Fears of who would be indicted among minority contractors during the federal prosecution of the Duffy family over the $100 million minority scam is palpable in Black neighborhoods. “There are fears in the faces of minority contracts when I went round our communities. They talked in hushed tones about who among them would be indicted. There are fears who would go to jail for peanuts they receive as fronts for big contractors,” activist Ed Reed told The Chicago Inquirer on Friday.
Reed who spearheaded the campaign for minority inclusion and hiring in the early 90s, explained that the community is waiting for the prosecution of the Duffy family alongside those Black contractors serving as fronts despite the abundant of contracts in Chicagoland. Already, over $10 billion contracts are going on in the city and about $3 billion of the projects is earnmark for minorities and women under the minority set aside.
Recently Patrick Fitzgerald, US attorney indicted the Duffy family for allegedly scamming minorities over $100 million in the set aside contract. Debra Dillon of the Chicago Business Coalition described the indictment as one out of many scams.
“Let see who goes to jail. The last indictment, nobody was jailed and business was done as usual. The Duffys must have upset the wrong person in City Hall.” “The various scams in City Hall have made life more difficult for upcoming contractors especially those without connections to the powers that be,” she said.
Various controls put in place by minorities such as joint efforts by women and minority contractors and involvement of minority consultants in awarding of these contracts failed to reduce scams and fronts.
“It makes things difficult now that the economy is struggling. We have to work twice as hard for half the result we get during the booming economy. This year is a little better than 2002 and we hope things will get better next year,” Dillon explained.
Black Contractors United board member, Louis Jones, early in the year called for community involvement, adequate preparations and vigorous campaign in stemming the various scams in and around Chicago. “It is not limited to City Hall. It is happening in the private sector and we need to have goals in each project. It is imperative to make sure that everybody is included in public works and those financed by tax breaks,” he said.
