Meet the public officials who helped build Illinois’ culture of corruption
By Kori Rumore, Ray Long and John Chase
Corruption is a way of life in Illinois politics and in Chicago, once called “the only utterly corrupt city in America.” As part of its ongoing “Culture of Corruption” series, the Tribune has compiled a list of approximately 200 convicted, indicted or generally infamous public officials from Illinois’ long and infamous political history.
Browse and link to meet the small-town official behind the biggest municipal fraud in the nation’s history, Chicago’s mayor with ties to gangster Al Capone, and many more. They are arranged in groups that include officials in Chicago and Cook County, people elected from Illinois who are sent to Springfield or Washington, local officials and judges in the suburbs and in the state. These lists are not intended to be exhaustive, and the Tribune will update them as new politicians inevitably behave in ways that qualify them for inclusion.
“The Dishonor Roll” draws heavily from the Tribune’s extensive archives, including photographs and pages from the paper in the days when these public servants made headlines. The Tribune also used resources from the Chicago Public Library, reviewed court records and consulted several books, including “Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality” by Thomas J. Gradel and Dick Simpson.
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