Ald. Ed Burke charged with racketeering in sweeping indictment

Ald. Edward M. Burke was charged Thursday with racketeering in a wide-ranging 59-page indictment, which contains the most details yet of the alleged trail of corruption left by one of the most powerful politicians in the city.

Among the new charges in the indictment, Burke is accused of shaking down the developer of the Old Post Office development for legal work and attempting to derail a proposed admission fee increase by the Field Museum, because it was not responding to his inquiry regarding a job for the child of a Burke acquaintance, former Ald. Terry Gabinski.

A top Burke political aide, Peter J. Andrews, was also criminally charged for allegedly helping Burke.

The main charge that Burke faces, racketeering, is stunning, given that it was created to combat mobsters and organized crime, and the racketeering criminal enterprise named in the indictment is the government of the City of Chicago itself.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/5/30/18646020/chicago-alderman-edward-burke-indictment