New Chicago FBI Chief: City 'Target Rich' For Corruption Probes
From the Chicago Tribune
Michael J. Anderson was staking out the front entrance of a Washington-area Ritz-Carlton in 2005 when he saw something stunning even for a veteran FBI agent accustomed to brazen public corruption schemes.
With an undercover video camera rolling, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson got out of a car near the hotel's front entrance, popped the trunk and retrieved a leather briefcase stuffed with $100,000 that the popular Louisiana congressman thought was bribe money. The cash, which was later found wrapped in tin foil and hidden amid frozen pie crusts in Jefferson's freezer, was actually part of an elaborate FBI sting.
As Anderson watched the exchange from a car across the street, he turned to his rookie partner to make sure he appreciated the moment.
"I said, 'Perry, you'll probably never see this again in your FBI career,' " Anderson recalled with a laugh in an interview this week with the Tribune.
A decade after leading the wide-ranging investigation that netted Jefferson 13 years in federal prison, Anderson is set to take over Oct. 19 as special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Chicago, a city that Anderson described as "target rich" when it comes to public corruption cases.
"Chicago has always been in the forefront, unfortunately," Anderson said in his first comments since his promotion was announced in September. "The corruption in Chicago is very diverse. Federal, state, municipal and law enforcement, you name it."
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
Michael J. Anderson was staking out the front entrance of a Washington-area Ritz-Carlton in 2005 when he saw something stunning even for a veteran FBI agent accustomed to brazen public corruption schemes.
With an undercover video camera rolling, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson got out of a car near the hotel's front entrance, popped the trunk and retrieved a leather briefcase stuffed with $100,000 that the popular Louisiana congressman thought was bribe money. The cash, which was later found wrapped in tin foil and hidden amid frozen pie crusts in Jefferson's freezer, was actually part of an elaborate FBI sting.
As Anderson watched the exchange from a car across the street, he turned to his rookie partner to make sure he appreciated the moment.
"I said, 'Perry, you'll probably never see this again in your FBI career,' " Anderson recalled with a laugh in an interview this week with the Tribune.
A decade after leading the wide-ranging investigation that netted Jefferson 13 years in federal prison, Anderson is set to take over Oct. 19 as special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Chicago, a city that Anderson described as "target rich" when it comes to public corruption cases.
"Chicago has always been in the forefront, unfortunately," Anderson said in his first comments since his promotion was announced in September. "The corruption in Chicago is very diverse. Federal, state, municipal and law enforcement, you name it."
Read more in our daily News Update...