Sanchez gets 2½ years, still denies wrongdoing
February 3, 2011
Al Sanchez, the former commissioner of Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Department, was sentenced to 2½ years in prison today for rigging city hiring as part of a political patronage scheme.
Sanchez continued to deny wrongdoing before U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman imposed the prison sentence.
“They had to get Al Sanchez,” he told the judge. “That’s what this has been all about."
Sanchez offered a spirited defense of his actions in the courtroom, gesturing and accusing the government of coming into his neighborhood to build a case against him.
