'We're not looking for a quick killing here': Jurors see undercover video of ex-Illinois Speaker Madigan soliciting law business from Chinatown developer
Published in News & Features
CHICAGO — Jurors in the Michael Madigan corruption trial on Monday got their first look at a secretly recorded video of the then-powerful House speaker soliciting business for his law firm from the developer of a Chinatown hotel project.
“We’re not looking for a quick killing here,” Madigan said near the end of the August 2014 meeting, which was recorded on a hidden camera by developer See Wong, who was cooperating with the FBI. “We’re interested in a long term relationship.”
The video was played during the testimony of former Ald. Daniel Solis, the then-head of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, who told the jury he’d arranged the meeting at Madigan’s request.
At the time, Solis was not cooperating. In fact, the meeting took place nearly two years before the FBI confronted him with evidence of his own wrongdoing, leading to Solis’ decision to go undercover himself.
The charges against Madigan do not allege anything illegal occurred during the 2014 meeting. But a state-owned parcel of land discussed by Madigan and the developers would later become a key focus of prosecutors, who allege Madigan used it as a way to squeeze the developer for business.
In the video, which was taken more than a decade ago, a much younger looking Madigan came into the office carrying a bottle of water and shook Wong’s hand. Also in the room was Vincent “Bud” Getzendanner, Madigan’s law partner. The developer, Kin Chong, who spoke only Chinese, was mainly off screen.
Madigan’s face appeared intermittently as he made small talk about Chicago’s Chinatown and how it compared to others on the West Coast. After a few minutes, Solis came in with two assistants and some coffees. They then got down to brass tacks, with Madigan explaining his firm and what they do.
“We do quite a few hotels and, uh, we have a little different approach to representation on hotels than the other law firms that do the work,” Madigan said. “And, and Bud can explain background, but it does make a difference in terms of the results that you get from the assessor.”
After Madigan’s partner gave a lengthy spiel about the firm’s approach to reducing property taxes, talk turned to a the Chinatown parking lot along the Red Line on Wentworth Avenue.
Solis told the jury he was not expecting the parking lot to come up.
In the recording, Solis jumped in and explained that the parking lot was part of a corridor of land once owned by Tony Rezko — the longtime influence peddler who was convicted of corruption as part of Operation Board Games, the federal investigation that took down Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“Oh yeah,” Madigan said when Solis brought up Rezko.
After Wong spreads a map on the table, Madigan appeared to study it. “Is this owned by the state?” the speaker asked at one point.
“The parking lot? Yes,” Solis said.
“What, what about that vacant land?” Madigan asked. “This is east of the CTA. This is Clark Street.”
The conversation then turned back to the hotel project, which was a proposed Best Western with about 60 rooms. After a lot of talk about how much Madigan’s firm might save them in taxes, Solis jumped in again.
“There is no better firm than this firm in terms of doing real estate taxes in the state,” Solis said. “I think that’s not only my opinion, it’s across (the board).”
After making his comment about a “quick killing,” Madigan also extolled the virtues of his firm.
“And in terms of the quality of representation in terms of this law firm we don’t take a second seat to anybody,” he said.
As the meeting broke up, Wong said the developer wanted to take a picture with the speaker. The video showed Madigan standing together with the others on the screen of Wong’s cell phone as he took the photo.
After Madigan left, Wong and Solis walked to the elevators of the Madigan & Getzendanner offices on North LaSalle Street. Wong told the alderman that Chong would “love to give the business to Mr. Speaker” but the zoning change was critical.
“If he works with the speaker, he will get anything he needs for that hotel,” Solis said. “And he’s gonna benefit from being with the Speaker.”
Before they parted, Solis told Wong, “I like your shoes.”
After the video concluded, Solis testified that the zoning change requested by the developers passed his committee. But the Best Western ever never built, he said.
Solis, 71, the former 25th Ward alderman, took the witness stand late last week to begin what will be a fascinating dive into one of the biggest public corruption cases in Chicago’s sordid history.
His testimony — which could stretch well into December — will include clandestine video recordings Solis made in face-to-face meetings with Madigan, where the longtime House leader and head of the state Democratic Party allegedly used his official influence to shake down developers for business for his private tax appeal law firm.
Jurors will hear Madigan in his own words, telling Solis on a recorded call that he would go to then-Gov.-elect JB Pritzker about a lucrative state board position for Solis, allegedly as a reward for Solis bringing big-time developers to the speaker.
It will also feature recorded conversations in which Madigan allegedly beseeched Solis for help in getting the speaker’s son, insurance broker Andrew Madigan, business with a Pilsen-based nonprofit group that had received millions of dollars in state funds.
There could also be mention of some of the more periphery figures from the sprawling investigation, including his sister, longtime Democratic political adviser Patti Solis Doyle, Chicago attorney Brian Hynes and other politicos from lobbyist and fundraiser Victor Reyes to former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez.
Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House before stepping down in 2021, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise.
He is charged alongside Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, who for years was one of Madigan’s closest confidants. Both men have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Solis’ testimony is the culmination of a saga that began nearly eight and a half years ago, when FBI agents confronted him at his home in June 2016 and showed him evidence they’d gathered of his own misdeeds.
The feds had been prepared that day to raid Solis’ City Hall offices. Instead, he flipped, offering what prosecutors have described as “singular” cooperation that helped bring down not only Madigan, but another Chicago political giant in former Ald. Edward M. Burke.
Lawyers for Madigan and McClain, meanwhile, will have plenty of ammunition to bring to what is expected to be a lengthy and grueling cross-examination.
Unlike in last year’s trial of Burke, in which Solis was called as a defense witness, he’ll be subjected to a much broader line of questioning this time around, with the defense probing not only Solis’ unprecedented deferred-prosecution deal, but also episodes from the FBI’s investigation into his own misdeeds that could prove personally embarrassing.
In his opening statement to the jury last month, Madigan attorney Tom Breen painted Solis as a “BS-er” with “a decrepit personal and professional life,” someone who lied to cut a sweetheart deal with the feds that not only will keep him out of prison, but also help him maintain a fat city pension.
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