Danny Solis had a little more than an hour to go before he could finally leave the witness stand behind him Tuesday in the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, but prosecutors had a few more questions.
And one of them turned out to be about imprisoned former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).
“Did you record a high-ranking official in Chicago?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur asked Solis in front of Madigan’s jury Tuesday, without mentioning Burke by name. “Was that high-ranking official ultimately charged?”
Solis answered “yes” to both of her questions. In doing so, he gave jurors a little more insight into the breadth of the investigation that led to Madigan’s racketeering conspiracy trial, which reached a milestone Tuesday with the end of Solis’ testimony.
Still, it was insight gleaned only because an attack by defense attorneys on a witness’s credibility had, for a second time, opened the door to questions about separate criminal charges.
Defense attorneys did not publicly object to the testimony about Burke as they’d done before, though. At one point, a defense attorney actually seemed to invite it.
Solis represented Chicago’s 25th Ward on the City Council for more than 20 years. In June 2016, he agreed to wear a wire for the FBI after agents confronted him with evidence of his own wrongdoing. The evidence he gathered helped the feds indict Burke and Madigan.
At least 20 individuals and businesses have faced related criminal charges.
But Tuesday, eight-and-a-half years after the feds showed up at his door on Delano Court, Solis finished his testimony against Madigan around 2 p.m. Tuesday. He answered questions for about 21 hours over six days.
He then wished a Sun-Times photographer a “Merry Christmas” as he left the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
Long regarded as the star witness in Madigan’s trial, Solis spent about an hour less on the stand than Fidel Marquez, a former ComEd executive who also wore a federal wire and testified earlier.
Still, news of Solis’ cooperation sent a lightning bolt through Chicago politics when it was first revealed by the Sun-Times in 2019. And Solis carried a historic amount of baggage into the courtroom when he first took the stand Nov. 21 — involving bribery, prostitutes and Viagra.
Burke, Chicago’s longest-serving City Council member, is serving a two-year prison sentence along the Iowa border in Thomson, after his trial in late 2023 ended in a racketeering conviction. Solis testified briefly as a defense witness in that case.
Now Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise designed to enhance his political power and financial well-being, with longtime ally Michael McClain as his agent.
U.S. District Judge John Blakey has warned jurors the trial could last until mid-January, meaning there could still be a ways to go before he puts the case in their hands. However, jurors have now heard from two of the most significant witnesses in the case.
Solis’ testimony ended similarly to Marquez’s. Prosecutors last month pointed to a “wholesale attack” on Marquez's credibility and convinced Blakey to let Marquez testify about related criminal charges brought against former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.
Defense attorneys objected, but prosecutors wanted the jury to know that even though Marquez had struck a deal with authorities to avoid prison, his fate did not rest on the outcome of Madigan’s trial.
Solis’ situation is similar, but defense attorneys did not publicly object this time. They might have done so during a private sidebar.
Still, Madigan attorney Dan Collins on Monday actually asked Solis about Burke. He brought up famous quips from the Burke case like, “did we land … the tuna?” Blakey then told jurors to disregard it.
On Tuesday, MacArthur asked Solis about charges against political operative Roberto Caldero and Pedro Soto, a former chief of staff to the head of Chicago Public Schools, in addition to her veiled reference to Burke. Both men also faced charges as a result of Solis’ undercover work.
Jurors have not been told how any of the criminal cases turned out.
Solis was also subjected Tuesday to another round of questions about massage parlors and alleged tax crimes. Collins noted that authorities suggested Solis maintain his normal routine once he began wearing a wire to avoid suspicion.
Then, Collins brought up Solis’ recording of Caldero in 2016.
“Where’d you guys go?” Collins asked. “You went to a massage parlor, didn’t you?”
Collins then prompted Solis to contradict his claim that he always paid for massages. Collins noted that authorities counted Solis’ money before and after the visit, and he asked Solis if only a $25 tip was missing.
“I don’t remember that I gave a tip,” Solis told him, though he acknowledged Caldero “must have” paid.
MacArthur also revisited with Solis his Monday testimony about his sister, former Hillary Clinton 2008 campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle. Collins had questioned Solis about $617,000 she’d paid Solis over five years. Collins alleged that, in 2017, Solis Doyle suggested “revising documents” so it could be reported as a capital gain.
On Tuesday, MacArthur confirmed with Solis that Solis Doyle told her brother to “talk to your guy” — meaning his accountant.
Solis also testified that she told him the accountant’s advice might lead to him needing to revise documents.
