European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                As. Of Well somebody got arrested and sen to jail the political machine operated on trading favors for Voles. The precinct captains would say. Of i la gel your son a Job As a lifeguard this summer if you give us your Vole so the political system was an economic system of payoffs thai ended up leading to  in the Eaily 1970s, the Fri and . Attorney James r. Thompson now the stale s governor decided they could use Federal Laws to fight local corruption. At the time neither Agency had a corruption squad. They began by attacking Shakedown artists within the ranks Ollie Chicago police department. Over if neat few years More than 100 police officers were convicted of extorting bribes Tram tavern keepers restaurateurs and other business owners by threatening to charge them with nonexistent licensing. Violations says Fri spokesman Bob Long. In1972, Valukas became head of the . Attorney s first Chicago corruption Section and the unit launched several major investigations. One led to the indictment of former Illinois gov. Otto Kerner who was a . Appellate court judge at the Lime of his conviction on bribery conspiracy and fraud charges in february 1983. In another investigation More than 100 suburban mayors supervisors commissioners and police officers were indicted on corruption charges. Whal we Learned in those years was that a lol of these activities were interrelated. In other words that one person who was paying off one of Lucial in one town also was paying Oft Olar officials in other lawns Valukas says. So we developed an intelligence base and leads for All these other  with each round of indictments and convictions Federal prosecutors and agents grew More aggressive. Valutas says. They began plotting elaborate stings using undercover agents wearing hidden tape recorders and microphones creating 1heir own crooked companies to bribe Public officials even staging phony crimes. In late 197b and Early 1979. The feds began planning what would become one of the largest undercover investigations in the history of the Fri code named . Attorney Anton value in corruption is a epidemic proportion problem in  Gre lord a horse s name picked from a racing Sheet by an agent. Walsh said. The Gre lord Case was very difficult trom a Legal standpoint because we had to allow undercover agents to essentially commit state crimes and allow undercover agents to perjure themselves Walsh says. You re talking about allowing agents to Gal up in stale court and swear to Tell the whole truth and nothing bul the truth and then lie about their name and age and  in the probe s undercover phase 1980-b3. The agents found that areas o Cook county s court system Ali ated the fictional portrayals of Justice on such popular television shows As Hill so Reed blues. Take the Case of Raymond Sodini. A judge since 1971 who pleaded guilty to accepting $6.000 in bribes and was sentenced to eight years in prison in May 1987. He presided Over a smelly. Cramped courtroom on the 111h door above police Headquarters on the City s South Side that became in the words of the Federal judge who Sert fenced him. A cesspool of  undercover agents found that live lawyers had formed what prosecutors called a hustlers bribery  they bribed Sodini Lor permission to openly solicit business from criminal defendants stepping off the elevators an unethical practice known As hustling in the Legal Trade evidence showed. The lawyers also paid of court clerks and sheriff s deputies to sleep unrepresented clients to them. The judge once had to mediate a dispute among the clerks and deputies Over who was galling the most bribes testimony at his trial showed Sodini pocketed More than $1.000 a month in payoffs trom 1980 to 83, Federal prosecutors contended Al his trial. There has been testimony that this sort of thing had been going on for decades Valukas says. And the reason it went on for decades is that no one Ever talked about it. The system condoned  one lawyer Edward Nydam kept meticulous records of his payrolls to judges and court personnel irom1979 to 83 and read them aloud in court during Sodini s trial. He listed the amounts next to initials like by Lor Bagman or of Tor my Enface the nickname of one judge. Patrick Ryan a Farmer sheriff s Deputy and drinking buddy of Sodini a testified that the judge twice called in to say he d been out Lale drinking the night before and would t make the 8 . Court Call for winds and vagrants. Spa enl instructed Ryan to Tell the court sergeant la put on the judge s Robes and handle the bum Call. Later in the Day Sodini signed the orders entered by the court sergeant Ryan testified. Blacks edging up in business by Jonathan Hicks. New York times. E arly last year. A. Barry Rand was. Named As the Xerox corp s vice president in charge of the company s $4 billion marketing1 operation.  few months Faler a group of investors " led by Reginald f. Lewis a Wall Street lawyer and financier bought the Beatrice International co. A food products company operating mainly in Europe for neary$1 billion. And just in july Richard d. Parsons an attorney became president of the dime savings Sank of new York lha Nalion s 1 sin largest with $10.9 billion in assets. V together these unrelated development involving three Back businessmen underscore he expanding role Black executives Are playing in Large corporations ant the changing landscaped Black owned businesses. And while experts in Academia and in Industry say that role is still Small even minuscule they maintain that Blacks dearly have begun to enter he highest tiers of the corporate world. At the same time experts say Black owned businesses Are noticeably less gastric led by race related factors though by no Means unlettered of Henri Black businesses Are now knocking at the door of those things that place us in the mainstream said Early g. Graves editor of Black Enterprise Magazine. Today people Are not surprised that the owner of the Mcdonald s where they buy food might be Black. Fiey Are not surprised that the lawyer representing Drexel Burnham in a transaction is a Black Guy. What s More Black entrepreneurs Are now venturing into realms of Commerce that were never even considered by Blacks of earlier generations he said. As an example Graves filed the Purchase in july of Drexel National Bank in Chicago by the holding company of the Black owned Independence Bank of Chicago the acquisition which will create the largest Black owned financial institution in the United states represents the first Purchase of a thriving White owned banking institution by a Black owned one ". On Ewe were talking about companies whose principal clientele were Black people in the hair care Industry and such Graves Siad. Today you re talking about franchisers communications conglomerates manufacturers and so on. It s a new generation  businesses indeed a perusal of Black Enterprise magazines listing of the. Lop 100 Black owned business in the last few years shows an increase in everything from steel fabricating companies and systems engineering firms to broadcasting and construction concerns. " indeed that continuing development of Biack. Businesses suggests to some that the very term Black business is becoming obsolete at least insofar As it refers Loblack owned businesses that Caler mainly to Blacks. Said Reginald Lewis the financier. Obviously. There Are Many companies that Are owned by african americans that Don l fit that Mold however one describes them companies owned by Blacks have improved their Overall standing in recent years. Andrew f. Brimmer who was the first Black member of the Federal Reserve Board and who now Heads an economic consulting firm in Washington estimates thai the total sates of Black owned businesses in the United slates increased from $12.4 billion to $18.1 billion in 1987. That 7.9 percent annual average growth Rale compares with a 5 percent growth rate for All american businesses. But while some Point to the growth rate of Black owned businesses others lament that these companies account for a relatively tiny segment of american Industry. The combined 1987 sales for the largest 100 Black owned companies $4.1 billion according Loblack Enterprise Magazine roughly equated the revenues of the Scott paper co., which was ranked no. 109 on the Fortune 500 list. Moreover Lewis s investment company the tic group accounted for $1,8 billion of the. $4.1 billion total while there is Progress among Black owned businesses and Blacks within Large corporations it is not nearly As significant As it should be said the president of a Black