Bridgeport
Moreno taped in conversation allegedly getting $5,000 in cash
The dirty deal went down just before Christmas 2010 in the car of a Bridgeport developer, the feds say.
Inside the car were Joseph Mario Moreno, who had just been voted out of his job as a Cook County commissioner, and Michael DiFoggio, a Bridgeport developer who — from all appearances — wanted a garbage transfer station to be located in the Town of Cicero and was willing to cut a few corners to do it.
Just months before, Moreno had been appointed to a Town of Cicero local business assistance committee by Cicero President Larry Dominick. It was a plum appointment that came with free health insurance.
Moreno wanted more, though, authorities allege. He was willing to assist DiFoggio to get what he wanted from the Town of Cicero — but at a price, federal prosecutors allege.
Inside his car, DiFoggio passed an envelope to Moreno, allegedly containing $5,000 cash.
DiFoggio even had better news for Moreno, telling him that another $5,000 was on its way, the feds allege.
“Thanks, buddy, I appreciate it,” Moreno told DiFoggio as he got out of his car.
DiFoggio asked Moreno if he was happy. “Yes, I am,” Moreno said. The happiness wouldn’t last for long.
DiFoggio was secretly working for the FBI, record- ing that conversation with Moreno and many others, as part of a significant public corruption investigation, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. DiFoggio also recorded Moreno’s friend, former Chicago Ald. Ambrosio Medrano, and introduced an undercover FBI agent posing as a crooked purchasing agent to Medrano as part of a sting operation to snare businessmen allegedly looking to pay bribes for hospital business, court records show.
DiFoggio’s cooperation appears to be critical in three criminal complaints made public last month charging seven men, including Moreno and Medrano. Medrano worked on Moreno’s county staff and had previously gone to prison for public corruption when he was a Chicago alderman. Medrano pleaded guilty to one count of extortion in 1996 and was sentenced to 30 months behind bars.
As for DiFoggio, he is a successful, politically connected Bridgeport home developer and plumber whose family has deep ties in the neighborhood. He has been cooperating with the government since March 2010 because of his own legal problems, according to sources familiar with the matter and court records.
DiFoggio was
charged