'Fast Eddie' Vrdolyak Gets 18-Month Prison Sentence For Tax Fraud

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak is headed back to prison. A federal judge on Friday sentenced the South Side Democrat to 18 months in federal custody on tax evasion charges.

Vrdolyak, a longtime Chicago ward boss known as "Fast Eddie," pleaded guilty in March to avoiding payments to the Internal Revenue Service on the millions of dollars he received as part of Illinois' settlement with tobacco companies.

Prosecutors pushed for prison time following Vrdolyak's guilty plea. The fed contended in court documents that Vrdolyak received about $12 million in fees from tobacco company settlements despite not doing any legal work on the deals. They sought to put away Vrdolyak for more than three years.

Lawyers for the 82-year-old former head of the Cook County Democratic Party argued Vrdolyak should receive probation or home confinement due to "a number of debilitating medical conditions which offer no hope for improvement." Vrdolyak has a brain tumor, according to court papers.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow handed down a year-and-a-half sentence.

Judge Dow is set to decide in March when Vrdolyak would begin his prison term. The Sun-Times reported the judge said the octogenarian to prison "during COVID."

This is the second time Vrdolyak's has been sentenced to federal prison. In 2010, Vrdolyak was sentenced to 10 months after pleading guilty to fraud for his role in real-estate kickback scheme.