Chicago Ald. Ed Burke charged in attempted extortion of Burger King

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Ald. Edward M. Burke allegedly tried to leverage Burger King executives to give his law firm business to clear the way for a remodeling project at one of their fast-food restaurants in his ward, federal prosecutors charged in a complaint made public Thursday.

The charges revolve around the Burger King location at 4060 S. Pulaski, the Sun-Times has confirmed. That location was thrust into the headlines after Laquan McDonald was fatally shot nearby 16 times by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014.

The company sought support from Burke for the remodeling project, and he aggressively tried to land Burger King as a client for his firm to do property tax work across the Chicago area and suburban counties, prosecutors allege.

Burke, 75, had no comment on the 37-page criminal complaint as he left his lawyers’ office Thursday afternoon. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

As part of their investigation into Burke, federal agents secretly recorded some of his cellphone conversations, according to the complaint.

At one point, when the fast-food company officials had not yet hired Burke’s firm to do property tax appeal work, the firm’s specialty, Burke and one of his ward employees agree to turn the screws on them regarding permits they need.

“All right, I’ll play as hard ball as I can,” the ward employee says, according to the complaint.

“OK,” Burke replies.

The complaint does not name the ward employee, but the Sun-Times has confirmed it is Peter Andrews Jr., a retired Chicago Park District plumber and long-time Burke political operative. The Sun-Times reported in December that the feds paid a visit to Andrews’ home in Mt. Greenwood about 7 a.m., before they raided Burke’s offices. Andrews is the chairman of two of Burke’s three campaign funds.

Chicago Democrats must be so proud.