By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Andrew Traver, whose nomination by President Obama to head up ATF seems to have gone nowhere, is the new head of ATF’s Denver office. Before getting this new assignment he was head of the Chicago ATF. Traver began his ATF career in 1987 as a special agent in the Chicago Field…
By STEFANO ESPOSITO Chicago Sun-Times CHICAGO — The city’s longest-serving FBI chief is retiring — just one month after the city’s top federal prosecutor stepped down. Robert D. Grant, 54, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office, has accepted a job with the Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles, where he will be part of their…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Once in a while a U.S. Attorney comes along and makes a mark not only locally but nationally. U.S. Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago was one of those guys. Fitzgerald resigned and left office last Friday, leaving behind a legacy that included prosecuting the ever-chatty ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Dick Cheney’s right…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The FBI has a new face on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list. The FBI in Chicago announced Tuesday that Fidel Urbina, the subject of a nationwide manhunt since 1999, was put on the infamous list. He’s wanted in connection with two sexual assaults and murder. The former Chicago resident…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com Reid J. Schar, lead prosecutor in the Rod Blagojevich corruption retrial in 2011, may have cinched the convictions that sent Blago to prison with the question: “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Now Schar, 40, is taking his show on the road. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Schar is leaving…
By Jim Schoettler Florida Times-Union JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On his first day at work, Mike Steinbach sat at a Chicago Denny’s drinking coffee, reading a newspaper and covertly protecting a nearby federal witness from a possible hit attempt by the mob. “I thought, ‘Holy moly.’ This is a pretty good deal,” Steinbach said. “I knew…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Michael B. Steinbach is taking over the FBI’s Jacksonville Division. Steinbach, the special assistant to associate deputy director Thomas Harrington at FBI Headquarters, began his career in April 1995 and was first assigned to the Chicago divison, working fugitives and violent crimes. In 2003, he went to headquarters as a supervisor…
Shoshanna Utchenik ticklethewire.com A 2010 sting nailed a would-be bomber for attempting to plant an explosive device in the bustling Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago. Now, he’s likely to be out of commission for a long time. The FBI announced Monday that Sami Samir Hassoun, a 24-year-old green card holder from Lebanon, pleaded guilty to one…
