Fourth Judge Found Guilty in Chicago Probe

A judge accused of using the bench “as his own private vending machine,” was found guilty Tuesday of racketeering, extortion and mail fraud, becoming the fourth judge convicted as part of the Operation Greylord investigation.

Cook County Circuit Judge Reginald J. Holzer bowed his head as a federal jury returned the verdict after deliberating about 18 hours since Friday.

Holzer had been accused of shaking down litigants and their attorneys for more than $150,000 in “loans” between 1974 and 1984. The 58-year-old Holzer, a judge since 1966, had been on paid leave from his $73,000 Chancery Court post since his indictment last May.

He could be sentenced to up to 195 years in prison and fined up to $78,000. U.S. District Judge Prentice Marshall said he would set a sentencing date after post-trial motions were heard.

“I’ve given my life to the system,” Holzer later told reporters. “I have no further comment.”

Nine Judges Indicted

Holzer is one of nine judges indicted in the continuing Greylord investigation into corruption in the nation’s largest court system. One judge pleaded guilty, four have been convicted, one was acquitted and three are awaiting trial.

During closing arguments last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julian Solotorovsky said: “Judge Holzer for many, many years took his robes, took his chambers, took his power as a judge and turned it into his own private vending machine.”

Defense lawyers argued during the six-week trial that the payments were legitimate personal and bank loans Holzer intended to repay and which he needed desperately to meet the payments on mounting debts.

“He is the only public official I have ever heard of who has a 13-year corruption plan that ends up in bankruptcy,” defense attorney Edward L. Foote said in closing arguments.

There was no evidence and no testimony proving that Holzer had threatened to use his position against those who refused to help him, Foote said.

Co-prosecutor Scott Turow said: “Once a lawyer gave money, he found himself over a barrel because he knew . . . he had done something he should not have done.”

Holzer, he said, “financed his life style by leaning on people in his courtroom” and then “went to Vegas and shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue.”

But Holzer testified on Feb. 4 that he was overwhelmed by debt and borrowed in an effort to meet his payments. He said his interest payments in 1984 exceeded his salary.

The judge denied accusations that he had used his judicial post to steer business to his wife, Estelle, an insurance agent.

The 3 1/2-year Greylord investigation has resulted in charges against 52 people--policemen, attorneys and court officials.