LP = Scandalous

Lincoln Park is stirring up the political pot:

When two healthy trees in Lincoln Park got in the way of a home builder, developers were allegedly told that city workers would take care of the problem for $5,000, according to court documents.

In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, prosecutors charged Bruno A. Bertucci, a retired boss in the forestry bureau of the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, with obstruction of justice for his role in the failed scheme.

Bertucci was a member of a political group run by Daniel Katalinic, a retired high-ranking Streets and Sanitation Department official, according to two former department workers. The group was allegedly one of many pro-Mayor Daley political street armies whose members performed campaign work in exchange for city jobs and promotions

According to court records, developers wanted two trees removed to make room for a driveway between 1905 and 1907 N. Burling St., but they could not obtain city permits. They turned to Boyle, who agreed to pay a $5,000 bribe to a person identified in the complaint only as "a former high-ranking [city] employee."That employee contacted Bertucci, who, for half the $5,000, agreed to contact another city forestry bureau worker to cut down the trees, the records show. That city worker took a crew out to the property at 7:42 a.m. on July 21, 2004, to cut down the trees.


How much longer till the top collapses? Part of me feels bad, while part of does not care what happens to these “low level” people. The part that feels bad is that way because some of them are underpaid and just trying to put food on their family’s tables. A quick buck here and quick buck there. The part of me that does not care is that way because they know where a majority of the kick back is going.