BREAKING: Ex-Alderman Ed Vrdolyak Indicted

Once head of the Cook County Democratic Party, legendary former Chicago alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak (10th Ward) is in deep legal trouble. From NBC-5 Chicago: BREAKING NEWS: Former Alderman Ed Vrdolyak Indicted Vrdolyak is accused of scheming with businessman Stuart Levine to obtain a kickback for Levine on the sale of a building on Chicago's Gold Coast. According to the release, the scheme was intended to defraud a north suburban medical school, on whose board of trustees Levine served, of money and property. The charges involve the school's sale of the former Scholl School of Podiatric Medicine at 1001 North Dearborn St. for $15 millioin in 2004, the release indicates. According to the indictment, Levine, as trustee of the Chicago Medical School, was chair of the board's real estate committee, which managed the sale when the medical school decided to resell the property it had purchased in 2002. He pleaded guilty last year to mailfraud and money laundering and is awaiting sentencing while cooperating in the ongoing investigation. FULL STORY at NBC-5... His nickname of "Fast Eddie" was earned by slipping out of the grasp of previous federal investigations. Let's see how fast Eddie is now. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on "Operation Board Games," the lastest case against Vrdolyak, today: Feds announce new corruption charges involving high-profile businessman Former Chicago Ald. “Fast Eddie” Edward R. Vrdolyak (10th) who once bragged that he eluded the reach of federal authorities, may have just run out of luck. Vrdolyak, 68, has been charged in a federal fraud-kickback scheme, authorities announced. He is not expected to appear in court today. Vrdolyak, among the most prominent politicians in the 1980s, and a Cicero lawyer with ties to the town’s controversial mayor, was charged as a result of the cooperation from high-profile businessman Stuart Levine and a multimillion-dollar real estate deal. Vrdolyak once led the “Vrdolyak 29,” a coalition of white aldermen who thwarted Mayor Harold Washington’s initiatives in the 1980s. He also led the “coffee rebellion,” a minor uprising against Mayor Richard J. Daley. FULL STORY at SUN-TIMES...