Daywatch: Corruption trial of ex-Ald. Ed Burke begins
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Good morning, Chicago.
Even as a heavyweight Chicago leader constantly in the city spotlight, Ed Burke lived a double life, federal prosecutors said.
Outwardly he was the most powerful and longest-serving alderman on the City Council, Assistant United States Attorney Tim Chapman said, leading the Finance Committee for decades.
But secretly, “He was something else instead. He was a bribe-taker and he was an extortionist,” Chapman told jurors in opening statements Thursday at Burke’s landmark racketeering trial.
For the defense, Burke attorney Chris Gair painted Burke as a zealous public servant, a proud lawyer and an enthusiastic Chicagoan who made all those phone calls simply to help people. “This is a bribery case without bribes and an extortion case without extortion,” he said.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Jason Meisner, Ray Long and Megan Crepeau.
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