Former Riverdale Mayor Lawrence Jackson received a six-month prison sentence Thursday for lying in a civil deposition to conceal financial ties to landfill owner James Bracken, who did business with the village Jackson led. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said probation wasn’t justified. Elected officials, he said, needed to hear that lying carries consequences.
The ruling drew a firm line around a basic expectation: people entrusted with public authority owe courts the truth.
The Sentence
"Public officials are expected to be honest with how they approach the judicial process," Gettleman said. "(Jackson) was a public official, he was involved with people doing business with the city and he violated the oath that he took ... It's very serious." Prosecutors sought a longer sentence. The judge also observed that "in this courthouse we have seen a lot of disappointing results on that."
Gettleman showed sympathy for Jackson, too. He said Jackson had led an otherwise exemplary life, pulling himself "literally up by his bootstraps" from Chicago's housing projects, washing dishes to pay his way through college and entering public service with a promise to improve Riverdale's finances. That history made the lie harder to accept, the judge said, even though the truth could have exposed Jackson's dealings with Bracken, who was then the target of a federal corruption investigation.
A jury found Jackson guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice in November. He resigned as mayor and gave up his publicly funded pension. After Thursday's sentencing, prosecutors dropped separate charges that he failed to file federal income tax returns for three years.
The Deposition and the Business Ties
The case began with Jackson's 2021 deposition in a civil lawsuit filed by Tri-State Disposal. The waste company claimed Jackson favored Bracken-owned Riverdale Materials, including by dismissing the chair of the village's Zoning Board of Appeals and replacing the chair with "persons politically connected to the mayor."
Prosecutors said Jackson wanted a new waste contractor and asked Bracken to help find one. Bracken connected him with Flood Brothers, which the village hired for a spring cleanup event in May 2018, even though Tri-State already had an obligation to do the work. Asked whether he played a role in hiring Flood Brothers, Jackson said no and attributed the introduction to village administrator Tim Williams. Prosecutors said both answers were lies.
Trial testimony also showed Bracken had a major role in Centennial Holdings, the trucking business Jackson and his wife incorporated in 2018 despite knowing nothing about running it. Texts and emails showed Bracken managed nearly every daily task, from payroll and insurance to timesheets and truck assignments. Prosecutors said he had also arranged a job for Jackson's wife at Morris Dirt and paid the mayor to do virtually nothing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirsten Moran wrote in a sentencing filing: "Defendant's only role in the company was to pick up a paycheck once a week and pay the truck drivers. Bracken ran defendant's business—for free—and gave defendant a paycheck for effectively no work."
State campaign records show companies linked to James and Kelly Bracken gave more than $30,000 to Jackson's campaign fund from 2016 to 2021. That total included an $8,177 in-kind contribution for a 2019 golf outing at George Dunne National golf club in Oak Forest. Bracken hasn't faced a wrongdoing charge.
The Defense
Jackson didn't address the court before sentencing. His attorney read a statement saying he "is not able to stand before the court and admit that he violated the law." His lawyers said errors in his answers were honest mistakes, blaming poor questioning by Mark La Rose, the attorney who deposed him. "Mistakes happen, and they happen often, because people are human," defense attorney Gabrielle Sansonetti told the jury.
Attorney Nancy DePodesta said Jackson assisted the FBI in other corruption investigations involving Riverdale but wouldn’t claim Bracken bribed him because, she said, that wasn’t true. "Had there been a corrupt relationship with Mr. Bracken, he would have cooperated," she said.
Tri-State lost its lawsuit. Judge Sara Ellis found too little evidence of political retribution. Prosecutors maintained that the Jackson-Bracken relationship mattered materially and might have changed the outcome.
A Village Still Struggling
Jackson campaigned on fiscal discipline. In his last reelection bid before charges, he told the Daily Southtown: "When I came into office in 2013, this village was saddled in lawsuits and investigations. We couldn't pay our bills. I've been able to stabilize government. We renegotiated contracts, restructured debt and got Riverdale on a path to solvency."
The figures tell a different story. More than 13 years after Jackson took office, Fitch Ratings lowered Riverdale's financial picture to CCC in its most recent report in April, citing "a severely weakened financial profile, including a negative balance of available general fund reserves, and very limited liquidity." The village has about 13,000 residents and a long record of budget troubles and corruption allegations. In 2014, developer John Thomas received a five-year federal prison sentence for stealing more than $375,000 in taxpayer funds set aside for a riverfront development.
Why This Matters:
Riverdale's story shows how taxpayers pay for cozy ties between public officials and favored businesses. The village of about 13,000 now has a CCC rating, a negative general fund reserve balance and very limited liquidity. Residents carry that burden, not those who profited. The sentence also backs a principle that institutions rely on: sworn testimony must mean something, especially when an official's own conduct is under scrutiny. Judge Gettleman said deterrence matters.
For local governments, the lesson is plain. Transparent contracting, arm's-length dealings with vendors and honest disclosure protect public money better than any campaign-trail promise to stabilize finances.
- lawrence jackson
- riverdale
- perjury
- obstruction of justice
- james bracken
- sentencing
- public corruption
- flood brothers