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 Former Teamsters union boss John Coli Sr. was
sentenced to 19 months in federal prison Oct. 26 for extorting $325,000 in cash
payments from a Chicago film studio.
His sentence could have been harsher had he not helped federal prosecutors nab
former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton.
Coli, the former secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 727, pled guilty to
charges of threatening to shut down the studio with a labor strike unless the
president paid Coli $25,000 per quarter. The longtime labor leader also conceded
to falsifying income tax returns in 2019.
Cinespace Film Studio President Alex Pissios recorded Coli’s threats on tape
while cooperating with federal investigators. He warned Pissios, “We’ll shut it
down tomorrow. We’ll shut it down within an hour … I will f-ing have a picket
line up here, and everything will stop.” Cinespace produces “Chicago Fire” and
“Empire.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office wrote in a recent filing that Coli deserved 19 months
behind bars for orchestrating a “prolonged, calculated and deliberate” extortion
scheme.
“This was not some technical violation of the statute; Coli did not receive
small knickknacks, chocolates or promotional products,” Assistant U.S. Attorney
Amarjeet Bhachu wrote. “The picture painted here is not of a moment’s
indiscretion, or one bad decision, but rather a conscious, prolonged effort by
defendant Coli to exploit his position of trust for private gain.”
U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer rejected defense calls for
probation, telling Coli, “There is a price we all pay for public corruption.”
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“That it’s the way of the world to take advantage and line one’s own pockets so
long as nobody finds out about it,” Pallmeyer said. “That is damaging to the
fabric of society in a really significant way.”
Coli get a break in his sentence thanks to his cooperation with federal
investigators to secure an embezzlement conviction against Cullerton. Cullerton
was also a sponsor of the bill asking voters Nov. 8 to put government union
power guarantees in the Illinois Constitution.
The former state senator later pled guilty in March 2022 to accepting $248,000
in payments for a fraudulent job entailing little to no work for Teamsters Local
734. He was sentenced June 21 to one year in federal prison.
Cullerton will still collect his $2 million state pension, even after spending
time in federal prison for embezzlement. He’s one of eight former Illinois
General Assembly members to face federal charges in the past three years.
In the past 20 years, corruption has cost taxpayers over $10.6 billion in lost
economic growth, or more than $830 per Illinoisan. Illinois is ranked as the
nation’s second-most corrupt state.
State elected leaders and their cozy relationship with government unions have
driven much of the corruption, including empowering indicted former House
Speaker Mike Madigan. Amendment 1 would return much of the power government
unions lost when Madigan fell.
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