I was told by his University of Chicago Law School classmate Harry Leinenweber, then a state representative sitting in front of me and now a federal judge, that Ed Vrdolyak was the only law student defending himself on a charge of murder.

It’s fort-some years later and the lawyer who made a lot of money and got the nickname of “Fast Eddie,” became

• an alderman,
• candidate for Cook County Assessor,
• Chicago mayoral candidate,
• Cook County Democratic Party Chairman under Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne,
• opposition leader to her successor Mayor Harold Washington,
• a member of the Cook County Republican Party,
• a radio talk show host

has now been indicted on Federal fraud and bribery in a spin-off of the Stuart Levine Mercy Hospital-Chicago Medical School-Downstate Teachers Pension Fund scandal.

This time I’ll bet he won’t be his own attorney.

Levine was an appointee of Democratic Party Governor Rod Blagojevich to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the Downstate Teachers Retirement System Board. He was originally appointed to the hospital licensing board by Republican Governor Jim Edgar, then re-appointed by Republican Governor George Ryan. Levine was 2002 GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan’s biggest lifetime contributor and his law school study partner.

The Feds called its investigation “Operation Board Games.”

Not quite the game of Monopoly, but certainly containing deals that experienced players might recognize.

What follows is the United States Attorney’s press release on the subject.

CHICAGO – A prominent Chicago lawyer and political figure, Edward R. Vrdolyak, was indicted today on federal fraud and bribery charges for allegedly scheming with cooperating businessman Stuart Levine to obtain a kickback for Levine from the sale of a building in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood for a condominium development.

The alleged scheme was intended to defraud a north suburban medical school of money and property and of the honest services of Levine, who served on the medical school’s board of trustees. The charges involve the medical school’s sale of the former Dr. William M. Scholl School of Podiatric Medicine at 1001 North Dearborn St., for $15 million in 2004 to Smithfield Properties Development LLC.

Vrdolyak was the only defendant charged in the four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury today and announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

The rest of the press release may be found here.