Chicago history books will remember Edward M. Burke as the dean of the City Council, Harold Washington’s foe, a storyteller armed with tales of yore, a judge maker and a political giant who learned how to wield his clout at the height of the Machine’s power.
And now, Chicago’s longest-serving council member will also be remembered as a brazen extortionist who used the trappings of his office to squeeze developers big and small, complaining with impunity that “they can go f--- themselves” when they didn’t play ball.
