INDIANAPOLIS | Imprisoned former East Chicago Controller Ed Maldonado has agreed to cooperate with the state's civil racketeering lawsuit against former eight-term Mayor Robert Pastrick.
Maldonado, who was convicted on federal corruption charges related to a 1999 sidewalks-for-votes scheme, is the latest and perhaps highest-profile former city official to agree to testify against Pastrick. The longtime mayor and top aides Timothy Raykovich and James Fife III are the primary targets of the federal lawsuit, which seeks to hold them financially responsible tor $24 million in public money that went to pave driveways, patios and sidewalks for city voters.
Patrick Collins, the former federal prosecutor Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter hired to lead the racketeering suit, called Maldonado's cooperation critical to the case.
"Of the defendants, he was in a unique position to understand what was happening within the walls of East Chicago," Collins said Thursday. "It's a significant development because we have an insider who will be telling the story."
Maldonado joins former East Chicago Councilmen Joe De La Cruz and Adrian Santos as members of the Sidewalk Six who were convicted in the federal probe of the illegal paving spree and now are cooperating with the financial pursuit of Pastrick. The mayor was not charged in the criminal probe.
As part of the settlement, Maldonado, whose projected prison release date is in 2014, agreed to an indefinite ban on holding public office. He will not pay a financial penalty.
The state's civil suit, launched in 2004, so far has recovered $1.3 million through settlements with 21 of the 26 former city officials and contractors originally named as defendants as well as a separate deal with a city insurance provider that wasn't named in the suit.
Collins, who helped convict former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on corruptions charges, had been paid $317,000 as of June. In July, the attorney general's office gave Collins a seven-month extension worth up to $250,000.
U.S. District Court Judge James Moody cleared the way for the case to go to trial in late June, but no trial date has been set. The state is pursuing settlements with two remaining city contractors, meaning Pastrick, Fife and Raykovich likely will be the only defendants at trial.
