Operation Silver Shovel was a major United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into political corruption in Chicago during the 1990s.
[1] In the 1980s, the federal Operation Greylord investigation of the Cook County courts found almost 100 lawyers and judges who were eventually sent to jail, disbarred or suspended for illegal actions.
[2] John Christopher was an FBI mole, an insider to the Chicago construction business and now a convicted felon and lifelong American Mafia associate.
[3] The FBI relied on Christopher to get audio or visual recordings of illegal transactions including bribes, money laundering and cocaine purchases.
The informant gave cash payments or other bribes to city officials in exchange for help in obtaining work.