Ex-mayor of northern Indiana town, 2 aides ordered to pay $108 million in racketeering case

Former northern Indiana mayor, aides to pay $108M

HAMMOND, Ind. — A federal judge has ordered a former northern Indiana mayor and two ex-aides to pay $108 million in civil damages in an alleged sidewalks-for-votes scheme.

U.S. District Judge James Moody filed his decision Thursday in a racketeering lawsuit filed by the state in 2004.

The suit says former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick and others spent $24 million in public money on private driveways, patios and walkways to court voters in 1999.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller says it’s the first time a city government has been adjudged a corrupt organization under federal racketeering laws.

Pastrick left office in 2004 and was never charged criminally. No one answered his lawyer’s phone late Thursday.

East Chicago is 20 miles southeast of Chicago.