Posted on 12/14/2023 6:40:02 PM PST by thegagline
In 2003, prosecutors said, the mayor of a city in Northern Illinois sent a message to the operators of a local strip club: Pay me, or I’ll shut you down.
The mayor of Harvey, Ill., a city of about 18,000 just south of Chicago, knew that the strip club allowed prostitution in a private area of the club, and he demanded $3,000 a month from the business to let it stay open, according to prosecutors.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the club yielded to the threat, eventually even acquiescing to a demand from the mayor to double its payment to $6,000 per month. The scheme continued for about 15 years, prosecutors said.
On Monday, Rommell Kellogg, 71, the mayor’s brother, was convicted after a weeklong trial of conspiring to demand and collect payments from the club, the office of the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement. Mr. Kellogg could face up to 25 years in prison on that count and up to five years for each of the five counts against him related to conspiracy to commit theft and intimidation, prosecutors said.
Corey Johnson, 68, a cousin of the mayor, pleaded guilty last month to a theft charge for his role collecting money in the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Sentencing dates for the two have not been set.
Gal Pissetzky, a lawyer for Mr. Johnson, said on Thursday that he believed Mr. Johnson’s plea agreement was a “fair resolution.”
Rommell Kellogg’s lawyer declined to comment on Thursday.
The criminal complaint does not name Eric Kellogg, the former mayor of Harvey, and he has not been charged in the case. But federal records show that he was the mayor of Harvey from 2003 to 2019.
(Excerpt) Read more at dnyuz.com ...
I wonder if the strip club paid in singles?
Oh no, that was the starting rate.
Price was adjusted (doubled) for inflation several times.
All the major tenants had moved out of the mall because of two murders of shoppers in the mall's parking lot.
No mention of any party affiliation. I guess the editors didn’t think it important.
Harvey, Il was founded as a Bible and temperance town.
But now, after many years of Democratic party rule, it is a worst slum in the Chicago area. Center of the drug dealing, crime, I guess, prostitution. Biggest unemployment in Illinois, town is crumbling and loosing businesses, jobs and residents.
Bankrupt several times, mostly by abovementioned Mayor investment schemes.
FBI operation helped re-elect Harvey mayor
State, feds leave troubling practices largely unchecked
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 By Joseph Ryan, Joe Mahr and Matthew Walberg
I seriously doubt he and fat Alvin Bragg have ever been seen in the same room together.
Or even in money.
It’s in Cook County. The (D) is a given, like the Sun rising in the East.
Did his campaign road signs read “Pimp Boy for Mayor”?
Probably went after him because he wouldn’t share with the DOJ and FBI.
Play Illinois Democrat games, win Illinois Democrat prizes.
I am confused. The top photo is from Harvey Illinois. However, the bottom photo appears to be from Harvey county Kansas.
Even in the 1940s, the town "looked like America."
And this is why you need to have term limits. If you know that you will be out in two terms and then someone else will be in, someone who might not be as corrupt as you, you will keep your avarice tendencies in check.
Dear God, send help...we're drowning down here...
Thanks for the photos. Harvey was charming back in the day.
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