* You can follow along in real time by clicking here. The Sun-Times coverage page is here…

Today is officially the first day of Mike Madigan's trial. But lawyers aren't due in court until 1:30 p.m. Madigan's unlikely to show, and potential jurors are just filling out questionnaires.

So, slow start. But you can get caught up here via @Suntimes: https://t.co/HxG7phmQKg

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) October 8, 2024

* Jason Meisner…

Chicago has long been known as a place where there are no coincidences. But one of the biggest political racketeering cases in the city’s history — USA v. Michael J. Madigan — actually did land randomly at the bench of a judge nicknamed the “Son of RICO.”

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey turned 5 the year his father G. Robert Blakey’s revolutionary legislation, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, was signed into law.

The statute, designed to go after organized crime, made the elder Blakey into legal royalty. His son chose a legal path that, for the most part, kept his boots on the ground. “Jack” Blakey spent most of his career as a prosecutor, both for the federal government and at Cook County’s rough-and-tumble criminal courthouse.

But he kept in touch with the RICO legacy, helping draft the Illinois racketeering legislation that focused on powerful street gangs. And in 2014, as a nominee for the federal judgeship, his introduction to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee also mentioned his famous father.

The Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Law can be found here. Mike Madigan voted for it.

* More on the judge’s background…

John Blakey, the judge presiding over Michael Madigan's trial, led CCSA Anita Alvarez's fight against a special prosecutor in the death of David Koschman, but Judge Michael Toomin appointed Dan Webb leading to manslaughter conviction of Daley's nephew. https://t.co/e0odvbVfLd

— Tim Novak (@tnovaksuntimes) October 8, 2024

* Carol Marin’s column on his judicial appointment…

So what are the reservations about Blakey?

One, he was Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s point man in fighting the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the egregious failures of her office and the Chicago Police Department in the 2004 death of David Koschman at the hands of a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. Blakey’s arguments trampled on his own assertions of an impartial grand jury probe when he disclosed confidential investigative reports, all in an effort to undermine the credibility of the witnesses central to his office’s investigation.

He lost. Big time.

And then — again on Alvarez’s behalf — he led the prosecution of the NATO 3. It was a debacle, a terrorism case in which the jury rejected the terrorism charges with lightning speed, convicting only on lesser felony counts.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Nobody gets to be a federal judge without clout.

* More…

* Tribune | Prospective jurors arrive for landmark Madigan racketeering trial: More than 1,000 jury summons were sent out to residents across Northeast Illinois. The “vast majority” could not be available for a trial as long as Madigan’s, U.S District Judge John Robert Blakey said in court last week. But 180 prospective jurors are expected to answer questions this week, beginning Tuesday with a lengthy questionnaire. In-person questioning is expected to begin Wednesday. If the full panel of 12 jurors and 6 alternates is selected in time, they will hear opening statements Oct. 15.

* Tribune | As Madigan corruption trial kicks off, focus will be on those three taboo words: quid pro quo: Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis was a year into his stunning turn as an FBI mole when he allegedly called up the most powerful politician in Illinois and floated three little words that are virtually taboo in the state’s political lexicon. Quid pro quo. With the feds listening in, Solis told then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, their prime investigative target, that the developers of a West Loop apartment tower understood that in order to get approvals done in City Hall they had to hire Madigan’s private law firm to do their property tax appeals, according to federal prosecutors. “I think they understand they’ve got some issues that they still have to deal with me in terms of zoning,” Solis, then the head of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, told Madigan on the June 23, 2017, call, according to prosecutors. “And I think they understand how this works, you know, the quid pro quo, the quid pro quo.” Madigan allegedly responded, “OK.”

* Tribune | Breaking down the charges in the Michael Madigan indictment: Madigan, 82, the former speaker of the Illinois House and head of the state Democratic Party, and his longtime confidant, ex-lobbyist Michael McClain, 77, are charged in a 117-page, 23-count superseding indictment filed in October 2022 with racketeering conspiracy and a host of other crimes.

* Jon Seidel | The case against Mike Madigan, laid out in explosive court documents: The former Illinois house speaker is charged with a racketeering conspiracy and other crimes spanning five alleged schemes. While his trial is expected to begin this week, federal prosecutors have already detailed their case in a series of crucial court filings.

* WTTW | Michael Madigan to Get His Day in Court, More Than 2 Years After Bombshell Racketeering, Bribery Indictment: Madigan, who represented the 22nd District on Chicago’s Southwest Side for 50 years and who served as House speaker for 36 years, is alleged to have orchestrated multiple corruption schemes, wielding his political power to reward loyal allies and enrich himself. Prosecutors have alleged these various schemes “occurred in parallel” and frequently overlapped with one another, as Madigan and McClain were sometimes recorded on government wiretaps discussing multiple conspiracies over the course of single conversations.

* Center Square | Lawmakers recall former Illinois House speaker’s tactics ahead of corruption trial: Democratic State Rep. Kelly Cassidy said she was forced to resign from her job with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in 2018 after she called for an investigation of sexual harassment allegations against a Madigan aide. “My supervisor at the time came to me and said that the speaker’s chief of staff had called to see if I was still employed there and asked me if that was something that they did ordinarily and I said no. She said, ‘I didn’t think so,’ and it seemed ominous,” Cassidy said. Cassidy added that she opposed one of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s bills a little bit later, and somebody in Madigan’s leadership team turned it into a public issue. “I ultimately had to resign the position because of that controversy they created. All of that, each of these things, were in the immediate aftermath of me speaking up, pointing out problems within his [Madigan’s] administration,” Cassidy said.

* ABC 7 | Process to select jury in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s trial begins Tuesday: Charged along with Madigan is former ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain. A federal grand jury handed down a superseding indictment in October 2022, adding a new charge of conspiracy. According to the indictment, his job was to conceal and hide the illegal operation of the enterprise shielding Madigan from the criminal activity.

* AP | Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan goes to trial Tuesday: But starting Tuesday, as potential jurors first report to court, the spotlight turns to the Chicago Democrat who was once considered the most powerful force in Illinois politics. “This is the top of the mountain here, the very very top,” former federal prosecutor Phil Turner said.

* Jon Seidel | Madigan judge has experience with Shakespeare, Michael Jordan — and law used to target ex-House speaker: Judge John Blakey’s father wrote the federal racketeering law that has famously been used to take down organized crime figures. But Blakey also established himself as an authority on the subject long before Madigan’s historic trial.

* Jon Seidel | Michael Madigan among the cast of powerful characters ensnared in corruption cases: Most of them were convicted, some went to prison. Here’s a look at the individuals and businesses caught in the crossfire ahead of Madigan’s trial.