Former Ward Boss 'Fast Eddie' Vrdolyak Gets Out Of Prison Quickly

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak was released from federal prison more than a year early on a tax evasion conviction.

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 said Vrdolyak received about $12 million in fees from tobacco company settlements, despite not doing any legal work on the deals.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Vrdolyak — who led a faction of alderman against then-Mayor Harold Washington in what became known as Chicago's racially polarized "Council Wars" — was released from a Minnesota prison to a halfway house in Downers Grove after serving five months in federal prison, according to federal records.

Before the 84-year-old was sentenced, Vrdolyak's attorneys said the former alderman and twice-convicted felon suffered from debilitating medical conditions, including a brain tumor.

In 2010, Vrdolyak was sentenced to 10 months after pleading guilty to fraud for his role in a real estate kickback scheme.