A business formerly tied to a small funeral parlor on the Northwest Side was improperly awarded a city contract last year worth millions of dollars to transport bodies for the Chicago Police Department, a newly filed lawsuit alleges.
Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home Inc., which formerly operated inside Rago Brothers Funeral Home at 7751 W. Irving Park Road, was awarded the $4.4 million contract in 2025 to transport deceased remains to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The contract was previously held by Allied Services Group, which filed the lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit alleges the city terminated its contract with Allied more than a month before it was set to expire. Further, Allied claims the city awarded the contract to Wallace-Harrison despite “obvious” failings in its bid, including a skeleton crew staff, a failure to hold insurance and noncompliance with city rules governing women- and minority-owned businesses.
Allied alleged its contract with the city lasted until mid-August 2025, but Allied was “prevented” from performing body removal services after July 1.
“(Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home’s) Affidavit provided that the transportation of deceased persons for the entire City of Chicago will be carried out by 5 individuals employed at (Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home), with no subcontractors identified,” the suit alleges.
“As a result of Defendant selecting WHFH when its inability to perform under the project was apparent from the deficiencies in the information it submitted as part of its bid, the City of Chicago is being underserved in the transportation of dead bodies to the medical examiner’s office.”
Allied has also called for an injunction to stop Wallace-Harrison from continuing its body removal duties. Further, the company has also asked a judge to vacate the contract awarded to Wallace-Harrison and return it to Allied.
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for mid-July, court records show. A representative for the city’s Department of Law declined to comment.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Nakia Wallace-Harrison, president of Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home, told the Tribune her company’s work for the city has “gone great.” She declined to comment on the lawsuit filed by Allied.
Asked how many bodies her company has so far transported for CPD, Wallace-Harrison said, “That’s not information that you would be privy to” before ending the call.
Records from the city’s procurement office show Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home has been paid more than $385,000 since it was awarded the contract, which runs through May 2030.
City and state business records show Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home is registered at 7751 W. Irving Park Road, where Rago Brothers Funeral Home has operated since 1990. Rago was not named in the lawsuit.
Company President Louis Rago told the Tribune that Wallace-Harrison Funeral Home used the facility until last December. Rago said that it’s not uncommon for associate funeral directors, such as Wallace-Harrison, to list their address at an existing funeral home “and use that facility for their services and pay rent to the owner for whatever services they’re going to get.”
Last December, Rago said, “We asked her to no longer use our facility,” though he declined to say why.
