Free Republic

A jury found four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists guilty of bribery-related charges Tuesday as part of an eight-year conspiracy scheme centered around former Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. In the highest-profile corruption case in Illinois in more than a decade, the jury convicted the defendants on all counts. "We're tired of political corruption," juror Amanda Schnitker Sayers said after the verdict. "We're hoping this is a first step." The Chicago veterinarian put the blame on Madigan. "He really did cause this all to happen," she said. Although Madigan wasn't on trial, the longest-serving state legislative leader in...

Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that the Republican-controlled House investigating the Department of Justice and FBI is “like letting Al Capone investigate Elliot Ness.” Anchor Joy Reid said, “You have something about the ‘weaponization of the federal government,’ that’s Jim Jordan, who might actually be a subject of an investigation by the DOJ.” She asked, “It’s not the crime. It’s the cover-up. Is the goal here to prevent accountability for some of the crimes that may have been committed in the insurrection? Is that the bottom line?”

The surviving granddaughters of Alphonse “Al” Capone, one of the country’s most notorious gangsters, are auctioning off a slew of the mob boss’ treasures that include his “favorite” gun and letters to his son he wrote from prison. Sacramento, California-based auctioneer Witherell’s said it has authenticated the items included in the collection and will run the live auction on Oct. 8. Among the more eye-popping items listed in the collection is the ruthless racketeer’s “favorite” gun, a Colt .45 pistol that’s been passed down through the generations of Capone’s descendants and will start bidding at $50,000. The collection, called “A...

Wannabe wiseguys have a new opportunity to own the Chicago home of famous Prohibition Era crime boss Al “Scarface” Capone after the South Side property popped back on the market Friday.

Artifacts connected to some of the nation's most notorious gangsters are being auctioned this weekend. A handwritten musical composition by Al Capone, a letter written by John Gotti, and jewelry that belonged to Bonnie and Clyde are among the items up for bid Saturday in the "Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawmen" auction in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Boston-based RR Auction. The musical piece entitled "Humoresque" shows Capone's softer side. Written when Capone was in Alcatraz in the 1930s, it contains the lines: "You thrill and fill this heart of mine, with gladness like a soothing symphony, over the air, you gently float,...

FROM THE ARTICLE, HERE ARE COMPARISONS TO THE CLINTON CRIME FAMILY - His infamy made international legend. He was the symbol of the ultimate in American lawlessness. Capone won great wealth; how much, no one will ever know, except that the figure was fantastic. He remained immune from prosecution... By the end of 1925 Capone was riding high. He had a magnificent home on Prairie Avenue,... The fat man from Chicago, blazing with diamonds, assumed an air of injured innocence. He was turned out with the rest because all the other witnesses, like himself, related that they did not happen...

Photo: Stefano Giovannini MORE ON:NYPD NYPD watchdogs confused about chokeholds NYPD cop in serious condition after responding to fire Rally on Staten Island to support police on Sept. 27 Gangsta cop says his past made him a better officer A retired police commander kept a stunning secret for more than two decades: Before joining the NYPD, he peddled crack, tried to murder a fellow drug dealer and was close pals with a notorious cop killer. Corey Pegues — who collects a $135,000 tax-free line-of-duty disability ...

The Green Mill, in Chicago’s uptown neighborhood, is more than just a great jazz bar. It also has a lot of history. Back in the 1920’s, the bar was the favorite hangout of none other than legendary gangster Al Capone. Capone’s buddy “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn owned the place, and Capone even had a favorite booth where I got to sit and drink. Capone’s favorite booth has good views of all entrances and exits — perfect for a gangster — but Capone himself didn’t always go out the front door. Behind the bar is a trap door down to the...

George Stephanopoulos, who as a Democratic operative in the '90s coordinated with ABC to save Bill Clinton from scandal, on Wednesday teased an exclusive with Herman Cain's accuser, openly gloating, "Will our interview spell the end of the one-time front-runner's presidential bid?" [MP3 audio here. ]

….But temperance Chicago never created Capone…. To paint Prohibition as a failure is rather simplistic, because it was always a mixed bag. As author Daniel Okrent (no Prohibition lover) explained to Life.com, “People don't realize how much drinking there was in this country before Prohibition. We were awash in booze. In 1830, for example, the per capita consumption of alcohol was three times what it is today -- 90 bottles of booze per year per person over the age of 15. By 1933, drinking was around 70 percent of pre-Prohibition.” Change isn’t always a straight road. Again, Prohibition was a...

In the letter at the site: The Chicago Police Lieutenants Association comes out with a strong endorsement of Concealed Carry for the citizens of Chicago.

WASHINGTON -- Key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support of legislation that would give more power to labor unions, dealing a setback to labor's top priority as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause. A woman wears a model house on her head during a rally in Washington to support the "Employee Free Choice Act." The battle over the "Employee Free Choice Act" -- expected to be introduced Tuesday -- is seen as a power struggle among labor unions and businesses, as well as a test of whether moderate Democrats and Republicans will push back on Democratic...

Capitol Hill Republicans threw the first legislative punch in the fight over union law on Wednesday, February 25. But Democrats could land a haymaker of their own later with a bill that is much more likely to obtain congressional approval. Members of the House and Senate GOP introduced a bill that would mandate secret-ballot elections to form a union. The measure is meant to counter a bill Democrats could debut any day that would make it easier for employees to organize. Called the Employee Free Choice Act, the Democratic bill would force companies to recognize unions when a majority of...

Sounds nutty, I know, but Ambinder breaks news that The One’s dining with “conservative opinion leaders” in Maryland, evidently at George Will’s house. Among the attendees: Bill Kristol, David Brooks, and … anyone else? Coincidentally, I got an e-mail from a reader shortly after noon noting that Limbaugh had a surprise guest host today who spent the beginning of the show dropping hints that Rush had been called away to urgent business in D.C. and that it might have to do with something he said yesterday about giving Obama advice. I ignored it — but now they’re dropping hints on...

President-elect Barack Obama's transition office said in a report released Tuesday that its staff had no inappropriate communications with the office of Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is at the center of a corruption probe. The five-page report identified incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as the only aide who had direct contact with Mr. Blagojevich. Mr. Emanuel "had one or two" telephone conversations with the governor between Nov. 6 and Nov. 8 to discuss his own resignation from the U.S. House as well as potential nominees to fill the Illinois Senate seat being vacated by Mr....

Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been dropping dimes on his state's disgraced governor and other corrupt local pols for years, a spokesman said Tuesday. Jackson, a longtime congressman and son of the famed civil rights activist, has been pulled into the controversy surrounding Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged attempt to auction Barack Obama's now-vacant U.S. Senate seat. A Jackson spokesman, Kenneth Edmonds, said the congressman had spoken to the feds about Blagojevich and others. He wouldn't provide details, but Chicago's WLS-TV reported the congressman told investigators Blagojevich refused to make Jackson's wife director of the state lottery because Jackson would...

Facing 30 years in prison on corruption charges, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is assembling the best defense team money can buy. The question is, whose money? There has been speculation that Blagojevich will use his expansive campaign war chest, $3.6 million at last count, to pay for his defense. Can he really do that? To paraphrase a fellow Chicagoan: Yes he can! Possibly. State law does not prevent the Democratic governor from tapping his campaign committee's funds to pay legal bills, even though he stands accused of illegally soliciting and obtaining some of the funds in exchange for official actions....

Editorial Analysis: Beside figuring out how he’ll weasel out of his recent arrest – and probable conviction – for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder, I wonder if the disgraced governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is contemplating the fates of Lee Harvey Oswald, Alexander Litvinenko, Vince Foster, Jim McDougal and Ron Brown – all of whom were summarily disposed of to keep them from talking. Oswald, we know, was shot by Jack Ruby, a smalltime Dallas nightclub owner with suspected ties to the Mafia. The death effectively cemented the government’s case against the odd...

Barack Obama had begun thinking about his Senate successor even before the presidential election, and dispatched Rahm Emanuel days after the vote to contact aides of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to begin talking up Mr. Obama's preferred candidates, associates of Mr. Emanuel said this weekend. Mr. Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago, had been approached about being Mr. Obama's White House chief of staff the week before the election, though he hadn't yet officially decided to take the post. Nonetheless, the issue of Mr. Obama's Senate replacement was sensitive enough that senior Obama aides wanted to keep the matter within the...

Extorting Children's Hospital is a new political low. Chicagoans and Illinoisans love political scandal the way that Milanese love opera. We trade recollections, like baseball cards, about the secretary of state (Paul Powell) who stashed money in shoeboxes, and the Chicago mayor (Harold Washington) whose birthday was April 15 but never filed his income tax return. Rod Blagojevich stands a chance to be the fourth Illinois governor in recent history, and the second in a row, to wind up in prison. This run suggests that Illinoisans are indifferent to political corruption, and it's hard to argue with such an impressive...