Vrdolyak ain’t Fast Eddie no more

Hewas the prince of the city of tribes, the boss of its politics, a charismatic smartass withwiseguy connections, and the Chicago Outfit’s top cop within his entourage.

His namewas always in the gossip columns. He had judges and cops in his hands. Chicago called him Fast Eddie.

But on Friday Edward R. Vrdolyakwas just a frail, almost 83-year-old with a brain tumor.

Hewas sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to pay taxes on amultimillion-dollar tobacco company settlement, his second federal stretch in 10 years.

And hewasn’t Fast Eddie anymore.

At least hewasn’t some hypocrite. He didn’t beg. He didn’t squirt fake tears. He blamed himself.

“I apologize to the court, to the government, and tomy family,” Vrdolyak said. “What happened wasmy own fault and I take full responsibility.”

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow said he’d hold a hearing in three months to determine when Vrdolyak will enter prison. “I am not going to send Mr. Vrdolyak to prison duringCOVID,” Dowsaid.

But he’s sending him. Dowisn’t about to be ridiculed, his reputation trashed. That’s what happened to former federal Judge Milton Shadur, who let Vrdolyak off with five years’ probation in his last tax case. Federal prosecutors appealed, and Vrdolyak eventuallywas sent to prison for 10 months.

This time therewould be no probation for Eddie, not with that old FBI tape still dangling out there, with Vrdolyak talking about another illegal deal with crooked informant Stuart Levine.

“If two (expletive) schemers like you and I can’t figure this out, thenwe got a problem,” Vrdolyak said on federal tape.

On FridayDowmentioned the wiretap. “‘F——— schemer’ is not howyouwould hope a lawyer would refer to himself. Unfortunately, the description is apt at least in regard to his nowtwo criminal convictions.”

But that’s who he is. A schemer who relished the game.

Those who didn’t knowhim will talk to others who didn’t knowhim. Some will say Chicago is so different now. It isn’t. The tribes may have changed names.

But they’re still tribes.

I knew him. When Iwas a young reporter, I investigated his schemes, and tried to put him in jail on a crooked multimilliondollar city deal for the towing of all the abandoned cars off the city streets. We had breakfast. He pointed out that the incoming U.S. attorneywas the privatesector lawyer who put the city towing contract together.

Then he smiled that Fast Eddie smile.

“You figure out howthisworks now?” he said, tellingme to order some eggs.

So howto think of him? Think of a youngMephistopheles. Think of awolf.

You might think you could approach thewolf, get to knowit, but in the back of your mind some angel is screaming awarning about losing your hand or your soul.

Hewas the de factomayor of Chicago once, the leader of the white-ethnic opposition to the lateMayorHaroldWashington, the city’s first Blackmayor, during CouncilWars. Racewas aweapon on all sides, as it is today, but even Washingtonwouldn’t say Vrdolyakwas a racist.

“He’s not a racist. He’s a bully,” Washingtonwas quoted as saying in a book by his press secretary, Alton Miller. “He’ll use race, hell, he’ll use anything. He’ll use his own grandmother to get what he wants, but that doesn’t make him a bad guy inmy book. Amoral, yes. Racist, uh-uh.”

Later, Vrdolyakwas de facto mayor ofOutfit-dominated Cicero. I always thought he’d end up in a trunk, young and brash and full of brass, the best political street fighter around.

But he grewold. “Vrdolyak came froma privileged background. Hewaswell educated, served as an elected official, and had a thriving legal practice,” AssistantU.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachuwrote in a sentencing memo. “Despite all these advantages in life, he has chosen time and again to be a schemer, and to break the law.”

Bhachu is an excellent prosecutor, searching the dark side of Chicago and its underworld. And the people of Illinois owe Bhachu a great deal.

But Fast Eddiewasn’t privileged. He grew up behind a tavern in South Chicago, in the old steelworker neighborhood. He had to fight and clawhisway up. He fought old manDaley for respect. He used his own hands on people. And later, therewas other muscle, guys like Joe Salas and Tony the Ox.

But therewas no silver spoon. Years later he gave me what I thoughtwas the truest political quote about the city of tribes. I put it in a 1996 Sunday Tribune magazine profile ofMayor RichardM. Daley.

“You’ve got to understand something about the Irish, the Daley Irish,” Vrdolyak said. “It’s the Irish first, and everybody else is a Polack. Everybody. I’m Croatian, and to them Iwas a Polack. The blacks are Polacks. Latinos, everybody. … They play divideand-conquer. It’s smart politics. But it’s more than that with them. They’re theDaleys, inside, and everybody else is outside, all Polacks.”

He’s got nothing against the Irish or Poles and neither do I. But itwas always about the tribes with Eddie.

Chicago is still a Democratic town. The old Democratic machine givesway to the new Democrats, who are all about identity politics, herding votes by race and gender.

What is that but anotherway to define the tribes?

Eddie still knows howitworks.