Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan walks through the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
By Jon Seidel, Tina Sfondeles and Dave McKinney | Chicago Sun*Times
‘Like bandits’: Just minutes into Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu’s highly anticipated cross-examination Monday of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, prosecutors played a recording that’s been allowed into the trial only because of testimony Madigan gave last week. The recording shows Madigan laughing as he tells his ally, Michael McClain, that certain ComEd contractors had “made out like bandits.”
Prosecutor’s highlights: Madigan testified last week that he thought he’d sent a message to then-Ald. Danny Solis that he wouldn’t be part of a “quid pro quo.” But Bhachu cited at least five other examples of Solis suggesting such an arrangement.
Meet the prosecutor: Bhachu is a 20-year veteran of Chicago’s U.S. attorney’s office. He participated in the historic “Family Secrets” mob prosecution and faced off with gangsters such as Frank “The German” Schweihs and Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno. Now, Bhachu is chief of the office’s Public Corruption and Organized Crime Section.
What’s next: U.S. District Judge John Blakey signaled to jurors that all sides could finish presenting evidence by the end of this week, after roughly three months of trial — with the potential for closing arguments to begin as soon as Jan. 22.
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