Former Summit Police Chief John Kosmowski was found guilty in federal court Wednesday of taking bribes to help grease the transfer of a liquor license in the village.
Kosmowski, 57, of Lockport, was accused – along with former Building Inspector Bill Mundy – of accepting money from a local businessman to help ease the transfer of the liquor license of a liquor license in 2017.
Both men were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2022.
A federal jury convicted the former police chief after a seven-day trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago. He was found guilty of bribery conspiracy, bribery, and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger set sentencing for March 27, 2026.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Kosmowski conspired with Mundy to accept $10,000 from a businessman in 2017. Kosmowski and Mundy accepted the money intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with the transfer of the liquor license to another person.
Kosmowski received a cash payment from the businessman in March 2017 and then gave Mundy a portion of it.
Mundy pleaded guilty prior to trial to bribery and tax offenses. He is awaiting sentencing.
The obstruction conviction against Kosmowski stemmed from a meeting he had with Mundy in which Kosmowski informed Mundy of the federal investigation into the bribe. During the meeting, Kosmowski sought to persuade Mundy to mischaracterize the purpose of the payment by falsely suggesting that it was a loan.
After Kosmowski and Mundy were indicted, they were suspended by the village and later terminated. Summit Police Lt. Mel Ortiz was named acting police chief and later promoted to police chief. Jerry Rosales was named interim public works director to replace Mundy and was later promoted permanently to the job.
Wednesday’s conviction was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Adam Jobes, Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiffany Ardam and Jared Hasten.
We it’s about time that all of the corruption and graft has been exposed in the Village of Summit!!! This has been going on for decades and it is the Democrats “Pay To Play” mentality that keeps this sort of thing going. Just think about all the bribes, graft and corruption that they got away with and what we the citizens don’t know about!! It is time to flip Summit politics red and vote out the blue corrupt pay to play Democrats that have ruined the town of Summit, Cook County, Chicago and the whole state of Illinois!!! Just look how high the property taxes are in Summit and Cook County, all because of the wasteful and reckless spending, patronage, nepotism and favoritism that plagues the Democrats!!!! Bill Mundy deserves at least a decade in federal prison!! But because he snitched, he will get a lesser sentence than John Kosmowski. The name of Mundy will go down in Summit history as being CORRUPT!!!!!