Federal prosecutors accused Chicago’s longest-serving City Council member of wielding his power to “satisfy his own greed,” to “line his own pockets,” and to “punish and to extort,” as closing arguments got underway Wednesday in his historic corruption trial.
For a moment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur even began to compare former Ald. Edward M. Burke to Danny Solis, the infamous FBI mole whom Burke’s attorneys have labeled “Exhibit A” for corruption.
But attorneys objected. So MacArthur simply told the jury that a secretly recorded comment by Burke, in which he allegedly linked his private property tax appeal firm to permits for a Burger King, qualified him “for inclusion in any sort of corrupt circle.”
“You have heard about a pattern of unlawful activity,” MacArthur told the jury as her argument began. “Standing at the center of that steady drumbeat of unlawful activity is this man, Edward Burke.”
Burke listened from his seat at a defense table as the veteran federal prosecutor spoke for just shy of three hours Wednesday. At one point he could be seen rubbing his left arm with his right hand. At others, he sat back with his arms crossed, listening to the presentation.
MacArthur also gave the government’s initial closing argument last April in the trial of four people who were convicted of conspiring to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan for ComEd.
Now MacArthur has the grueling task of explaining to a jury of nine women and three men how the evidence they’ve heard from 36 government witnesses over 16 days fits together and supports the sweeping indictment leveled in 2019 against Burke, his political aide Peter Andrews and developer Charles Cui.
Burke is accused of using his seat on the City Council to strongarm business for his private law firm, Klafter & Burke, from developers involved with Chicago’s massive Old Post Office, a Burger King near 41st and Pulaski, and a Binny’s Beverage Depot on the Northwest Side.
He is also accused of threatening to block an admission fee increase at the Field Museum because it didn’t respond when he recommended the daughter of former Ald. Terry Gabinski (32nd) for an internship.
MacArthur is expected to argue for roughly two more hours Thursday before defense attorneys get their chance to make their final case to the jury.
The prosecutor began Wednesday by walking jurors through Burke’s alleged threat to the Field Museum.
MacArthur played a 2017 phone call between Burke and Deborah Bekken, the director of government affairs for the Field Museum at the time who was trying to garner support for a fee increase. Weeks ago, Bekken told the jury she perceived Burke’s comments on the call as a threat.
But MacArthur wanted to hammer the point home.
The prosecutor told the jury to notice how Burke directly linked “his ability to use his official positions” to stop the increase to his displeasure about the internship snub.
In the call, Burke told Bekken, “If the Chairman of the Committee on Finance calls the President of the Park Board, your proposal is going to go nowhere.”
MacArthur on Wednesday called it a “true, take-your-breath-away moment.”
Then she turned to allegations that Burke shook down the owner of the Burger King located in his 14th Ward. In doing so, she responded to the intense cross-examination last week of a man once employed by the restaurant’s owner.
That man, Jeffrey MacDonald, told the jury that Burke asked him in March 2017 who handled property tax appeals for the owner, who had more than 100 Burger Kings around Chicago. However, MacDonald only shared that tidbit with the FBI two weeks before Burke’s trial.
MacArthur insisted Wednesday there is evidence to suggest that MacDonald was telling the truth. She said records found by the FBI in Burke’s ward office support the notion that Burke was curious about the topic. So did a June 2017 conversation Burke had with a public official in Texas, days before meeting the Burger King owner, when Burke said, “I’d also like to get some of his law business.”
“There was interest in finding out about that company,” MacArthur said.
But the evidence that qualified Burke for corrupt circles came in a call later that month with the owner’s son, Zohaib Dhanani, MacArthur alleged.
After Dhanani finished discussing issues at the Burger King, Burke abruptly told him, “And, um, we were gonna talk about the real estate tax, ah, representation and, ah, you’re gonna have somebody get in touch with me so we can expedite your permits.
“This was a direct, in-your-face, I-want-your-business move by Mr. Burke,” she said.
