From the Sun--Times:

He trusted no one
'I talk to everybody like they're wearing a wire, even' my wife'

May 11, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/

Ed Vrdolyak has walked away unscathed from so many federal investigations, some politicians assumed he was working undercover for the feds.

Others said it wasn't that at all -- that he was simply too careful.

"Eddie always said, 'When you talk on the phone, always talk like the government was on the phone with you,' " recalled Ald. Bernard Stone (50th).

"He used to say, 'I talk to everybody like they're wearing a wire, even [wife] Denise,' " another associate said.

Whatever kept Vrdolyak out of the cross hairs failed him Thursday.

He was indicted after being caught on tape -- the kind he bragged of avoiding -- by his longtime friend Stuart Levine. Vrdolyak is accused of scheming to obtain a kickback for Levine from the sale of a Gold Coast building for a condominium development. It was a deal allegedly designed to defraud a north suburban medical school.

So this is how it ends for one of the most controversial figures in the history of Chicago politics -- a man who led the "coffee rebellion" against Mayor Richard J. Daley, marshaled 29 mostly white aldermen against Mayor Harold Washington and served as Cook County Democratic chairman only to become a Republican.

"Fast Eddie" may not be so fast after all.

"For all the things he didn't get indicted and scraped by, this is the one that caught him. When you live that way, that's what happens," said former Mayor Jane Byrne, who once accused Vrdolyak of being part of a "cabal of evil men," only to forge an alliance with him.

"He was sharp. He was bold. People stayed with him throughout his whole career because they all thought he could do it. But nobody -- and I'm talking pretty big blocs of power -- none of them really trusted him."

Stone added, "Eddie is a born leader. He's got a lot of guts, a lot of moxie. People looked up to him. He was a fighter and the ultimate rascal. But you've got to be careful. He's not dependable because he's impatient."

Edward R. Vrdolyak was the youngest of seven children of Croatian immigrants who owned a tavern in a blue-collar Southeast Side neighborhood dominated by steel mills.

He craved most: Power, money
The family lived above the tavern and Eddie slept on a cot in the kitchen. He swept the floors and washed dishes to help out, entered a Catholic seminary only to drop out four years later and helped put himself through law school at the University of Chicago with money earned working summers as an ironworker.

In 1960, Vrdolyak was one of seven ironworkers picked out of a lineup by a man who said his son had been beaten by ironworkers angered by the man's refusal to hire union workers to build a plant.

Vrdolyak and six others were charged with assault to commit murder, even though a professor said he was taking a test at the time. All seven were acquitted.

In politics, Vrdolyak quickly learned there are no permanent friends or enemies.

He worked a precinct for machine Ald. Emil Pacini (10th), only to have Pacini lose to independent John Buchanan. Vrdolyak knocked off Pacini's ward committeeman with Buchanan's help, then turned on Buchanan by defeating him for 10th Ward alderman in the 1971 election. A political dynasty was born.

During a 16-year career in the City Council, Vrdolyak accumulated the two things he craved most: power and money.

He represented city employees in personal injury lawsuits against the city, a conflict that would ultimately lead to one of three disciplinary actions by the state panel that polices attorneys.

He served as Building and Zoning Committee chairman, built the biggest house on his Southeast Side block -- complete with a tennis court that crossed an alley he purchased from the city -- and formed a partnership that bought 50 Marina City units from longtime CHA Chairman Charles Swibel just as the City Council was considering legislation to let Swibel maintain ownership of the Marina City garage.

Byrne recalled that Vrdyolak and Circuit Court Clerk Morgan Finley tried to sell her on a parking ticket collection contract being pushed by Michael Raymond, a New York businessman who turned out to be the FBI mole who entrapped Finley and five sitting aldermen.

Vrdolyak's role as ringleader during "Council Wars" was the most celebrated case where he exploited race for political advantage. But it was not the only example.

As Byrne's handpicked Democratic chairman in 1983, Vrdolyak told precinct captains the race among Byrne, Washington and Richard M. Daley was "a racial thing, don't kid yourselves." When Washington won the primary, Vrdolyak backed Republican Bernard Epton in a desperate attempt to stop the election of Chicago's first black mayor under the divisive slogan, "Epton, before it's too late."

"Eddie was not a racist, he was a power guy," said Ald. Ed Smith (28th), an African American who was in office during Council Wars. "He was a guy who understood power, he fought hard to get and keep it."

Vrdolyak would go on to run for mayor in 1987 and 1989 and Circuit Court clerk in between, only to become a radio talk show host who specialized in Daley bashing. He was also a Cicero attorney under now-convicted former Town President Betty Loren-Maltese. He's the godfather of Maltese's adopted daughter.

Now, the divisive politician who once wore a bulletproof vest on the City Council floor is a 69-year-old grandfather fighting to maintain his freedom.

"It's not ironic. It was a matter of time," said former Ald. Marty Oberman (43rd). "He had a lot of innate ability. But what good does it do you if you don't use it constructively? Eddie Vrdolyak was not a constructive force in all the time he served in government. He was primarily motivated by power and opportunism."