Ed Burke, the former 14th Ward alderman who was convicted of racketeering, bribery and extortion, was released from federal prison Tuesday morning.
Burke, 81, was the longest serving alderman and chairman of the city council’s powerful Finance Committee before he left office in 2023 after being indicted in 2020. He was a Chicago police offcer when first elected alderman in 1969.
He and Ald. Ed Vrdolyak were leaders of the opposition during the Council War years after Harold Washington was elected mayor
He was released from Thomson prison after serving less than 10 months of a two-year sentence. He had reported to prison in September.
Burke spent Tuesday night at a halfway house on the West Side used for federal prisoners after leaving prison but before being released.
Not known was whether Burke would remain at the halfway house for an extended period or be transferred to home confinement.
Burke is expected to remain in the federal system until his projected release date of February 20, 2026.
The decision to release any prisoner at a certain time is up to officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, not the courts. And so it wasn’t considered public information and there was no public record of the Burke release plan.
Secret FBI recordings were key to Burke’s conviction on 13 federal counts, with a jury finding that he used his position to solicit and shake down private legal work and other perks from businesses that had city contracts.
The former alderman has also filed for clemency from the U.S. Department of Justice, including seeking a full pardon from President Donald Trump.