Tried together, Blagojevich brothers often apart

From the Associated Press

By MICHAEL TARM
The Associated Press

CHICAGO — Rod Blagojevich’s friends scattered as investigators looking into his doomed Illinois governorship closed in. Some associates had already been indicted, others stopped returning calls.

So when the Democrat needed a campaign fund manager, he turned to someone who had stood with him on the sometimes mean Chicago streets where they grew up: his big brother Robert.

Now, Robert Blagojevich sits with his lone sibling in a court, a co-defendant expected to take the stand and try to convince jurors he had nothing to do with alleged schemes to parlay his brother’s powers as governor into personal gain.