Less than 10 months after reporting to federal prison, Edward Burke was expected to begin spending the rest of his sentence in the Chicago area Tuesday, according to sources close to the once-powerful alderman who have knowledge of the matter.
Burke was expected to report to a halfway house as soon as midday. It was not clear whether he would be there long before being placed on home confinement, sources said.
Burke, 81, had checked himself into the low security federal prison camp at Thomson, Illinois, in late September to start a two-year sentence on his corruption case. It was an ignominious moment for a onetime city leader who had wielded power for decades as the city’s longest-serving alderman.
The camp, which houses about 133 male inmates, is situated about 2 1/2 hours’ drive west of Chicago, along the Mississippi River. His original release date was expected to be in the first half of next year, but he apparently qualified to leave the facility early due to his age.
Most federal inmates are required to serve 85% of their sentences, which originally would have seen Burke released in May 2026 at age 82.
Burke lawyer Charles Sklarsky could not immediately be reached for comment on the imminent release.
Burke is expected to serve a year on court-ordered supervision. He also was to pay $65,000 in restitution to the owners of the Burger King franchise he was convicted of shaking down, as well as a $2 million fine imposed by U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall.
Burke, one of the last vestiges of the old Democratic political machine, was convicted by a jury in December of racketeering conspiracy, bribery and attempted extortion in a series of schemes to use his considerable City Hall clout to try and win business from developers for his private property tax law firm.
Among them were efforts to woo the New York-based developers of the $600 million renovation of the Old Post Office, extorting the Texas owners of the Burger King, who were seeking to renovate a restaurant in Burke’s 14th Ward, and intervening on behalf of a developer in Portage Park who wanted help getting the pole sign approved for a new Binny’s Beverage Depot location.
Even in a state that has seen countless politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, handed prison terms for corruption, Burke has been among the most influential. The head of the vaunted Finance Committee, Burke not only worked the city’s purse strings but also was a shrewd ward boss, political tactician and judicial slate-maker.
Kendall had ordered a relatively light prison term for Burke, citing the dozens of letters she received from citizens of all walks of life extolling Burke’s acts of kindness and charity, even when they had nothing to do with his role as alderman.
During his sentencing hearing last June, Kendall said that the comparatively limited period of criminal conduct for which Burke was convicted at trial does not wipe away those decades of good works.
She also criticized the U.S. attorney’s office for its unprecedented deferred prosecution agreement with former Ald. Daniel Solis, who wore a wire against Burke and others and was rewarded with a deal that will keep him even having a conviction on his record — let alone serving jail time.
“It is uncomfortable for me to see that when the government steps up and says you must send a strong message” to elected officials, that Solis has been allowed to skate, Kendall said at the time.
However, she said she agreed with prosecutors that courts must deter other public officials from political corruption, which leads to “part of this erosion, part of this chipping away at our democracy, really whittling away at our rule of law.”
“When citizens lose faith (in their public officials) they begin to take the law into their own hands,” she said. “If a citizen starts thinking ‘Oh that’s just the Chicago Way,’ that’s when we’re eroding it.”
In addition to the time behind bars, Kendall ordered the $2 million fine, finding that financial penalties for politicians who engage in corruption should be far higher and noting the money will go to help victims of crime in which the defendants are not as wealthy as Burke.
“I think that really does send a message, if you want to commit public corruption by being greedy, then the disgorgement of your own funds will go toward the people,” Kendall said.
Before he was sentenced, Burke read an uncharacteristically brief statement to the court, saying he’d been blessed with a long career and was sorry to “see it end like this.” Then he asked the judge for mercy.
“Whatever amount of time God has decided to leave me on this earth, I’d like to spend as much of it as possible with my devoted wife, my wonderful children and grandchildren,” Burke said.
The Thomson prison was not Burke’s first choice of places to serve out his sentence. His attorneys originally requested the prison camp in Oxford, Wisconsin, a facility that had seen so many Chicago-area politicians serve time it was jokingly referred to as “going to college.”
The request was later altered to a camp in Terre Haute, Indiana, however, because the Oxford camp was changing security missions.