Prosecutors close to resting case in former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke's federal corruption trial

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A courtroom heard on Friday what former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke said on a phone call with a former candidate for Chicago mayor.

More than a month into the federal government's case again Ed Burke, the jury heard a call between Burke and Gery Chico.

He called Burke to talk about a 2017 fundraiser for Burke, where they were trying to get the support of a local builder

Chico said on the call, "They're pretty naive on this stuff, so we've got to drag their asses along the way."

Burke responds, "If they cant get access to the property because the driveway isn't legal, they might get the message."

At this point in the trial, jurors have learned through several days of testimony how Burke shut a Burger King renovation project down because the restaurant did not have a driveway permit.

Burke is accused of using the permit issue as he tried to convince the Burger King owners to his private law firm for property tax appeal work.

The Burger King scheme focused on Burke's co-defendant and former chief-of-staff, Pete Andrews. He is accused of lying to the FBI when they interviewed him about the Burger King situation.

Andrews denied knowing the restaurant owners, even though an FBI raid discovered the Burger King renovation plans and files with information about the owners and all the Chicago area Burger Kings they own on Andrews desk at his 14th Ward office.

Friday afternoon, prosecutors moved on to the last of what they called an "episode" in this case -.the Binny's pole sign.

Co-defendant and developer Charles Cui asked for Burke's help to get a permit for the pole sign, according to prosecutors. Cui was redeveloping a shopping center. Binny's was a tenant and wanted to use the sign. Burke made some calls and Cui ended up becoming a client of Burke's firm Klafter & Burke.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Monday at the Dirksen Federal Building.