The former 14th Ward alderman was the Chicago City Council’s most powerful and longest-serving member. In 2019, a grand jury accused him of using his Council seat to steer business to his private law firm. On December 21, 2023, Edward M. Burke was convicted of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.
A jury of nine women and three men heard from 38 witnesses over 16 days of testimony as prosecutors made their case that Burke was “a bribe taker” and “an extortionist” in a historic trial of one of …
There’s affection and respect for the man who mentored far more colleagues than he bullied during his record 54-year reign. Ald. Ray Lopez said Burke’s “fingerprints are on so much of what is …
That power came from “scratch my back” Chicago politics, including aldermanic prerogative, a tradition that good government advocates have been fighting to end for years
“You have heard about a pattern of unlawful activity,” prosecutor Diane MacArthur said.
Prosecutors called Shoukat Dhanani to the witness stand and played secretly recorded calls as they began showing jurors evidence of a second scheme outlined in Burke’s 2019 indictment.
He entered politics as one of the youngest Chicago City Council members in history and became its most powerful and longest-serving member. Now, he’s fighting to avoid prison.
Thirty-six people have served as jurors this year in three high-profile corruption trials at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Here’s what they have to say.
The former 25th Ward alderperson sold his political soul for small favors, then tried to reclaim it by wearing a wire on two of the biggest powerhouses in the history of Illinois politics.
The Chicago City Council icon turned felon is entitled to more than $540,000 he paid into a city pension fund and a nearly $2.5 million payout from his campaign fund.
Former and current elected officials comment on the conviction of the longest-serving, once-powerful dean of the Chicago City Council. ‘The tyranny of Ed Burke is over,’ former Mayor Lori Lightfoot …
There’s affection and respect for the man who mentored far more colleagues than he bullied during his record 54-year reign. Ald. Ray Lopez said Burke’s “fingerprints are on so much of what is …
A jury of nine women and three men heard from 38 witnesses over 16 days of testimony as prosecutors made their case that Burke was “a bribe taker” and “an extortionist” in a historic trial of one of …
“You have heard about a pattern of unlawful activity,” prosecutor Diane MacArthur said.
Burke’s defense attorneys made good on their promise to call Solis to testify, forcing him out into the open nearly five years after the Chicago Sun-Times revealed his cooperation with the feds in …
Burke’s defense team has promised to summon former Ald. Danny Solis to the witness stand — finally giving Burke the chance to confront the man who famously turned on him while wearing an FBI wire.
Prosecutors in Burke’s corruption trial say the call in 2017 demonstrated the former alderman’s “modus operandi.”
City Hall bureaucracy took center stage in former Ald. Ed Burke’s corruption trial Thursday as one of the finer disputed points in the case came to a head.
Witness is pressed why he didn’t initially tell FBI agents about the former alderperson’s apparent interest in getting private business from Burger King owners.
