U.S. calls water dept. a racket
Bribes, corruption, lies detailed in indictment
By Matt O'Connor, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Gary Washburn and Ray Gibson contributed to this reportDecember 17, 2004
A sweeping federal indictment charged Thursday that the city's water department operated as a racketeering enterprise and that its top leadership extorted at least $500,000 in cash, campaign contributions and gifts over a decade from trucking companies that wanted business in the Hired Truck Program.
Donald Tomczak, the department's former longtime No. 2 official, earmarked the campaign contributions for candidates he favored and used an army of more than 100 city workers to do political work in return for jobs, promotions and overtime, the indictment also charged.
Tomczak also allegedly had city employees, sometimes while on city time, do maintenance and repair work as well as collect rent for apartment buildings he owned.
The indictment added four new defendants to the burgeoning investigation, bringing to 14 the number of people charged so far, including 10 former city employees.
U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald quipped at a news conference to announce the expanded charges that Tomczak's job was "to oversee the flow of water, not bribes."
"But for the last 10 years, it's been a different story," Fitzgerald said. "The word should go out to people who think that the way of doing business in Chicago is paying bribes. That's a way of going to jail. And the people who pay the bribes, the people who receive the bribes, the people who deliver the bribes are all facing trouble."
In all, Thursday's indictment charged seven defendants--four former city officials and three trucking company operators.
Three former water department officials--Gerald Wesolowski, Roger McMahon and Flenory Barnes Sr.--acted as bagmen for Tomczak, collecting payoffs from at least 10 trucking companies that had to pay to play in the Hired Truck Program, authorities charged.
The indictment charged Joseph S. Ignoffo of Ignoffo Trucking Co. and Leroy Peters and his daughter, Commelie Peters, both of LR&C Truck Line, paid cash and campaign contributions to Tomczak and his bagmen to win favored status.
McMahon, Barnes and both of the Peteres were charged for the first time on Thursday.
"This indictment combines every key element of bribe-paying: Corrupt public officials who sold city benefits to fuel personal and political greed, corrupt city vendors who paid bribes to earn greater profits, and defendants who lied and obstructed the investigation to avoid being caught," Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Attorney George Collins, who is representing Ignoffo, said Thursday his client has been cooperating fully with authorities and intends to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud.
The indictment also made clear McMahon admitted wrongdoing after he was arrested in September by federal agents. McMahon acknowledged hand-writing a document obtained by investigators that summarized campaign contributions he and Wesolowski were to obtain on behalf of Tomczak from certain trucking companies, according to the indictment.
On Thursday, his attorney, Irving Miller, called his client "a very decent guy" and said, "Roger will address these charges in court."
Sending a message
"We clearly are trying to send a message that this investigation is moving along, that people are cooperating with the investigation," Fitzgerald said.
In a statement, Mayor Richard Daley vowed that misconduct of this kind won't be tolerated.
"I want to send one message loud and clear: Individuals who use public resources for political or personal gain, as alleged in today's indictment, will be held accountable for their actions," Daley said. "They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. As I've said before, there is no room in my administration for people who violate the public trust."
Tomczak, 69, of Crest Hill, and Wesolowski, 46, of Chicago, were each charged with racketeering conspiracy, bribery, obstruction of justice and mail fraud.
Tomczak and Wesolowski, the department's former director of finance and administration, ran the water department as a racketeering enterprise by engaging in fraud, extortion, bribery and obstruction of justice between 1993 and 2004, the charges alleged.
According to the obstruction counts, Tomczak and Wesolowski visited another target of the investigation and warned him to keep quiet.
Prosecutors are also seeking forfeitures of at least $500,000 from Tomczak and Wesolowski, including their homes.
Tomczak, who retired as the department's first deputy commissioner in January, was initially charged in a criminal complaint unsealed on Oct. 21, prompting his lawyer to contend prosecutors were trying to affect the outcome of the re-election fight of his son, Will County State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak. The younger Tomczak lost the election less than two weeks later.
Thursday's indictment charged that Donald Tomczak extorted campaign contributions from city and department vendors, including trucking companies, on behalf of at least five undisclosed candidates. Fitzgerald declined to say if the candidates were aware the contributions were tainted.
After the Hired Truck scandal broke early this year, Jeff Tomczak acknowledged he had received more than $20,000 in contributions from companies in the Hired Truck Program and returned the money to them.
Political funds
The elder Tomczak was accused of leaning on Ignoffo, both Peterses and eight other trucking companies to make campaign contributions to favored candidates.
While Ignoffo has been a frequent donor to political campaigns, the trucking outfit run by Peters and his daughter made only one political donation in recent years, according to campaign finance reports. That $500 donation went to the campaign fund of Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) in March 2001.
The $500 donation was among $6,000 Mitts received in a two-month period that year from 10 firms participating in the trucking program, including Ignoffo's company.
Mitts declined to comment on Thursday, but she said she had not been contacted by law-enforcement authorities about the donation.
The charges also alleged that Tomczak used city and department resources to benefit himself and at least the same five favored political campaigns and organizations. Tomczak was also able to amass more than 100 department employees to work on the political campaigns.
On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins referred to Tomczak's mobilization efforts as "a political army."
Tomczak awarded jobs and promotions and authorized overtime at double pay as a reward to department employees who did political work, the charges alleged. Ordinarily, overtime work was strongly discouraged by high-ranking department officials because of budgetary constraints, the indictment alleged.
In answer to questions at Thursday's news conference, Fitzgerald discounted that foul play played any part in the recent death of Hired Truck defendant Nick LoCoco in a horse accident.
LoCoco, alleged to be a former key player in doling out business in the Hired Truck Program, died several weeks after he fell from a horse outside of Monee last month.
Without confirming whether LoCoco had been cooperating, Fitzgerald denied the death would have a chilling effect on others cooperating in the continuing investigation.
"I think the only thing people should take away from that is not to ride horses," Fitzgerald said. "There's no allegation made that there was any foul play or this is retaliation for cooperating."
"We think that it's in people's best interest to cooperate," he continued. "We think that if people cooperate, they will help themselves out."
"I'm saying there's no allegation by us that there is any foul play there, and if people are spreading that rumor or believing that people get harmed for cooperating, we're not buying into that."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune