Mike Madigan

Mapes gets 30 months for keeping mouth shut

Published by admin on Sun, 02/18/2024 - 3:26pm

“Everybody gets pinched, but you did it right; you told 'em nothin' and they got nothin'” Jimmy Conway told a youthful Henry Hill in the classic gangster movie “Goodfellas” after the mob-connected teenager was arrested for selling stolen cigarettes, clammed up to the police and was then released by a corrupt judge.
“You learned the two greatest things in life,” Conway told Hill.
“Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.”
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s people (and they weren’t alone in this, by the way) took that vow to heart.

Mapes should have fessed up

Published by admin on Sun, 08/20/2023 - 11:36am

I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand why Tim Mapes allowed himself to be put into this situation.
Not one of the lies former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s former chief of staff is accused of telling a grand jury while under a grant of immunity was about illegal activity. During his two hours on the stand and through 650 questions, he was never once asked if he’d witnessed any sort of crime or suspected wrongdoing by others. And now he’s standing trial on federal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Madigan, ComEd’s patronage history on trial

Published by admin on Sun, 03/19/2023 - 10:33am

ComEd has long been a source of political patronage. The company’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement with federal prosecutors even references how former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s “old-fashioned patronage system” obtained ComEd meter reader jobs for its precinct workers.
Madigan’s wasn’t the only patronage network to do this. It was a widespread practice and, as old-timers tell it, became even more important when Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor, cut some prominent White politicians out of the city’s patronage spoils.

Madigan insider put it in writing which is a big mistake

Published by admin on Tue, 11/26/2019 - 8:00am

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that Mike McClain, the most prominent insider connected to House Speaker Michael Madigan, sent a blind-copied email to what he called the "Most Trusted of the Trusted" asking for help raising money in the closing weeks of the 2018 campaign.