, saying in many cases it was Burke who had his hand out.
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