Nothing much surprises us in a city where "rigging" and "contracts" are frequently tied together. On June 3, businessman Douglas Ritter, president of Urban Services of America of Schaumburg pleaded guilty to charges of wire and mail fraud in a conspiracy to defraud the city by obtaining a $2 million contract to fix the city's plastic trash bins. The Sun Times reports Ritter had ties to the Department of Streets and Sanitation and donated $35,000 to the Hispanic Democratic Organization (formerly run by Al Sanchez, who has had his own ongoing corruption case). more ›

Two executives of a local garbage cart firm were indicted on Tuesday on four counts of mail and wire fraud for their roles in allegedly rigging contracts to repair city garbage carts. Federal prosecutors also charge that the two men paid their minority and women-owned subcontractors substantially less than promised to the city. Urban Services gave more than $50,000 to Chicago political causes, including $35,000 that went to the now defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization. Federal prosecutors claim that Douglas Ritter, and Steven Fenzl, president and vice president, respectively, of Urban Services of America Inc., defrauded the city by orchestrating the amount of the other bids that came in for the contract, ensuring that they won a $2 million contract with the Streets and Sanitation in 2005. more ›