As the 14th Ward alderman for more than half a century, Edward Burke not only claimed the record as the longest-serving City Council member in the history of Chicago, but he also became one of the most powerful.
Burke was convicted by a federal jury in December 2023 of racketeering conspiracy and a dozen other counts for using the clout of his elected office to win private law business from developers. He was sentenced Monday to 2 years in federal prison and fined $2 million.
Here’s a look at his life and career.
Former Ald. Ed Burke sentenced to 2 years in prison in corruption case, fined $2 million
Dec. 29, 1943
Born to Joseph P. and Anna Burke.
1961
Graduated from Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary before, as he later told the Tribune, he changed his mind about his religious ambitions and “decided to do something else that a lot of good Irish-Catholic boys decide to do — become a policeman.”
January 1965
Passed the Chicago police civil service exam — placing ninth out of 546 men — while earning a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University.
September 1966
Ald. John J. Hoellen, 47th Ward, and Ald. Edward T. Scholl, 41st Ward, included Burke’s name among 22 police officers who they said received promotions as a result of “political influence and favoritism.”
Burke later told the Tribune he was not a regular beat officer. Instead, he was given a plum assignment working on the police detail assigned to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“It was a political office and the selection of who was assigned to the detail was generally made with political considerations,” he said.
May 11, 1968
Burke’s father, Joseph, died at 57, of lung cancer. A former deputy sheriff who was bailiff to Superior Court Judge James J. McDermott — himself a former 14th Ward alderman — and Democratic precinct captain, the elder Burke was first elected 14th Ward alderman in 1953, to complete the term of Clarence Wagner, who died in a car crash. Joseph Burke defeated his blind Republican opponent Fred C. Lilley by more than 8,600 votes.
Joseph Burke was running unopposed to retain his City Council seat at the time of his death.
November 1968
Admitted to the Illinois State Bar Association after completing studies at DePaul University’s College of Law.
Jan. 6, 1969
Became one of eight candidates to file petitions for the 14th Ward vacancy. Another Edward Burke, a truck driver, entered the race with Republican support but dropped out two days later.
March 11, 1969
Beat out six other candidates to succeed his father’s seat. He was sworn in three days later at age 25 by Mayor Richard J. Daley — becoming the second youngest alderman in city history. The only person to sit on City Council at a younger age was Col. Robert R. McCormick, future publisher of the Tribune, who was elected to the position in 1904.
June 13, 1969
Formerly granted a hardship deferment from the military draft during the Vietnam War, Burke was reclassified as available for military service. It was doubtful Burke would be drafted, however, as a 26-year-old newlywed who was the primary provider for his wife, Anne, his mother and two younger brothers.
He avoided military duty by joining a U.S. Army reserve unit commanded by a friend one month later.
July 1970
Introduced an ordinance with 10th Ward Ald. Edward R. Vrdolyak requiring metal detection devices — called “Friskem” — to be used at the city’s airports. The city, however, said the work should be done by a national or international group.
The Federal Aviation Agency (now Administration) began screening passengers at O’Hare International Airport using electronic screening devices on Jan. 6, 1973.
1972
Burke and Vrdolyak were considered Young Turks — known as the “Coffee Rebellion” aldermen for plotting their futures over the drink at the old Sherman House Hotel — who opposed older stalwarts for leadership positions in the Democratic Party.
Feb. 27, 1974
During an argument outside City Council chambers, Burke threatened to punch 5th Ward Ald. Leon Despres in the mouth.
Despres told Burke, “Thank you for not doing it,” before returning to chambers.
The two later shake hands and make up.
July 23, 1975
City Council passed “Burke’s Law,” an ordinance proposed by the 14th Ward alderman that outlawed nudity in massage parlors. The nickname was inspired by a popular television detective show from that time.
From our archives: Burke is threatened for seeking nudity ban
Nov. 10, 1976
A proposal to lift a 25-year-old ban on pinball machines in Chicago is derailed by Burke and other aldermen who feared schoolchildren would spend their lunch money in the machines. Burke also expresses concern that organized crime could become involved in the distribution of the machines.
November 1977
Mayor Michael Bilandic fired Jane Byrne, Chicago’s commissioner of consumer sales, after she accused him of “greasing” the way for taxi fare increases. Byrne also accused Ald. Burke and Ald. Vrdolyak of being in league with the cab companies. Bilandic told the Tribune her firing “was ordered because she was plainly insubordinate.”
Just five months later, Byrne became his opponent in the Democratic primary, describing herself as an alternative to the “cabal of evil men (that) has fastened itself onto the government of the city of Chicago.” (Byrne defeated Bilandic on Feb. 27, 1979, thanks to a blizzard.)
1980
Burke — Byrne’s choice — lost the Democratic primary for state’s attorney. Richard M. Daley defeated Burke by a 2-1 margin, then later defeated Republican Bernard Carey in the general election. Daley retained the job until he became mayor in 1989.
Feb. 23, 1983
U.S. Rep. Harold Washington won the Democratic primary race for mayor, defeating Byrne and Daley.
“The Democratic Party has been divided for the last four years,” Burke, a Byrne supporter, told the Tribune. “The question is, ‘Will it get back together again?’ ”
Washington was elected the first Black mayor of Chicago on April 12, 1983.
May 2, 1983
Washington abruptly adjourned his first City Council meeting. Before he left, Washington told the group that anything that happens afterward is illegal.
A white majority of 29 aldermen who oppose Washington — led by Vrdolyak and supported by Burke — then seized control of City Council and approved a new lineup of committee chairs and leaders. Burke was named chair of the powerful City Council Committee on Finance and retained the title until 1986. He picked it up again in 1989.
Mostly left off the list were Washington’s supporters — who loudly screamed and chanted in the gallery.
The “Council Wars” — pitting a weak mayoral system against a strong council — continued until 1986, when a federal judge ordered that the city’s ward map be redrawn to better reflect the city’s racial demographics. That gave Washington’s supporters 25 of the 50 seats in the City Council, and with the mayor casting a tiebreaking vote, the stalemate was broken.
Photo gallery: Chicago’s Council Wars pitted defiant white aldermen against a reform-minded Washington
Nov. 25, 1987
Washington, reelected just seven months prior, died unexpectedly of a heart attack at 65.
Burke, whose name was considered as a potential candidate for mayor, voted instead for 6th Ward Ald. Eugene Sawyer, who was named acting mayor.
Dec. 18, 1987
Endorsed legalized sports betting — but not casino gambling — in Chicago as a way to increase tax revenue and ease the burden on the city’s taxpayers.
“People are going to gamble no matter what,” Burke said. “I see no objection to extending off-track betting to sports betting, which could work right into that system so long as it is adequately controlled.”
(Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill legalizing sports betting in Illinois on June 28, 2019.)
Oct. 17, 1988
Announced he will run for mayor. Burke acknowledged making mistakes during the years Washington was in charge.
“There are many things I would change. I would not be worthy of your support or trust if I did not have the capacity to learn from those mistakes and then go forward,” he told the crowd.
Dec. 13, 1988
Bowed out of the mayor’s race quietly — by not filing nominating petitions before the deadline — just one week after Daley announced his candidacy.
Daley won the primary on Feb. 28, 1989, then the general election on April 4, 1989, and remained mayor until 2011. Daley’s 22 years in charge of the city is the longest of any Chicago mayor — including his father.
1995
Federal authorities sought records from Burke’s Finance Committee as part of Operation Haunted Hall. The four-year probe centered on ghost payrolling — government no-show jobs — and resulted in the conviction of a former city clerk and daughter of an alderman.
Burke blamed a dead man — Horace Lindsay, the Finance Committee supervisor — for forging time sheets.
“I don’t supervise the personnel,” Burke said then. “Do you expect I should know where everybody is, all 75 or 80 people or whoever’s there?”
At the time, officials had been looking closely at Burke since former short-time Ald. Joseph A. Martinez, who was a lawyer in Burke’s private law office and onetime Finance Committee employee, pleaded guilty to charges that he held ghost jobs with three City Council committees while working full time for Burke’s law firm.
March 19, 1996
Published a commentary in the Tribune stating he was opposed to “ultimate fighting” and proposed banning the matches in Chicago.
Tribune reporter Rick Kogan wrote, “Never mind that producers of this event never have expressed interest in holding a match in Chicago. Burke is making what he calls a ‘preemptive strike.'”
Sept. 10, 1997
Introduced a resolution to exonerate Catherine O’Leary — and her cow — 126 years after the Great Chicago Fire. Burke said “reliable evidence” suggests the popular account of the fire, which has one of the O’Leary dairy cows kicking over a lantern to light the blaze, is false.
The City Council Committee of Fire and Police adopted the resolution on Oct. 6, 1997.
‘I think it’s time for closure’: Surviving kin of Chicago’s famous O’Leary family ready for new chapter following harrowing past.
The Great Rebuilding: Chicago 150 Years After the Fire
Jan. 4, 2000
The Burkes became permanent private guardians of “Baby T,” a boy who had lived with them in foster care since he was 8 days old. The boy’s biological mother was found not fit to take custody of the child. Today, he is known as Travis.
Sept. 7, 2010
Announced Mayor Daley’s retirement in the middle of a City Council Finance Committee debate that he was leading — at the same time Daley was revealing the news.
“Wow, wow,” Burke said. “So all you wannabe mayors, I guess you better run out and get your petitions.”
December 2010
Susana Mendoza announced a run for city clerk and was joined at her campaign launch by Burke.
“I was privileged and proud to be her supporter in her first race,” said Burke, who compared Mendoza to the Energizer Bunny. “She keeps going and going and going and going.”
Mendoza, in turn, called the powerful alderman a “true champion of mine.”
“He is really primarily the reason that I stand here before you today as a state representative,” Mendoza said.
The next year, Mendoza would be wed at the Burke home.
2011
A Tribune/WGN investigation showed former state Rep. Robert Molaro doubled his public pension after spending just one month as an aide to Burke. His $12,000 pay for the one month of work at the city allowed him to boost his state pension from about $64,000 a year to about $120,000.
Then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill to close this loophole in 2012.
July-August 2012
Inspector General Joseph Ferguson sought access to records related to the workers’ compensation program to review it for waste and inefficiency. Burke denied Ferguson access to those records, contending they fell outside the watchdog’s jurisdiction.
In late August, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for the program’s database, injury records, medical assessments and claim investigation records dating back to January 2006. Federal authorities also had subpoenaed similar records in 2006. Nothing appeared to have come of those requests.
2014
Gave concerned citizen George Blakemore — a regular attendee and commentator at City Council meetings — an honorary badge in recognition of his hard work keeping an eye on the city’s affairs.
December 2017
Authorities allege Burke tried to extort executives with a company that owns fast-food restaurants in the Chicago region and was seeking approval of permits for remodeling work at a location in Burke’s ward.
Dec. 26, 2018
Retiring Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis signed a secret agreement with federal prosecutors admitting to taking bribes from real estate developers in exchange for his help on zoning issues.
The terms of the unprecedented, deferred prosecution agreement that Solis signed with the U.S. attorney’s office that day aren’t made public until April 2022.
Solis became a government mole by wearing an undercover wire to help federal investigators build cases against Burke and ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Jan. 19, 2018
Burke held a fundraiser for Cook County Board President and Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle at his Gage Park home.
June 2018
After serving as former President Donald Trump’s lawyer for more than a decade — helping to lower the property bill on Trump’s downtown skyscraper by more than $14 million — Burke announced that he no longer represented Trump.
Nov. 29, 2018
Burke’s City Hall and 14th Ward offices were raided as part of a federal investigation as his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, was sworn in to a 10-year term.
“As you are aware, there have previously been several other investigations such as this. In every instance we cooperated fully. And in every instance, nothing has been found,” Burke said in a statement. “So once again, we will be cooperating fully, and I am completely confident that at the end of the day nothing will be found amiss in this instance either.”
A second search was carried out just weeks later.
Jan. 3, 2019
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Jan. 3, 2019, charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a Burger King in his ward. The charge carried a maximum of 20 years in prison upon conviction.
The campaign contribution that federal prosecutors allege powerful Burke requested as part of an extortion scheme was intended for Cook County Board President and Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
Preckwinkle said she returned the money while the federal complaint states the candidate who received the money kept $5,600.
The FBI had Burke’s cellphone tapped over at least an eight-month period, and during that time, at least 9,475 calls were made or received on the phone, according to the bombshell corruption charges.
Burke turned himself in to federal prosecutors at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse before appearing in front of a magistrate judge in a packed courtroom on the building’s 17th floor. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning he would have to pay that amount only if he failed to appear in court as required.
Read the criminal complaint: Filed against Ald. Edward Burke
Jan. 4, 2019
Announced he would end his long run as the powerful chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee after being charged with attempted extortion but said he would stay in the race for another term representing his Southwest Side ward.
Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would remove the city’s $100 million-per-year workers’ compensation program, which Burke has clouded in secrecy for decades, from the City Council and place it within the city’s Finance Department.
May 31, 2019
Indicted on 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
The 59-page indictment outlined a series of schemes in which Burke allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm, Klafter & Burke, to appeal their property taxes. Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive $800 million renovation of the old main post office in the West Loop, according to the charges.
Read the indictment of Ald. Edward Burke
June 4, 2019
Pleaded not guilty to sweeping corruption charges.
A short time later, Mayor Lori Lightfoot renewed her call for Burke to resign his office, saying, “I don’t know how he can properly function with integrity.”
Aug. 20, 2020
Burke’s lawyers alleged that federal investigators bungled the wiretap of Burke’s phones and improperly tried to set him up in a scheme involving the old main post office, which forms the backbone of the corruption case.
June 6, 2022
A federal judge ruled against Burke and his co-defendants in a slew of pretrial motions seeking to suppress evidence and toss certain charges in his racketeering indictment, putting the case on track for trial in 2023.
Sept. 12, 2022
Anne Burke announced she is retiring at the end of November after 16 years on the high court.
Nov. 28, 2022
Declined to file nominating petitions by the deadline meaning his 13th term on the City Council would be his last.
April 19, 2023
Attended his final City Council meeting as an alderman.
Nov. 16, 2023
Fiery opening statements began Burke’s corruption trial.
Dec. 21, 2023
Burke was convicted by a federal jury of racketeering conspiracy and a dozen other counts for using the clout of his elected office to win private law business from developers.
June 24, 2024
Burke was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall handed down the sentence, and a $2 million fine, after a lengthy hearing that featured Burke making a brief statement to the court on his own behalf.
Burke did not appear to react to the sentence. Moments earlier, though not known for his brevity on the City Council floor, he kept his remarks to the judge very short.
Saying he was blessed to have a good family and a long career, Burke, reading from a piece of paper, said he was “sorry to see that career end like this.”
Sources: Tribune reporting and archives; City of Chicago
Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and subscribe to the Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter for more from Chicago’s past.
interactive_content
