What It’s Like When The FBI Raids A Chicago Alderman’s Offices

By Becky Vevea, Claudia Morell, Dan Mihalopoulos

Nov 30, 2018, 4:53pm CT

What It’s Like When The FBI Raids A Chicago Alderman’s Offices

By Becky Vevea, Claudia Morell, Dan Mihalopoulos

Nov 30, 2018, 4:53pm CT

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Alderman Ed Burke is one of the 50 members of Chicago’s City Council. He’s also the longest tenured, and arguably the most influential.

So why did FBI agents raid both of his offices on Thursday, covering his doors with brown butcher paper and later leaving out the back door with boxes of materials?

Brown paper on the windows of Ald. Ed Burke’s office. He’s Chicago’s longest serving alderman. pic.twitter.com/FtVxIH0Zns
— Becky Vevea (@beckyvevea) November 29, 2018

This week on On Background, the WBEZ politics team takes you behind the scenes, and unpacks Burke’s legacy of power.

Each week at On Background, WBEZ’s team of political reporters brings you the backstory on the week’s big story. Host Becky Vevea and guests take you inside the back rooms of Chicago and Illinois government to better understand the people, places and forces shaping today’s politics.