The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Illinois is the king of corruption:
With 42 agents, the Windy City outpaces New York and Los Angeles and is second in the nation only to Washington, D.C., in the number of FBI agents investigating public corruption. As for Newark, N.J., it has one-third fewer corruption agents than Chicago, according to the FBI.
And perhaps it was the Land of Lincoln that helped the New Jersey FBI chief hone his skills. Weysan Dun headed up the Springfield FBI office before moving to Newark.
Why are there so many corruption agents in Chicago?
"We have a lot of work," Chicago's FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Grant told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We've made it a priority to try and have an impact on what has been a historical problem in this state and this city. We're trying to have a significant impact on the way things are done."
There's
Blago. There's
this "high ranking made member" of the Chicago Mob who was elected to Chicago's City Council for 23 years. As former Illinois Governor Dan Walker recently said
this about the Chicago Democratic Machine:
The credo of toleration and its accompanying lack of ethical standards was hardened when the machine encountered Al Capone’s criminal organization. Sometimes close, sometimes at arms’ length, the political organization with its “look the other way” credo has ever since tolerated what has been called variously the criminal organization, crime syndicate, the Mob, the Chicago Outfit.
The blindness to crime existed in the 11th Ward organization, home for all the Daleys. The precinct captains of that ward organization worked the same streets as the Outfit’s soldiers.
Yet, Daley constantly denied that organized crime existed in Chicago. Significantly, Richard M. Daley looked the other way as state’s attorney, Cook County’s chief law enforcement officer from 1980 to 1989. Ignored during those years were the criminal activities of the Outfit disclosed recently by the Family Secrets trial.
The machine’s political power has extended over the years far beyond Chicago. The machine has also controlled the state’s Democratic Party organization and the selection of candidates for both county and state office. In the state legislature, the machine has constantly controlled a large bloc.
Remember, Dan Walker is a Democrat saying this.
