A veteran prosecutor who played a key role in the recent trials of ex-Ald. Edward Burke and former House Speaker Michael Madigan will be the next head of the U.S. attorney’s office’s Public Corruption and Organized Crime Section.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker has been named as the replacement of Amarjeet Bhachu, who is leaving the U.S. attorney’s office on Friday after a 21-year career there.
The Public Corruption section is one of the most storied and critical in the office, responsible for bringing high-profile cases over the years that decimated the leadership of the Chicago Outfit and sent a seemingly endless parade of elected officials to prison, from aldermen and county commissioners to former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
Streicker, 45, joined the office in 2009 and was one of the lead prosecutors in the 2011 trial of Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman accused of helping Pakistani American David Headley plot the deadly 2008 terror attack on a hotel in Mumbai.
In 2023, Streicker was a member of the Burke prosecution team and delivered a memorable rebuttal argument telling jurors that the alderman’s words caught on tape — statements like “The cash register has not rung yet,” “They can go (expletive) themselves,” and “Did we land the tuna?” — provided the best avenue into his mind.
“What’s the best evidence of Burke’s intent? The words that came out of his mouth,” Streicker said. “And those words were captured on recordings.”
Last year, Streicker was the first lawyer to address the jury in Madigan’s landmark trial, beginning her two-hour opening statement by saying the case, which also included Madigan’s longtime confidant and co-defendant, Michael McClain, was about “corruption at the highest levels of state government.”
“Madigan abused his power and used the organization he led to engage in a pattern of corrupt conduct over and over and over again,” Streicker told jurors. “Together the defendants engaged in a campaign of bribery … through which they seized opportunities to leverage Madigan’s immense power in Illinois government to seek and accept bribes from people who needed something from the government. This racket went on for years.”
The Public Corruption section has been headed by Bhachu since 2018.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com