The clout-heavy operator of a Summit bar admitted in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors Wednesday that he paid $6,500 in bribes to two undisclosed officials in the southwest suburb in exchange for official acts benefiting one of his businesses.
Mariano Martinez, 50, who has ties to a longtime political operative for indicted Chicago Ald. Edward Burke and embattled state Sen. Martin Sandoval, pleaded guilty to selling a kilogram of heroin to a man in a Berwyn laundromat for $50,000. The buyer turned out to be secretly cooperating with law enforcement.
According to Martinez’s plea agreement, he has agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for leniency.
Martinez runs Mars Bar, in the 6000 block of South Harlem Avenue in Summit, records show. He has also owned car washes and other businesses in the area.
In the 20-page plea deal entered before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, prosecutors revealed that Martinez was secretly recorded in a 2017 phone call with a Summit public official — identified only as Summit Official B — talking about bribing an elected official in exchange for help with Martinez’s business. The elected official is identified as Summit Official A.
In all, Martinez admitted to paying at least $6,500 in bribes to the two officials since 2014 in exchange for favorable action for one of his businesses, according to the plea agreement. The agreement does not specify which business was involved in the scheme.
The FBI has confirmed that agents conducted “investigative activity” at the Summit Village Hall on Sept. 26, the same day that federal law enforcement raided the government offices in nearby McCook and Lyons as part of a sprawling public corruption investigation.
In addition, Summit Mayor Sergio Rodriguez and Public Works Director Bill Mundy were both named in the FBI search warrant served on Sandoval’s Springfield office two days earlier, records show.
No one has been charged as part of the ongoing probe.
Based on preliminary sentencing guidelines, Martinez faces up to about six years in prison on the drug conviction. But if he continues to cooperate on other investigations, including providing truthful testimony in court if necessary, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of about 2 1/2 years behind bars, according to the plea agreement.
Martinez, who is originally from Berwyn, has been active in local politics and is a longtime associate of Rudy Acosta, a top precinct captain for Burke, Martinez’s lawyer, Dennis Doherty, wrote in a court filing earlier this year.
Acosta’s son, Rudy Jr., is currently facing federal drug conspiracy charges alleging he distributed large amounts of narcotics in the Chicago area for Mexican cartel members.
The elder Acosta, who also serves as a political liaison for Sandoval, declined to comment on the ongoing investigations when a Chicago Tribune reporter visited his Southwest Side home in October.
A business card that Acosta handed to the reporter listed Burke’s ward office number as his main point of contact.
Acosta could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
