* This sentencing recommendation probably does not bode well for Rod Blagojevich’s fate…

Prosecutors want a judge to sentence a central figure in the administration of disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to between 11 and 15 years in prison.

The filing comes before Tony Rezko’s Nov. 22 sentencing.

Prosecutors cited letters sent to the judge by Rezko supporters, but they say the court won’t “receive a letter from all the people who were cheated or defrauded by Rezko.”

* More…

The recommendation is in drastic contrast from the time served that Rezko’s lawyers are asking U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve to impose at his Nov. 22 sentencing. Prosecutors say they believe Rezko should face 11 to 15 years in prison for a kickback case before St. Eve and a separate loan fraud case that was before U.S. District Judge James Zagel.

The government’s recommendation is significantly more steep than the roughly five and a half years that serial conman and drug abuser Stuart Levine faces. Levine is accused of conspiring with Rezko during Rod Blagojevich’s administrations to win kickbacks from state deals. […]

[Prosecutors] say Levine cooperated wore a wire and cooperated “pro-actively.” Levine has testified in two major trials. But Rezko’s lawyers argue, that prosecutors could have called Rezko to testify — he was prepared to do so — but they never did.

“In contrast, the best that can be said of Rezko’s cooperation is that, after obstructing the government’s investigation and his court proceedings and going to trial, he helped the government develop several witnesses who testified against Rod Blagojevich,” prosecutors wrote. “The timing, quality, and utility of Rezko’s cooperation pales in comparison to Levine’s. As a result, while Rezko and Levine are roughly equivalent when it comes to their past crimes, Rezko deserves a significantly higher sentence than Levine because Levine’s cooperation was so superior to Rezko’s.”

* But Rezko wants out right away…

A convicted political fixer and onetime fundraiser for impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants a federal judge to set him free at his sentencing hearing later this month, arguing that he has already served more time awaiting sentencing — and under harsh conditions — than others convicted in related schemes have.

Tony Rezko — once described by prosecutors as “the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings” in Blagojevich’s administration — has spent much of his more than 3 1/2 years in jail in solitary, rarely getting fresh air and subject to a diet that has resulted in him losing 80 pounds, according to a defense filing unsealed Thursday.

“With his dramatic weight loss, Mr. Rezko has shrunk from a robust, somewhat overweight man to a frail and gaunt shell of his former self,” the filing says.

In arguing for a sentence of time served, the document insists the 56-year-old Rezko accepts responsibility for his wrongdoing. But it also suggests that Rezko didn’t engage in criminality on his own initiative but at the urging of Blagojevich and his other confidants.

* Rezko also blamed Bill Cellini for his troubles with Stu Levine…

Tony Rezko didn’t trust Stuart Levine until Bill Cellini vouched for him, according to documents filed by Rezko’s lawyers in federal court on Thursday.

Levine, then a member of the Teachers’ Retirement System board and an associate of Cellini, approached Rezko, a fundraiser and adviser to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, about getting “finder’s fees” from firms that got state business and then directing the fees to people in the Blagojevich administration, according to the sentencing memo. p,,,]

“Mr. Rezko did not trust Stuart Levine when Levine first approached him, and it was only after Bill Cellini vouched for Levine that Rezko proceeded …” the filing said. “Rezko knew Cellini was the ultimate insider during the 26 years of Republican administrations that preceded Blagojevich, and Rezko knew that Cellini had made tens if not hundreds of millions from state business during that time period.

“Cellini had in place for years the apparatus that Blagojevich wanted Kelly and Rezko to build, and Levine was practically begging to maintain and even increase his thoroughly corrupt influence,” the memo says.

However, Rezko was actually acquitted of the Tom Rosenberg shakedown scam pushed by Levine.