After the Vrdolyak 29 lost their majority in the city council in the 1986 court-ordered aldermanic elections, Mell offered to cooperate with Washington.
However, in 2007, Mell failed to re-register his extensive firearms collection (which included handguns) as then required by city ordinance.
As a result, Mell, along with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, proposed a one-month amnesty, where the gun registry would be re-opened.
His daughter Deb was elected to the state house of representatives in 2008 and appointed to the Chicago City Council in 2013.
Marge Mell died December 3, 2006, of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare and fatal disease.