Robert Herguth
Watchdogs reporter
Robert Herguth is an investigative reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times, part of the Watchdogs team. He focuses on an array of subjects, including police corruption, organized crime and government accountability, as well as religion. He also helps oversee some digital and feature projects.
At the start of a five-year investigation by the attorney general, Cardinal Blase Cupich told seminarians the Archdiocese of Chicago had “posted all of the names” of predatory clergy. As the investigation neared its end, Cupich kept adding names.
Jeffrey Bertucci testified in 2010 to illegally paying out winnings from video gaming machines installed in his Cicero diner and splitting his take with the mob’s so-called video poker king. In 2019, gambling regulators gave him a license to legally operate video gaming devices.
Michael Gerrity now works for the Augustinian religious order in Chicago. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to felony charges, admitting he “misappropriated” more than $250,000 from a charity associated with Franciscan sisters.
In 2021, the state agency proposed stripping the lucrative video gaming license held by Frank Cortese’s company. Nearly two years later, with no ruling yet, he’s still in business.
Newly obtained records say sources told the FBI that the Machine Democrat, who died in 2001, “frequently associated with” top La Cosa Nostra figures and “is possibly an LCN member himself.”
Drawn uninvited to viaducts, L trains, abandoned buildings and other sometimes-dangerous settings, his artwork is “testing the bounds of what graffiti is,” a gallery owner says.
They’re the latest religious relics at the Shrine of All Saints in Morton Grove, which includes objects associated with more than 3,000 saints.
With Ald. Nicole Lee’s victory and Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth apparently on track to win in the 48th Ward on the North Side, the number of Asian American City Council members could grow to two.
The former Illinois Tollway board member is new to the industry. But his Belmont Bank has been lending money for years to Rick Heidner, a giant in the business.