Rudy Acosta spent decades around some of Chicago’s most colorful — and allegedly corrupt — politicians.
A longtime Chicago fire inspector and 14th Ward precinct captain, Acosta watched as a succession of his political mentors were hit with federal charges, including Ald. Fred Roti, the mob-connected leader of the old 1st Ward who went to prison for bribery and current Ald. Edward Burke, who is awaiting trial on sweeping racketeering charges.
But it was Acosta’s work as a liaison for corrupt former state Sen. Martin Sandoval that finally landed him in hot water.
On Tuesday, Acosta, 70, pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI in a series of interviews in 2017 and 2018 about its investigation into Sandoval and other elected officials.
Although Acosta provided information about the criminal activities of others, he lied or failed to disclose benefits, including money, free services, meals and travel, that both he and Sandoval had received from Individual A, an uncharged businessman who was under investigation for bribing Sandoval in exchange for his official support.
Acosta also admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he concealed from the FBI that he’d made periodic cash payments to Sandoval related to support for his business, Power Washing Pros, and that he’d also “facilitated bribe payments to another public official.”
Sandoval pleaded guilty last year to taking bribes from a red-light camera company executive and was cooperating with federal prosecutors until his death in December from COVID-19 complications.
According to his 17-page plea agreement, Acosta faces up to about six months in prison under preliminary sentencing guidelines. In exchange for a potential recommendation from prosecutors for leniency, Acosta has agreed to fully cooperate in the ongoing probe.
U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland delayed setting a sentencing hearing due to the ongoing cooperation. Rowland set a status hearing in the case for Oct. 13.
An old-school remnant of Chicago Democratic machine politics, Acosta became the latest figure to plead guilty in a sprawling corruption probe that has so far led to charges against more than half a dozen elected officials other political operatives.
Before he entered his plea, Acosta, who appeared via videoconference, traded jokes with the judge about his health and his eight grandchildren. At one point, Rowland asked him if the medications he was taking for a variety of ailments impaired his ability to understand the proceedings.
“Not at all,” he said. “Sharp as a pencil.”
Acosta told the judge he’d previously worked as an inspector for the Chicago Fire Department for 33 years, but made no mention of his political work.
Acosta served for years as a 14th Ward precinct captain under Burke, who was charged in a racketeering indictment in 2019 with using his position as chairman of City Council Finance Committee to strong-arm businessmen to hire his private law firm to appeal their property taxes.
He was also a key aide for Sandoval, a Southwest Side legislator who was head of the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee. Sandoval resigned after his Springfield offices were raided in 2019.
After Sandoval was charged, rumors of Acosta’s cooperation began circulating in legal circles. He denied being an informant when approached by a Tribune reporter in October 2019. According to the plea agreement, Acosta was interviewed for the last time by the FBI the next month.
Acosta’s son, Rudy Acosta III, is currently facing federal drug conspiracy charges alleging he distributed large amounts of narcotics in the Chicago area for Mexican cartel members.
To help bond his son out of jail while the case is pending, Acosta agreed in 2016 to post his longtime home on South Avers Avenue as collateral, court records show. He also offered is $65,000 annual firefighter’s pension as further collateral.
Meanwhile, the elder Acosta’s name surfaced in 2019 in a separate federal case alleging the operator of a clout-heavy Summit tavern paid $6,500 in bribes to two undisclosed officials in the southwest suburb in exchange for official acts benefiting one of his businesses.
The operator, Mariano Martinez, who worked on political campaigns with Acosta Sr., is cooperating with authorities in hopes of leniency at sentencing.
Acosta has been at the center of other political scandals through the years. In 2011, his home on Avers Avenue was found to have served as the home address for four students who were given legislative scholarships by Sandoval. One of the coveted free rides went to the son of Michael “Jaws” Giorango, a twice-convicted, mob-connected bookie and strip club consultant.
But Acosta’s first loyalty was to Burke. After the longtime 14th Ward powerhouse was reelected in 2019 despite the federal charges, Acosta was among the ardent supporters who cheered Burke at his election night victory party at the Red Barrel restaurant on South Archer Avenue, according to a Sun-Times report.
“All these do-gooder people in office, what do they do? Take money. They all take money,” Acosta said at the time. “I can’t tell you the amount of people he’s helped. When he’s done, Camelot is gone.”