How did Chicago get to be so corrupt? By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine

I'm not sure that Chicago is so much more corrupt than any other city in the U.S. The photo of George Ryan is funny because he's from Kanakakee and was never a real Chicagoan.

The other thing is that the City is setup differently from other cities. The Alderman are mayors of their wards and have individual fiefdoms that are prone to little oversight and easy money. They are given a large a budget ($1.2 Million) and a menu of things to order form the City. There's also a list of other perks that no one ever mentions. Finally there are a lot of Alderman for the population. We have 50 wards in the City and 50 Alderman collecting pay checks. Most places that I have lived don't have this structure. It's a little too much power to the Alderman, too little oversight, and too much access to cash.

One other thing the explainer didn't mention is that there are two FBI anti-corruption task forces here which is one more than any
other major city in the U.S.