Results tagged “williamcellini”

Yesterday evening, the other shoe dropped and Rod Blagojevich and five others were indicted on a wide range of fraud and corruption charges. The indictment contains 19 charges in all against Blagojevich, his brother Robert, former Chief-of-Staff John Harris, former adviser Lon Monk, former fundraiser Christopher Kelly, and power broker William Cellini. Here are some of the highlights from the news surrounding the indictments.

A Chicago Christian Industrial League homeless shelter is struggling to stay afloat after a deal by Mayor Daley moved them to new digs they can't afford and Patti Blagojevich's fundraising efforts have fallen short according to an investigation by NBC 5 and the Sun-Times. It seemed at first to be pretty simple: the city moved the League 's homeless shelter from its "crumbling" Greektown location into a new $25 million building in Lawndale which cleared the way for developer Michael Marchese and businessman William F. Cellini - who was recently indicted for trying to shake down a Hollywood producer - to build a brand-spanking-new condo unit on the site of the old shelter. What could go wrong?

Photo by chloeloe
• A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot near his South Side home last night. It was only part of a violent 24 hours for the city.
• Republican "power broker" William Cellini enteres a not guilty plea yesterday to his extortion charges.
• FEMA will be providing $45 million in relief for Illinois victims of fall flooding.

Remember when you were a kid, and one day one of your classmates would hand out invitations to his or her birthday party, except they didn't give you one and you felt like such a tool for being left out? No? That was only me? Well, fine. But at least Governor Blagojevich knows how I feel. It seems that his name is not on the long list of VIP guests for next Tuesday night's Obamapalooza. Sure, there's Lisa Madigan, Emil Jones, Jesse Jr., and, naturally, Mayor Daley. But no Blago. Can't say we're surprised, what with indictments and convictions on every side of G-Rod. Still, it's gotta smart to be lumped in with the likes of Rev. Wright. Of course, I'm sure Sen. Obama's leaving me off that list was simply an oversight and I'll be getting my invitation in the mail today. Of course. That's all it is: slow mail. Yep. Has to be.

Photo by BrianHagy
• The Blago probe has another victim: William Cellini, who was indicted by a Federal grand jury today for planning to extort Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg for money for the Blago campaign.
• Two people were severely injured in a fire after an explosion at Gigi's Restaurant in Naperville last night.
• Cook County Board President Todd Stroger promises his new spending plan, introduced next month, won't include any new taxes.