BY JOE CARLSON
jcarlson@nwitimes.com
219.933.3364 | Friday, May 23, 2008 | 6 comment(s)

EAST CHICAGO | State lawyers have begun offering out-of-court settlements to whittle down the number of defendants in the long-running federal racketeering lawsuit against the old East Chicago political machine.

EAST CHICAGO | State lawyers have begun offering out-of-court settlements to whittle down the number of defendants in the long-running federal racketeering lawsuit against the old East Chicago political machine.

The complex case once featured a list of 27 city officials and contractors, but recent court filings say lawyers for Attorney General Steve Carter's office expect to bring perhaps three or four people to court when the case finally goes to trial.

Only 10 defendants remain today. Just this week, three former city officials and a city contractor took settlements to get out of the case. Several sources said the settlements contain agreements of future cooperation in the case.

Former city Finance Director George Weems and former Public Works Board Vice President Frank Miskowski have agreed to pay $10,000 each to get out of the case, while former City Councilman Adrian Santos will be banned from public office for life in exchange for his settlement. TRI Inc. will pay $2,500.

"We've resolved matters with a few of the defendants," Carter said Thursday. "While there could be fewer defendants, there could also be more defendants, and we're prepared to go to trial with all the remaining defendants."

Essentially, prosecutors said city officials under former Mayor Robert Pastrick conspired to use public funds to curry favor with voters and hold on to political power in such a nefarious fashion that it mimicked organized crime.

Attorneys for the state have said it's the first time racketeering laws have been used to classify an entire city government as a "corrupt enterprise."

Since it's a civil lawsuit, the most that could happen to any of the defendants is to be ordered to pay large fines. Prosecutors say the 1999 sidewalks-for-votes scheme drained more than $24 million from city coffers and nearly bankrupted East Chicago.

But as the case nears the four-year mark, it still has no trial date.

U.S. District Judge James Moody -- who was just appointed to oversee the complex case in January -- has refused to set a trial date as he pores over thousands of pages of motions and supporting records.

Moody did approve the requests to dismiss Weems, Miskowski and Santos, who helped engineer or cover up the scheme in which concrete was poured and trees were trimmed on private land by city-funded workers in exchange for votes in the 1999 mayoral primary.

In a separate case, Santos pleaded guilty to criminal charges for his role and was sentenced to serve 33 months in federal prison. He was released in August, but still owes a substantial amount of restitution.

Also dismissed from the racketeering lawsuit this week was TRI Inc., one of the numerous contractors that performed the work without having valid contracts.

A motion filed by lawyers from Carter's office said many of the remaining defendants are expected to settle out of the case, leaving probably three for trial: Pastrick and his two former special assistants, Timothy Raykovich and James Fife III.

Michael Bosch, the attorney for Pastrick, stood by comments in his legal motions that the government's case has no merit.

"For there to be a conspiracy, there has to be evidence of an agreement between two conspirators. That simply doesn't exist," Bosch said.

Bosch once criticized the case as a political stunt by Carter, who was presumed to be seeking re-election this year. Now that Carter has announced he is not seeking election, Bosch said the case is a face-saving maneuver.

"I think the case has to go on because they have to justify the money they've spent in attorneys' fees," Bosch said.

Racketeering settlements
Of the 27 original defendants in the state's civil racketeering lawsuit against East Chicago officials, seven have signed out-of-court settlements to get out of the litigation. Following are terms of their settlements:
-- Frank Miskowski will pay $10,000
-- George Weems will pay $10,000
-- Adrian Santos is banned from ever holding public office
-- TRI Inc. will pay $2,500
-- Rogers and Sons Inc. paid $10,000
-- A-1 Dave's Tree Service paid $2,500
-- Rieth-Riley paid $625,000
-- In addition, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. paid a claim of $614,275 to cover public official bonds on Weems, Miskowski and Edwardo Maldonado.