CHICAGO: CRIME KIND OF TOWN

Crime in Chicago has been in the news lately, but it is nothing new. Historically it dates back over a hundred years. From the tale of the Gray Wolves

The 1890s Chicago City Council was notorious for corrupt political practices orchestrated by a faction of its aldermen known as the Gray Wolves. So named because they were viewed as preying upon the defenseless public, the Gray Wolves were led by First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and Johnny Powers of the Nineteenth Ward. These elected officials were not only skilled at trading votes for favors, but once in office they excelled in making municipal decisions to profit themselves financially.

“Please post links and information, or connections of dots to this thread. Keep chit chat to the minimum or in Freemail. THANKS!”

Obama student-loan mystery shrouded by ‘politics’ ( Eric Holder covering for Obama)
Thursday, July 15, 2010 8:11:45 PM · 124 of 124
maggief to hoosiermama; penelopesire; STARWISE; Liz; SE Mom; mojitojoe; LucyT; Fred Nerks; Red Steel; ...
“The new state’s attorney, Richard M. Daley , said yesterday that his office had been in touch with Dohrn ‘s lawyer, but that there would be no plea bargaining until she surrendered.”
//

`We are doing inner-city development—the big push of the `80s—and this is the start,`` Klutznick said at the time. Recently, he explained how he and the other developers got the Dearborn Park project moving. ``We went to see Mayor Daley ,`` Klutznick recalls. ``It was John Perkins, president of Continental Illinois National Bank; Thomas Ayers , the retired chairman of Commonwealth Edison; and myself. Daley just asked, `What do you need?` and I told him an agreement for the land. He called in a city official and told him, `I don`t want anything put in their way, all right?` Then he told us that if we had any trouble, come right back and see him. There was no delay in working with Daley . We had to renegotiate with the city, but it took 60 minutes and a handshake with him, instead of six months with someone else.``

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Richard/Richard Daley - Thomas/Bill Ayers - Klutznick/Bettylu Saltzman - Mikva (Law clerk: Kagan) - Newton/Martha Minow - Paul Simon - Pritzker family - Axelrod - Rahm

(no link)

CHICAGO JEWS NURTURED OBAMA CAREER - HOPE RISING FOR TRUE MIDEAST PEACE ACCORD
Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - Sunday, December 14, 2008
Author: Tom Hundley Chicago Tribune
Writer Toni Morrison famously dubbed Bill Clinton “the first black president” - a title he fervently embraced.

Abner Mikva, the Chicago Democratic Party stalwart and former Clinton White House counsel, offers a variation on that theme. “If Clinton was our first black president, then Barack Obama is our first Jewish president,” says Mikva, who was among the first to spot the potential of the young law school graduate with the odd name.

(snip)

Putting aside which of the three great Abrahamic religions can lay claim to Obama’s soul, it is clear that his political career, from its South Side Chicago inception to the audacious run for the White House, was nurtured and enabled by a close-knit network of Chicago Jews.

Mikva and his friend Newton Minow, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman and Kennedy-era New Frontiersman, were there at the beginning. Minow first heard about Obama in 1988 from his daughter Martha, a professor at Harvard, where Obama was studying law. Minow, senior counsel at Sidley Austin, offered him an internship and later a job at the firm, but Obama declined, saying he was planning to go into politics.

When Obama graduated, Mikva, then a U.S. appeals court judge in Washington, tried to lure him with a prestigious clerkship, but Obama turned him down, too. That, according to Mikva, took some chutzpah.

Both Mikva and Minow say they sensed back then that Obama was something special. They made a point of staying in touch.

Obama’s circle of Jewish patrons and advisers widened further in 1992 when he became involved in a voter registration drive that brought him into contact with Bettylu Saltzman, a liberal activist (and daughter of the late Philip Klutznick , a former commerce secretary and shopping mall developer). Saltzman says she knew from the moment she met Obama that he would someday be president. She introduced him to David Axelrod, who saw something similar.

Axelrod designed the strategy in which Obama first won the backing of white liberals and then reached out to blacks. Jews made up a significant number of the first constituency.

“As Jews got to know him, they recognized a kindred spirit, not someone who came down from Mars,” Mikva said.

Rabbi Arnold Wolf, of KAM Isaiah Israel synagogue across the street from Obama’s Chicago home, was another early backer. Like Mikva, he sees what he called Obama’s “Jewish side.”

“Obama is from nowhere and everywhere - just like the Jews. He’s black, he’s white, he’s American, he’s Asian, he’s African - and so are we,” Wolf said.

Certainly, Obama is comfortable with Jews. Axelrod will remain at his side as senior adviser, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel will be White House chief of staff. Billionaire Penny Pritzker , who has known Obama since the mid-1990s and served as his campaign finance chairwoman, was said to be under consideration for commerce secretary until she took herself out of the running.

(snip)

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http://harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/martha-minow-appointed-dean-harvard-law-school

Martha Minow Appointed Dean of Harvard Law School

President Drew Faust has appointed Smith professor of law Martha Minow dean of Harvard Law School, effective July 1; she succeeds Elena Kagan ...

Copied your post here. Keeping everything together. Feel free to stop by, add to, and connect dots.

>>Before, they did their deeds in private and no one cared. And now they bring every evil thing into the daylight and parade it before the Almighty.<<

Pictures are at the website.
http://thejaghunter.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/lets-ask-and-do-tell-is-obama-gay/

May 24, 2010 – SPECIAL REPORT from WAYNE MADSEN.

Obama and Emanuel: Members of same gay bath house in Chicago

President Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are lifetime members of the same gay bath house in uptown Chicago, according to informed sources in Chicago’s gay community, as well as veteran political sources in the city. The bath house, Man’s Country, caters to older white men and it has been in business for some 30 years and is known as one of uptown Chicago’s “grand old bathhouses.” WMR was told by sources who are familiar with the bath house that it provides one-year “lifetime” memberships to paying customers and that the club’s computerized files and pre-computer paper files, include membership information for both Obama and Emanuel. The data is as anonymized as possible for confidentiality purposes. However, sources close to “Man’s Country” believe the U.S. Secret Service has purged the computer and filing cabinet files of the membership data on Obama and Emanuel.

Members of Man’s Country are also issued club identification cards. WMR learned that Obama and Emanuel possessed the ID cards, which were required for entry. Obama began frequenting Man’s Country in the mid-1990s, during the time he transitioned from a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School to his election as an Illinois State Senator in 1996. Emanuel, reportedly joined Man’s Country after he left the Clinton White Hosue and moved back to Chicago in 1998, joining the investment firm of Wasserstein Perella and maintaining his membership during his 2002 campaign for the U.S. 5th District House seat vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who was elected governor. Man’s Country appears to be a “one stop shopping” center for gay men. The club’s website advertises steam rooms, “fantasy rooms,” bed rooms, male strippers, adult movies, and lockers.

However, Man’s Country was not the only location for Obama’s predatory gay sex activities. The Chicago gay community is aware that Obama often made contacts with younger men at his famous “pick-up basketball” games. It was at these “pick up” matches where Obama first met Emanuel and a young Democratic campaign worker and senior bank vice president named Alexi Giannoulias. Currently running for Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat now occupied by Roland Burris, Giannoulias successfully ran for Illinois Treasurer in 2006 after being drafted for the run by Chicago’s Democratic machine.

The Blagojevich trial: “Sex, Lies, and Audio tapes” — Fitzgerald’s US Attorney’s Office part of White House cover-up of gay sex in the Second City Giannoulias was a vice president and senior loan officer for his father’s bank, Broadway Bank, from 2002 to 2006. Broadway Bank made real estate loans to Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the chief of Rezmar Corporation. On May 13, 2008, Rezko was found guilty, after being indicted by a grand jury at the behest of the U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Patrick J. Fitzgerald, of six counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, two counts of corrupt solicitation, and two counts of money laundering. Rezko has been in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center at Van Buren and Clark in Chicago since June 2008. However, Rezko has not yet been officially sentenced to a federal prison. A Syrian-American, Rezko is considered to be a flight risk, even though his one-time fortune of $50 million has been reduced to zero.

One Republican politician in Chicago told WMR that Rezko will be a prime witness for Blagojevich’s defense. “Figure it this way, Rezko’s been in solitary confinement in the city jail since June 0f 2008 . . . if he is released to appear at Blagojevich’s trial as the primary witness, everyone expects him to squeal like a pig,” said the Republican politico.

In 2005, Rezko reportedly engaged in a complicated real estate “flip” through which his wife Rita and Obama agreed to split an empty lot adjoining a home that Obama bought in Chicago’s Kenwood district. The deal saw Obama buy the home for $1.65 million, which was $300,00 below market value. Obama then bought a strip of the adjoining property from Mrs. Rezko, a speculative deal that stood to make Obama a handsome profit. Since Rezko’s conviction, the property has has reportedly gone into bankruptcy. Giannoulias’s Broadway Bank was seized by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on April 23, 2010, reportedly as Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner was on his way to Chicago to present the bank with a bailout check. Geithner quickly changed his plans. Giannoulias, Broadway’s then-senior loan officer, has denied being involved in the decision to loan money to Rezko.

Last month, Blagojevich’s trial judge, U.S. District Court judge James Zagel, a crony of former Illinois Republican Governor Jim Thompson, ruled that all 500 hours of phone calls intercepted and taped by Fitzgerald could not be played during Blagojevich’s trial as demanded by Blagojevich and his defense lawyers. Blagojevich demanded that Fitzgerald “show up in court and explain to everybody . . . why you don’t want those tapes that you made played in court.”

WMR has learned that the tapes may contain salty references Obama’s and Emanuel’s private lives. WMR attempted to interview Blagojevich’s senior defense lawyer Sam Adam to no avail but other informed sources told us that the tapes, if played, would highlight the corruption of not only Obama, Emanuel, and other member of Obama’s Chicago “brain trust” but also Fitzgerald himself. WMR was told that Fitzgerald’s tactics have included providing sex and drugs to imprisoned felons to get them to provide perjured testimony at federal trials.

It is exactly the type of federal prosecutorial misconduct by Fitzgerald that former Republican Governor said was used by state prosecutors when he commuted the death sentences of Illinois’s death row population. Ryan was indicted by Fitzgerald for fraud and he is currently serving out a federal prison sentence.

Blagojevich’s trial is scheduled to begin on June 3 and Fitzgerald’s main interest is to keep the trial focused on Blagojevich, especially after he managed to “flip” Blagojevich’s former chief of staff John Harris to testify against the impeached and ousted governor. WMR learned from informed sources that one lawyer on Harris’s defense team is involved in a gay partner scandal that was discovered by the attorney’s wife.

Some of the wiretaps may reveal that it was not Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s longtime friend and current White House policy adviser who was Obama’s top candidate to fill his U.S. Senate seat, but the young 32-year old “pick up basketball” friend of Obama, Giannoulias, then serving his second year as state Treasurer. However, Obama has avoided campaigning for Giannoulias in Illinois and there are indications that the president has “thrown Giannoulias under the bus,” according to some Democratic political circles in Chicago.

Mutiple Chicago sources report that Republicans who see Giannoulias’s Obama connections as providing an edge in his Senate race this year should not celebrate prematurely. Giannoulias’s GOP opponent, U.S. Representative Mark Kirk, a Naval Reserve intelligence officer, has also been identified as a closeted gay man. Kirk divorced his wife last year after an eight-year marriage. They had no children.

In addition, U.S. Representative Aaron Shock, who took over the House seat vacated by Obama’s Republican Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is, according to Chicago Boy’s Town sources, a habitué of Minibar, a noted gay bar in Chicago’s gay district. For an extremely young first term member of the House, observers were surprised when GOP Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia named Shock as a Deputy Minority Whip.

Man’s Country, one of Chicago’s “grand old bathhouses” and located at 5015 North Clark Street in Chicago’s “Boystown,” was a frequent hangout for State Senator Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

Sources in Chicago’s gay community report that Obama was attracted to Man’s Country’s older white clientele because he generally enjoys being fellated by older white men. Obama would regularly be seen at Man’s Country on Wednesdays.

Obama reportedly has never engaged in reciprocal activity. The sources also confirm the allegations made during the 2008 campaign by Larry Sinclair, a Chicago visitor who revealed that in 1999 he engaged in such oral sex activity and crack cocaine use with then-State senator Obama on two occasions, once in the back of a Chicago limousine operated by Five Star Limousine Service, and the other at a Chicago area motel, the Comfort Suites in Gurnee, Illinois. After revealing details of the encounter at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Sinclair was arrested by Washington Metropolitan Police on a fugitive warrant issued by Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of Obama’s vice presidential running mate, Senator Joe Biden. Sinclair was charged with a misdemeanor count of theft of money orders, however, the state of Delaware declined prosecution. Beau Biden later declined to run for his father’s old Senate seat because of his duties to prosecute a major pedophilia case involving Lewes, Delaware pediatrician Dr. Earl Bradley. There are reports that Biden’s office helped to cover up Bradley’s activities, including failing to authorize search warants for Bradley’s office and computer.

Chicago’s “DLC” — not the Democratic Leadership Council but the “Down Low Club” — a gay matchmaking service WMR spoke to several well-placed sources in Chicago who reported that Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of Obama’s former church of 20 years, Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) on Chicago’s south side, ran what was essentially a matchmaking service for gay married black professional members of the church, including lawyers and businessmen, particularly those with children. The matchmaking club was called the “Down Low Club” but references to it over the phone and email simply referred to the group with the code phrase “DLC.” The ruse, according to our sources, was to make anyone who was eavesdropping on the communications believe that the references were to the Democratic Leadership Council, also known as the DLC.

The gay DLC’s services were intended to keep ensure TUCC’s gay members avoided posting solicitations on web services like Craig’s List and refrain from cruising gay bars. The strategy was to protect them from getting busted and being “outed.”

Among the members of the gay “DLC” were Obama and TUCC’s choir director, Donald Young, an openly gay man who reportedly had a sexual relationship with Obama. Two other gay members of the church were Larry Bland and Nate Spencer. Young and Bland were brutally murdered, execution style, in late 2007. Bland was murdered on November 17, 2007 and Young on December 24, 2007. The latter was killed by multiple gunshot wounds. Spencer reportedly died on December 26, 2007, official cause of death: “septicemia, pneumonia, and HIV.”

“DLC” members often went on camping trips arranged by TUCC. Wright reportedly was the head of the “DLC” matchmaking services and ensured that its members protected each other. The “DLC’s” clientele included Obama and other gay members of TUCC, including, reportedly Young, Bland, and Spencer. Fox 32 Chicago reported that Bland’s mother, Josephine Bland, was so upset at her son inviting men into their home as a result of contacting them through gay web sites like “Adam4Adam,” she moved out.

The gay community in Chicago knows to keep away from the TUCC and “DLC” stories because of the “creepiness” of the operation and the suspicious deaths of the three TUCC gay black men.

Although Obama protected his alternate life style through the secretiveness of the “DLC,” he was not so careful when he proclaimed he was a state senator while frolicking at Man’s Country in uptown Chicago.

Love: Obama’s personal trainer Reggie Love, a former Duke basketball and football player and unsuccessful National Basketball hopeful, currently serves as Obama’s personal trainer and White House “special assistant” — he has been called Obama’s “body man” — who receives a salary of $104,000 a year. Love is also reportedly one of Obama’s regular gay sex partners. Love joined Obama’s Senate staff in a senior staff position in 2006.

Media General’s tabloid, the National Enquirer, proffered a story last year about Michelle Obama being furious about the relationship between her husband and his “body man.” TheEnquirer’s sister tabloid, The Globe, later floated a story about Obama having a relationship with a Democratic campaign official named Vera Baker. WMR has been told that this relationship was a clever ruse to throw off speculation about Obama’s actual past sex partners. Baker has apparently left the United States for relatively more obscurity in Martinique. Media General’s tabloids have scooped the mainstream media on sex scandals involving Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky, Tiger Woods, and John Edwards and Rielle Hunter.

WMR’s Chicago sources believe the Secret Service records of presidential candidate Obama’s activities in Chicago would show that Obama regularly arrived at Love’s Chicago residence at 9:00 am and departed at 9:15 am. Sources told WMR that while 15 minutes is much too short for a personal training exercise, it is ample time for fellatio.

Bill Frist, “Brokeback Mountain,” and Obama In 2006, after Obama became the junior senator from Illinois, WMR’s sources in the Congressional Black Caucus reported that there were persistent rumors of gay trysts between Obama and then-GOP Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. The allegations at the time seemed unbelievable.

However, based on Obama’s penchant for receiving fellatio from older white men, a column written by The Washington Post’s “In the Loop” columnist Al Kamen on April 7, 2006, some four months into Obama’s Senate term, may have expanded relevance. Kamen reported he received an invitation to attend Frist’s “5th Annual VOLPAC ’06 Weekend” in Nashville from April 21st to 23rd and that the invitation card required one to “unbuckle the cowboy’s pants and look inside to see what this was all about.” Kamen opined that the invitation seemed “a bit too ‘Brokeback Mountain.’”

The invitation advertised that the shindig would feature “one-of-a-kind music and special friends,” although Kamen said there was no indication what made the “friends” so “special.” Kamen then wrote, “The back of the card shows the cowboy from behind with a red flowered handkerchief sticking out of his right pocket. Wait a minute — wasn’t there something about how this used to be some kind of code in the gay community years ago? A way to signal each other in crowded, noisy bars? So we checked the GayCityUSA.com’s Hanky Codes. Sure enough, there it was in the chart explaining what they mean: red hanky in right pocket. Oh, dear.”

Rumors about Obama and Frist ran amok in Congressional Black Caucus circles in 2006. Although Frist ran on the pledge of only serving two terms, he became Senate Majority Leader with all the perks of the office. WMR’s sources in Chicago’s gay community revealed that Frist’s Majority Leader predecessor, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, was also known to seek the services of male prostitutes. Frist, who said he planned to run for President in 2006, decided against a run for the White House and also declined a run for Tennessee governor in 2010.

With the rumor mill running at full speed in 2006, it is obvious why Frist abandoned politics so quickly for the medical business. Frist later endorsed Obama’s health care proposals. A year later, when GOP Senator Larry Craig was arrested while soliciting for sex in a men’s toilet stall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, he changed his mind about immediately resigning his Senate seat. Knowing about his colleagues’ behavior, he dug in his heels and completed his term in January 2009.

Rahm the “Sugar Daddy” Obama’s chief of staff Emanuel, who won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet but turned it down to attend college, is married and, like Obama, has children, in Emanuel’s case, a son and two daughters.

However, Emanuel, who is 50, also travel frequently with a male companion, a wealthy Chicago real estate developer, some five to six years his senior. WMR has learned from Chicago’s gay community as well as political sources that Emanuel and his friend have gone together on a trip to India, skiing vacations, and soon plan a vacation in Florida, sans Mrs. Emanuel and the kids.

In Chicago’s gay community, Emanuel is known as “sugar daddy,” promising young men with perks and lucrative positions if they sleep with him. On occasion, Emanuel has been with older men, such as his travel companion, but his preference is young, according to WMR’s sources. Emanuel also often uses bicycling and basketball venues to make his approaches. Being an Emanuel “basketball buddy” is a key to professional success.

WMR spoke to one member of the gay community in Chicago who had first hand knowledge of one of Emanuel’s bed partners, an older man who runs a non-profit symphony organization. Obama’s other sex partners.

WMR has previously reported on Obama’s past trysts with Alabama Democratic U.S. Representative Artur Davis, a current primary candidate for governor of Alabama. Although not in the same class, Obama and Davis attended Harvard Law School during an overlap of their attendance at the law school.

The information on Davis and Obama was gathered by opposition researchers for former Alabama Representative Earl Hilliard, who Davis defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary. Recently, WMR was informed by sources in Alabama that Attorney General Eric Holder traveled three days ago to Alabama to inform Davis that if he loses his primary race, he would be nominated by Obama to fill the job of U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, a position still held by Bush-appointee Leura Canary, one of the main prosecutors of convicted and jailed former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman.

Chicago sources also informed WMR of another past gay partner of Obama, Massachusetts Democratic Governor Deval Patrick.

Men who have reportedly had sexual relations with Barack Obama Donald Young, TUCC Choir director Larry Sinclair, gay escort Reggie Love, White House presidential assistant and Obama’s “body man” Artur Davis, US Representative from Alabama and gubernatorial candidate Bill Frist, former GOP Senate Majority Leader Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts

The Clear and Present Blackmail Threat

Leading secret alternate life styles, Obama and his chief of staff provide classic blackmail threats. Considering Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, who is reputedly a semi-open lesbian, the question must be posed how much Obama’s and Emanuel’s own covert life styles led to the decision to nominate Kagan, someone with no experience on a judicial bench.

Similarly, the fact that so much is known about Obama’s and Emanuel’s trysts in Chicago begs another important question. If politicians, gay community activists, and journalists in the Windy City are aware of Obama’s and Emanuel’s highly blackmailable gay life styles, the same can certainly hold true for the executives of one of Chicago’s corporate headquarters — that of BP America’s Production Operations.

Throw in the intelligence agencies of America’s allies, friends, enemies, and the situation becomes a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kept the entire thing for safe keeping...
FROM:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2563361/posts?page=1

Pictures at link

A new headache for Giannoulias? Another Rezko loan (just in time for -0’s visit 8/5 ;)
Sun Times ^ | 8-2-10 | Abdon M. Pallasch, Chris Fusco, Tim Novak

Posted on Monday, August 02, 2010 3:19:50 PM by STARWISE

By February 2006, businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko was already politically radioactive, caught up in a federal investigation that would see him criminally charged by the end of that year.

News reports had linked Rezko, a key adviser and campaign fund-raiser for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to shady deals involving state pension funds — among the crimes that ultimately would send him to prison.

In 2006, Tony Rezko (inset) sought a loan to develop a 62-acre parcel of land at Roosevelt and Clark.

(Rezko, Auchi)

This was the Tony Rezko who, looking for millions of dollars for a massive South Loop development, turned to Broadway Bank, owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias, the Democrat now running for U.S. Senate, had left his post as a senior loan officer at the Chicago bank in late 2005 to mount a successful campaign for Illinois state treasurer, though he still held an ownership stake in the bank.

Rezko’s company asked. And Broadway Bank came through.

On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.

You won’t find Rezko’s name on any documents filed in the public record in connection with the loan.

But Rezko acknowledged his ownership stake in Riverside District Development to a federal judge about a year after the loan was made, according to a transcript of the court hearing.

The loan could prove to be a political liability for Giannoulias as he campaigns against his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, for the Senate seat now held by Roland Burris. Not only does its disclosure come during the Senate campaign, but records show the loan was made while Broadway Bank was already having problems with an earlier loan to another Rezko company.

Federal authorities shut down the bank in April.

Giannoulias, who touted his experience at Broadway Bank in his campaign to win election as state treasurer, has said its failure was the result of the national economic slowdown and the pullback in the real estate market, in which it invested heavily.

Through a spokeswoman, Giannoulias says he knew nothing about the $22.75 million loan to Riverside District Development until reporters contacted him.

“Alexi left daily operations of the bank in September of 2005, months before this loan was made,” says Kathleen Strand of his campaign staff. “He had no knowledge of it, and his name is not on any documents related to the loan.

“This guilt-by-association story is an unfortunate and failed attempt to link Alexi to Mr. Rezko.’’

Rezko’s relationship with the bank developed through his friendship with the bank’s founder, family patriarch Alexis Giannoulias, Alexi Giannoulias’ father, who died in June 2006.

Giannoulias’ brother Demetris Giannoulias is the only Broadway Bank official named in public records regarding the loan, which involved a large, vacant piece of property in the South Loop — 62 acres at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street — that Rezko had been trying to develop.

He hoped to build more than 4,000 homes along the Chicago River there, but he couldn’t get City Hall to agree to provide $140 million in tax money to help pay to build roads and put in sewers to make the project work.

Broadway Bank made the loan even though another Rezko company, Chicago Hudson LLC, had fallen behind on a $10.9 million loan it got from the bank four years earlier. That loan — for a proposed high-rise condo building at 750 N. Hudson on the Near North Side that never got built — ended up in Bankruptcy Court.

The property ended up being sold to another developer. Broadway Bank received $11.5 million from the sale, which took place July 31, 2006.

Following Rezko’s indictment in October 2006, he and his lawyers met in January 2007 with U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to discuss his assets. During that closed-door hearing, Rezko disclosed his ownership stake in Riverside District Development, the company that got the $22.75 million loan from Broadway Bank.

Rezko’s lawyers said his main partner in Riverside was General Mediterranean Holding, a Luxembourg company controlled by Iraq-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.

In a January 2008 court filing in Rezko’s case, federal prosecutors in Chicago wrote that Auchi was “convicted several years ago in France on fraud charges” and sentenced to 15 months in prison, “but the sentence was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes.”

Auchi has said he has done nothing wrong and has sought to distance himself from Rezko. Auchi’s lawyer, Alasdair Pepper, says Rezko no longer has a stake in the 62-acre site, which remains vacant.

Financial institutions typically file a document called a “release of lien’’ when a loan is repaid. There’s nothing on file with Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore’s office to show that Riverside District Development repaid the six-month loan from Broadway Bank, which was due Aug. 14, 2006.

But Giannoulias’ campaign office says the loan was paid off early. Auchi’s lawyer provided documentation to support that, showing the loan was repaid in July 2006.

According to Giannoulias and Auchi, Riverside District Development paid off the Broadway Bank loan with money it obtained from a $27 million loan from another financial institution: Mutual Bank.

Like Broadway Bank, Mutual also ended up getting shut down by federal regulators — though the loan was paid off, records show. Like Rezko, Mutual’s president, Amrish Mahajan, had been a top fund-raiser for Blagojevich.

TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; Click to Add Topic
KEYWORDS: giannoulias; obama; paytoplay; rezko; Click to Add Keyword

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Obama to stump for Alexi Giannoulias

President Obama will return to Chicago on Aug. 5 to stump for Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

“We’re excited to welcome President Obama back to Illinois to campaign with Alexi in early August,” said campaign manager Michael Rendina in a statement.

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Oh my ... and the jury is still deliberating the fate of -0’s, Giannoulias’ and Rezko’s buddy Blago.

“... and an angel in the whirlwind still directs this storm”

FBI Raids Home of Obama Associate & Radical AAAN Leader in Terrorism Sweep
Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government ^ | September 28, 2010 | Jim Hoft

Posted on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 1:26:39 PM by 2ndDivisionVet

Last Friday FBI agents raided the homes of far left activists in Chicago and Minneapolis who are linked to the FARC and Islamic radicals as part of a terrorism investigation.

The home of radical Hatem Abudayyeh in Chicago was raided in the terror sweep.

The AP reported on the raid in Chicago.

FBI agents in Chicago took a laptop and documents from the home of a Palestinian-American anti-war activist in an attempt to silence his advocacy, an attorney said Sunday.

The FBI on Friday searched eight addresses in Minneapolis and Chicago, including the home of Hatem Abudayyeh, who is the executive director of the Arab American Action Network, attorney Jim Fennerty told The Associated Press.

“The government’s trying to quiet activists,” Fennerty said. “This case is really scary.”

More than half a dozen agents went to Abudayyeh’s home on Friday and took any documents containing the word “Palestine,” Fennerty said.

Abudayyeh, a U.S. citizen whose parent immigrated from Palestine, wasn’t home at the time of the raid because he was at a hospital with his mother who is battling liver cancer, Fennerty said.

Chicago activist Thomas Burke said he was served a grand jury subpoena that requested records of any payments to Abudayyeh or his group.

“The warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism,” said Steve Warfield, spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis, where six additional homes were searched Friday… Burke said he received a grand jury subpoena requesting records of payments to Abudayyeh’s organization as well as two groups among the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

There’s more… Hatem Abudayyeh is the executive director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). Hatem Abudayyeh has been with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) since 1999, and was appointed Executive Director in 2003. The Arab American Action Network was founded by former PLO operative and close Obama family friend Rashid Khalidi. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund from 1994 through 2001, when the board approved a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network.

In 2003 Barack Obama was an honored guest at a dinner sponsored by the AAAN for former PLO-operative Rashid Khalidi. During the dinner a video was taken that shows Barack Obama celebrating with members of this Palestinian group who are openly hostile towards Israel. Barack Obama even gave a toast to a Rashid Khalidi at this going away party. The LA Times will not release the video from this Jew-bashing dinner.

Here’s a recent quote by Hatem Abudayyeh:

“The U.S. and Israel will continue to describe Hamas, Hezbollah and the other Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations as ‘terrorists,’ but the real terrorists are the governments and military forces of the U.S. and Israel. The vast majority of the world sees and understands this, and are in full support of Lebanese, Palestinian and worldwide resistance to Israel and the U.S.’s naked aggression, war, imperialism and occupation. As we have seen in Iraq, where the resistance is standing up to U.S. power, the U.S. military is not indomitable.”

Last Friday the FBI raided the home of AAAN leader Hatem Abudayyeh. He is Barack Obama’s friend.

It should be noted… FARC terror leader Mono Jojoy was killed in an attack on September 22. Several computers were seized by authorities after the Colombian jungle attack. The FBI raided the homes of the FARC terrror sympathizers two days after Mojoy was killed.

Carothers was a Chicago alderman who wore a
wire and then mysteriously broke the law !
Wacky deal.

Fitzie plea bargain for him and sting for others ?

~~~~~~~~~

“Former Ald. Isaac “Ike” Carothers (29th) was sentenced to 28 months in federal prison on Thursday, four months after pleading guilty to taking tens of thousands of dollars worth of bribes while holding public office.

Carothers, the longtime chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire committee, pleaded guilty in February to bribery, mail fraud and tax fraud for taking $40,000 in home improvements from a developer seeking zoning changes. He also admitted to pocketing bribes from others.

*snip*

Starting in early 2008, Carothers wore a wire and worked undercover with the FBI for more than a year. His cooperation resulted in charges against Naperville businessman Wafeek “Wally” Aiyash, who is accused of offering Carothers a $100,000 bribe if the alderman would secure concessions contracts for him. Carothers wore a mini-video camera to record part of the alleged payoff, according to charges.”
_______________________________

Tony Rezko, Barack Obama, the FBI Mole, and the Somnolent Chicago MSM
Posted by Archy Cary May 19th 2010

###

The Chicago media covers Illinois political corruption like crime reporters. They show up at the scene, gather for the perp walk, snap a photo, and cover the trial. In short, they wait for the story to happen and then accept official explanations with minimum scrutiny.

Consequently, when the Machine gets caught, it’s generally not the media that breaks the story. And it’s been that way in Chicago for a very long time.

Here’s one example of a story gone missing:

the strange saga of an FBI mole who interacted with several Chicagoland players, including Barack Obama, associated with the rise-and-fall of Antoin “Tony” Rezko and former Illinois Governor Milorad R. “Rod” Blagojevich.

It starts in the late 1990’s in New York where Bernard Barton, Jr. made “wrong decisions” while running his billboard leasing company. One wrong decision was selling space on billboards he neither owned nor controlled.

According to an FBI affidavit, those “wrong decisions” included Thomas’ drawing more than $350,000 from his customers’ credit cards while he was running a billboard leasing business in Manhattan in the late 1990s. He also charged more than $140,000 to an American Express business account he obtained using his father’s Social Security number

To mitigate jail time, Barton volunteered to help New York federal prosecutors make a case against organized crime families that were trying to penetrate the billboard business. His offer worked. His sentencing has been delayed… for seven years now.

In 2000, Barton moved to Chicago, changed his name to John Thomas, and went undercover for the U.S. Attorney in Chicago.

Once in Chicago, Barton-Thomas formed a real estate brokerage, Carnegie Realty Partners LLC, and another billboard company, Outdoor Solutions (it soon went bankrupt), with Louis Giordano, his partner from New York.

In 2007, someone outed Barton-Thomas as an FBI mole. On May 4, 2007, the Chicago Tribune reported:

*snip*

Also involved in many of Thomas’s business deals was his

*** longtime business partner Louis M. Giordano.

In one Chicago transaction, the Tribune found, Giordano worked with the nephew of a reputed Chicago organized crime figure in an unsuccessful attempt to sell a River North nightclub, according to court documents.

Rest here

http://bigjournalism.com/acary/2010/05/19/tony-rezko-barack-obama-the-fbi-mole-and-the-chicago-msm/

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/ike-carothers-sentenced-prison-20100624

Hope I got it all....Looks like the FBI have been working to clean up the mob as well and the international thugs.

Now advance to February 10, 2008, when the Chicago Sun Times factored in visits to Rezko involving Blago and Obama:

For the first time, the FBI “mole” who’s expected to be a key prosecution witness against indicted developer and political fund-raiser Tony Rezko is talking…Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash. Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing…Sources said Thomas helped investigators build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru’s Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005.

Both politicians relied on Rezko for fund-raising connections. Obama was in the thick of his successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Now in the glare of a presidential campaign, Obama has donated to charity $157,835 from contributions to his Senate campaign that he has linked to Rezko.

The Sun Times article includes this statement:

Sources said the government had him wear a hidden wire to record conversations with a Chicago alderman — but that he did not record Blagojevich or Obama.

Really? Why not Blago and Obama?

The alderman mentioned above was Isaac Carothers (29th Ward). He eventually pled guilty to corruption and wore a wire himself.

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) Federal investigators have requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), amid questions about Carothers’ relationship with a Chicago developer who made secret recordings as an FBI mole.

Last year, Carothers’ New 29th Ward Campaign Committee got $11,000 in contributions from Morgan Properties Inc., which lists FBI mole John Thomas as “manager.”

Despite expectations, Barton-Thomas was not called as a witness in the Rezko trial. Why not? Might that have had something to do with him having witnessed conversations between Rezko and Obama? Neither did Daniel Mahru, Rezko’s former business partner, testify, although he was on the list of anticipated witnesses. Was this to keep Barton-Thomas from being mentioned in court, since he and Mahru partnered in at least one real estate deal?

While Barton-Thomas was wearing a wire – except in conversations between Rezko-Blago and Rezko-Obama – he was becoming a prominent Chicago commercial real estate broker. In November 2006, a ChicagoBusiness.com article about him began:

John Thomas, who has done more flips than an acrobat, has tied up another downtown office tower. A venture managed by the controversial real estate entrepreneur has agreed to buy 20 S. Clark St., an office tower overlooking Chase Plaza in the Central Loop, says Mr. Thomas, who earlier this year formed Chicago-based Morgan Street Properties LLC for his investment activities. The price is about $54 million, sources say.

In May 2007, Barton-Thomas was the top bidder on the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) former headquarters at $7.75 million. In October 2009, he was the second runner-up with a $10 million bid for Chicago’s old Post Office.

Then there’s the September 2008 incident where Governor Blagojevich gave a $1 million grant the Loop Lab School located in a downtown high rise. The facilities failed a fire inspection. The school’s executive, Chandra Gill, had been pardoned by the Governor for a felony battery conviction for injuring a police officer.

At the time the school bought its space, the building was owned by FBI mole John Thomas, a business associate of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a Blagojevich fundraiser and friend convicted in June on federal corruption charges.

In March 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama appeared before the editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times. The transcript of the interview includes these exchanges:

Q: In November 2006, you and your campaign exchanged with us written interrogatories. So a lot of the quotes I will give you just come out of those. The campaign said that you probably had lunch with Rezko once or twice a year. You sort of added four or five times, something like that.

John Thomas is an FBI mole. He recently told us that he saw you coming and going from Rezko’s office a lot. And three other sources told us that you and Rezko spoke on the phone daily. Is that true?

A: No. That’s not accurate. I think what is true is that, it depends on the period of time. I knew him for … I’m just trying to do the math here. I’ve known him for 17 years. There were stretches of time where I would see him once or twice a year.

But as I said when he was involved in finance committee for the U.S. Senate race, or the state senate races, or the U.S. Congressional race, then he was an active member. And there’s no doubt there were much more intensive discussion at that point.

During the U.S. Senate race, there’s be stretches of like a couple of weeks – for example prior to him organizing the fundraiser that he did for us – where I would probably be talking to him once a day to make sure that was going well. But the typical relationship was one that was fond. We would see each other. But there would be no reason for me to be seeing him that often.

Q: You told us in November 2006, that your best estimate was that Rezko raised somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000 during your political career. Since then, your campaign’s given back $157,000 in Rezko-related contributions. Now the total is what?

A: Let me say this. That original estimate was based on, I asked my staff to find what monies they attributed to Rezko, and this was the figure given to me. The money that we’ve given back includes money that was raised at the house when he had that fundraiser, even though these are people who Tony probably didn’t raise the money for, er from, these would have been individuals who I had known separately who were supporters who basically got funneled into that fundraiser. But because they went to that fundraiser, we decided to return the money.

Q: Is your total now, as you continue to scrub these contributions, is it higher in terms of what he bundled for you, or got for you, than $157,000?

A: We believe that we have identified all the money that we know of right now that is traceable to Tony Rezko and we’ve given that to charity…

Q: The Tribune Web site is saying that you told them $250,000.

A: Well I think that’s a tally of tally of all the money that they’re talking about over the course of that 10 years. So that would include the $160,000, plus the $10,000 to $15,000 for senate races plus the money that might have been raised, I think they just did their own math.

Math is math. And Obama’s Rezko-money number math went from $50,000 to $250,000 in one interview. And, he claimed that FBI mole was “not accurate” about him, Obama, having had frequent meetings with Rezko.

Today, conventional wisdom seems to perceive U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as being an “untouchable” whose credentials for integrity and diligence are above reproach. But there is a minority opinion that he acted to keep then presidential candidate Obama’s name out of the Rezko trial, just as President Obama’s name now stands to be kept out of the Blagojevich trial, if indeed, there is one.

While lawyers for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich were shot down Friday by U.S. District Judge James Zagel in their bid to drag President Obama into testifying at his trial, they succeeded in at least one respect. They exposed just how determined federal prosecutors and the judge seem to be to keep Obama out of the Blago fray as much as possible.

To date, Bernard Barton, Jr. (AKA John Thomas) has never been called before a public jury to tell what he knows. Nor has he been sentenced for his crimes going back to the late 1990’s.

http://bigjournalism.com/acary/2010/05/19/tony-rezko-barack-obama-the-fbi-mole-and-the-chicago-msm/

Go, Breitbart!!! This pot is boiling

Re-posting to keep Shorebank-gate HIGH on the list of crimes to investigate...

There was a LOT of speculation recently about what the White House Insider was referring to when he said a huge scandal was brewing, and "The White House is -expletive- itself over this stuff."

White House Insider: "President Obama is lost. Absolutely lost."

I am now sure the "Insider" is legitimate, and he was referring to Shorebank-gate!

I googled SHOREBANK along with each of the names the insider dropped on us: "Go back and review Blagojevich. Go back and review Rezko, Barton, Stern, Giordano, Carothers, Jarret."... and I can see they are all linked to SHOREBANK

I am sure there must be many, and better smoking gun links, but here is a smattering of smoldering links I found to these people while researching this...

...

"Barack Obama has several connections to Shorebank" bank-fdic-letter-response/?test=latestnews">here.And much more here.

"louis giordano, his partner from" shorebank
Obama's Chicago Bank Bailout - Story Analysis by BuzzBox
May 20, 2010 ... ShoreBank now qualifies for $75 million in TARP aid. .... and another billboard company, Outdoor Solutions (it soon went bankrupt), with Louis Giordano, his partner from New York. ...
www.buzzbox.com/news/2010-05-20/chicago:illinois/?clusterId...

Obama's Chicago Bank Bailout - Story Analysis by BuzzBox
May 20, 2010 ... ShoreBank now qualifies for $75 million in TARP aid. .... and another billboard company, Outdoor Solutions (it soon went bankrupt), with Louis Giordano, his partner from New York...
www.buzzbox.com/news/2010-05-20/chicago:illinois/?... -

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2614086/posts?page=217#217 (thanks starwise)

...

STERN and Shorebank.... http://www.stratcongroup.com/publication/testimonials.php

...

In Stand Up Straight, Robert Creamer gives progressives practical insights, tools, and analysis to work smarter. It will hopefully inspire more people to act and help more people to act effectively.

– Andy Stern, President, SEIU

...

...where STERN is related to Creamer (and Shorebank)... http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/crime-inc-and-shore-bank-rep-jan-schakowsky-and-shorebank-new-evidence-of-conflict-of-interest/

...

... The New York Times confirms that Rep. Schakowsky played a leading role in the ShoreBank bailout. Yet ShoreBank is not based in Rep. Schakowsky’s congressional district, and she did not help the Bank of Lincolnwood–which is in her district, and failed in 2009–or Park National Bank, which was also active in community development in Chicago until it was closed by federal regulators last year.

...

Now, court documents that I have obtained reveal that ShoreBank was one of several banks that Rep. Schakowsky’s husband, Robert Creamer, used in the check kiting scheme for which he was convicted and sentenced to federal prison in 2006.

...

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/12/pollak-points-to-schakowskys-felon-husband-as-obamacare-strategist.html

...

...incumbent Jan Schakowsky and her felon husband Robert Creamer may have played an integral part in scheming Obama’s government health care takeover.

Pollak points to a political strategy book Creamer wrote while in Terre Haute’s federal prison, and connects to Obama political director David Axelrod’s praise for Creamer’s ideas. Pollak writes:

...

While in prison—or “forced sabbatical,” he called it—Creamer wrote a lengthy political manual, Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win (Seven Locks Press, 2007).
The book was endorsed by leading Democrats and their allies, including SEIU boss Andy Stern—the most frequent visitor thus far to the Obama White House—and chief Obama strategist David Axelrod, who noted that Creamer’s tome “provides a blueprint for future victories.”

...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2614086/posts?page=217#217 ...this links Rezko, Obama, Barton, and Louis Giordano, Blagojevich

...

...oh, and NOTE this: In 2000, Barton moved to Chicago, changed his name to John Thomas, and went undercover for the U.S. Attorney in Chicago.
...
He [Barton/Thomas] also charged more than $140,000 to an American Express business account he obtained using his father’s Social Security number.

...

...HEY! that sounds familiar... Hussein ALSO uses a 'retired' SSN (from someone born in 1890)!

...

and by the way, how does a U.S. president in 2009, collect a salary of $374,054 from the tax-payers, AND another $1,617,268 from FOREIGN SOURCES during the same year? (I smell a conflict of interest!)

... I wonder where Hussein's trust keeps his millions? Shorebank?

If that bank failed, and Hussein had MILLIONS of his own cash in it, he would lose all but the FDIC guaranteed $100,000, right?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-juror-hard-to-convict-blago-because-he-was-so-personable-20110627,0,6810929.story

Blago jurors’ verdict: ‘Likable,’ but guilty

By Christy Gutowski, Dan Hinkel and Stacy St. Clair Tribune reporters

10:21 p.m. CDT, June 27, 2011

Describing Rod Blagojevich as a “likable person,” jurors in his corruption trial said they could not overlook evidence that painted a clear picture of a scheming politician.

“The evidence was overwhelming, really,” said Jessica Hubinek, 32, of Carol Stream. “When you have somebody recorded on a telephone saying something completely incriminating, it’s hard to deny a guilty verdict.”

(snip)

For many jurors, the case turned from tedious to tense within the first eight words of cross-examination.

“Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar asked the former governor.

(snip)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blagojevich-sentencing-06-20110627,0,4205826.story

Rod Blagojevich sentencing: Experts weigh in on possible prison term

By Annie Sweeney, Tribune reporter

4:51 a.m. CDT, June 28, 2011
On paper at least, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich could be sentenced to as much as 300 years in prison following his conviction Monday on 17 counts of corruption. But how much does he really face?

Seasoned criminal-defense attorneys and former prosecutors consulted by the Tribune estimate Blagojevich could be looking at about 10 years, based on recent public corruption sentences here. The sentence could take months to formulate.

(snip)

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-27/news/ct-met-blagojevich-pension-20110627_1_general-assembly-retirement-system-pension-board-state-pension

Blagojevich likely to lose state pension, keep federal perk
Ex-governor would have received $65K a year from Illinois
June 27, 2011|By Ray Long, Tribune reporter

SPRINGFIELD — Ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands to lose a $65,000-a-year state pension as a felon, but he’s likely to be eligible for $15,000 a year in federal retirement pay for his time as a congressman.

The defrocked Democrat also would be eligible for a refund of about $128,000 in personal contributions he made to the state’s retirement fund.

(snip)

http://www.suntimes.com/6115903-417/the-20-counts-against-ex.-gov.-rod-blagojevich

GUILTY. Count 1: Wire fraud: Children’s Memorial Hospital. This covers an unrecorded, Oct. 17 call in which Blagojevich tells Children’s CEO Patrick Magoon an increase in state payments for pediatric doctors would be approved as of Jan. 1. Prosecutors allege Blagojevich was shaking down Magoon for $25,000 in campaign contributions. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 2: Wire fraud: Senate seat. This count covers a Nov. 7 call from Blagojevich to Chief of Staff John Harris and pollster Fred Yang, where the three allegedly discuss requests for personal benefits for Blagojevich in exchange for appointing Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 3: Wire fraud: Senate seat. In this Nov. 10 conference call, Blagojevich and his advisors allegedly discuss requesting personal benefits for Blagojevich in exchange for the Senate seat appointment. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 4: Wire fraud: Senate seat. In a Nov. 12. call with Fred Yang, Blagojevich discusses the possibility of wealthy Democratic donors setting up a charitable organization, or 501c4, that he could head up, allegedly in exchange for appointing Jarrett to the Senate. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 5: Wire fraud: Senate seat. In this Nov. 12 call to union leader Tom Balanoff, prosecutors allege Blagojevich requested a 501c4 job in exchange for appointing Jarrett. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 6: Wire fraud: Senate seat. In another Nov. 12 call to Balanoff, prosecutors allege Blagojevich was requesting the 501c4 job in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett — and telling Balanoff to be careful about how he made the request on the governor’s behalf. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 7: Wire fraud: Senate seat. Prosecutors allege Blagojevich, in this Nov. 13 call with consultant Doug Scofield, requests the 501c4 job in exchange for making a Senate seat appointment. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 8: Wire fraud: Senate seat. Later that same day, prosecutors allege Blagojevich again requests Scofield ask for the 501c4 job in exchange for appointing someone to the Senate seat. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 9: Wire fraud: Racetrack executive. In this Dec. 4 call, prosecutors allege Blagojevich discusses extorting a racetrack exec for campaign contributions with friend and former chief of staff Lon Monk. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 10: Wire fraud: Senate seat. In this Dec. 4 call with Blagojevich, Yang and Deputy Governor Robert Greenlee, the three allegedly discuss getting “tangible, political support” — which prosecutors say was $1.5 million from supporters of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. — in exchange for appointing Jackson to the Senate seat. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

NO VERDICT. Count 11: Attempted extortion: Chicago Academy and then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Blagojevich allegedly demanded campaign contributions from Emanuel in exchange for making good on a promised state grant to a school in Emanuel’s district. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 12: Attempted extortion: Children’s Memorial Hospital. In exchange for approving a state payment increase for pediatric doctors, Blagojevich allegedly demanded campaign contributions from CEO Magoon. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 13: Solicitation of a bribe: Children’s Memorial Hospital. Alleges Blagojevich was soliciting campaign contributions from Magoon in exchange for the state money for doctors treating Medicaid patients at Children’s. Maximum penalty: 10 years.

GUILTY. Count 14: Extortion conspiracy: Racetrack executive. Blagojevich was allegedly conspiring with Monk to get campaign contributions from a racetrack executive by leveraging an unsigned bill on Blagojevich’s desk that would grant money to the racetrack industry. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 15: Conspiracy to solicit a bribe: Racetrack executive. Blagojevich and Monk allegedly conspired to get campaign contributions from a racetrack exec in exchange for signing the bill. Maximum penalty: 5 years.

NO VERDICT. Count 16: Attempted extortion: Illinois Tollway. Blagojevich allegedly demanded campaign contributions from road-building exec Gerald Krozel in exchange for giving state money to the Tollway. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

NOT GUILTY. Count 17: Solicitation of a bribe: Illinois Tollway. Prosecutors allege Blagojevich wanted campaign contributions from Krozel in exchange for approving a multi-billion dollar Tollway improvement plan. Maximum penalty: 10 years.

GUILTY. Count 18: Conspiracy to commit extortion: Senate seat. Blagojevich allegedly had an agreement with his brother Robert Blagojevich, chief of staff Harris and others to demand things of personal value in exchange for the Senate seat appointment. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 19: Attempted extortion: Senate seat. Blagojevich allegedly demanded things of personal value in exchange for the Senate seat appointment. Maximum penalty: 20 years.

GUILTY. Count 20: Conspiracy to solicit a bribe: Senate seat. Blagojevich allegedly had an agreement with Robert Blagojevich, Harris and others to solicit a bribe, including an offer of $1.5 million from Jackson supporters in exchange for the Senate seat appointment. Maximum penalty: 5 years.

http://www.suntimes.com/6211098-417/next-up-for-feds-powerbroker-bill-cellini.html

Next up for feds: Powerbroker Bill Cellini

William F. Cellini — a Springfield insider who’s been called “the pope” of Illinois politics — is expected to be the next to stand trial in Operation Board Games, the federal corruption case that will send former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison.

Cellini, 76, is accused of scheming with convicted Blagojevich campaign fund-raisers Tony Rezko and Stuart Levine to shake down a Hollywood movie producer by allegedly demanding $1.5 million in campaign cash for Blagojevich in exchange for giving state pension-investment business to the producer’s investment firm.

Cellini’s trial is set for Oct. 3. His lawyer, Dan Webb, said that a jury’s decision Monday to convict Blagojevich on 17 criminal counts “will have no impact on the Cellini trial.

(snip)

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