CHICAGO — An attorney for ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan opened questioning of FBI mole and former Ald. Daniel Solis by bluntly reminding jurors of Solis’ own checkered past.

“As an alderman and as chair of the Zoning Committee, you committed many crimes, is that correct?” attorney Daniel Collins asked Solis, a key prosecution witness who secretly recorded phone calls and meetings with Madigan.

“Yes,” Solis answered in a mild voice.

“You solicited money from developers in exchange for taking official action … what you did, those were bribes, correct?” Collins asked.

“Yeah, that’s the way they’re defined,” Solis said.

Collins also asked Solis about the now-infamous allegations that he received free Viagra pills from friends who arranged for sexual favors for Solis at massage parlors. Solis says he took the Viagra, but the massages were on his dime.

“I never received free massages. I paid for them,” Solis said.

“Sir you’ve been with prostitutes right?” Collins shot back.

“If you consider masseuses prostitutes, yes,” Solis said.

Collins also asked Solis about a 2015 trip to Puerto Rico after winning reelection. Solis said he and other public officials stayed for free at his friend Brian Hynes’ house.

“And Hynes arranged prostitutes for you?” Collins asked.

“I don’t know that,” Solis said, adding that he believed he and the other officials with him “took up a collection” and paid for the prostitutes themselves.

So began a cross-examination that is expected to be lengthy and grueling. There have been few fireworks so far Monday, with neither Collins nor Solis raising their voices above a conversational tone.

Solis at times has sounded a little weary and his voice was a bit shaky. But he seemed to be well-coached telling Collins when he doesn’t understand a question and sticking largely to simple answers like “Yes,” “Correct,” or “I don’t recall.”

At one point, Solis told Collins he has problems with his memory. “I think I’m getting old and I have problems with people’s names,” he said.

In his questioning, Collins has made clear that he was calling into question not only Solis himself, but also the government agents and prosecutors who handled the alderman’s cooperation, concocting ruses to try to catch Madigan in a criminal act.

“When you received direction from law enforcement, you were told in some instances to lie to people?” Collins asked.

“When I was undercover, I was basically lying all the time,” Solis said.

Collins homed in on an August 2014 meeting between Solis, Madigan and developers who hoped to build a hotel in Chinatown. One of those developers, See Wong, was secretly recording the meeting as part of his own cooperation with the FBI, and jurors have seen Solis assure Wong on camera that if the developers hire Madigan’s firm they would get whatever they needed.

Collins revealed that Solis had met with federal authorities for two days in a row back in April 2018 to discuss only that meeting. Agents and prosecutors asked him again and again what he meant by his statement to Wong, Collins pointed out.

Records show Solis repeatedly answered that the developers were going to get the zoning changes they wanted regardless of whom they hired for tax work, Collins pointed out.

“You kept telling them the hotel was good for your ward, that the hotel was going to get the zoning,” Collins said.

Collins asked Solis: Isn’t it true you wanted to curry political favor with Madigan by arranging this meeting?

“I wanted to curry favor with Mr. Madigan, yes,” Solis said.

Collins also asked Solis about his deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office that will leave him without a felony record as long as he holds up his end of the bargain. Wasn’t he facing up to 50 years in prison without it? Collins asked.

“I guess technically, yes,” Solis said.

That was a scary proposition, right? Collins asked.

“Yes that would be, yes,” he said.

Solis’ direct examination, which in total lasted about 16 hours over four days, wrapped up Wednesday before an extended break for the Thanksgiving holiday. The trial, which began Oct. 8, is expected to last until mid-January.

Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House before stepping down in 2021, faces a wide array of 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.

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