My Fall From Grace

About the Book

Dead People voted. Absentee ballots changed. Petitions were round-tabled. Who was involved in the “Hired Truck" scandal? How much did Daley know? But most importantly, did someone in City Hall help the Feds get Laski? 

            After becoming City Clerk, the second-highest ranking elected position in Chicago, he helped a friend make hundreds of thousands of dollars. That same friend, as he learned on September 18, 2005, had worn a wire and carried a hidden camera for the FBI.  This betrayal led to Laski’s ultimately being sentenced to a West Virginia federal prison on September 11, 2006, and to a confrontational and controversial drug program.  All in all, over forty people were indicted in the “Hired Truck Program" scandal, many of whom, including Laski, were sent to federal prison.  This is the story of one unfortunate man’s fall from grace. 

About the Author

My Fall from Grace:  City Hall to Prison Walls is the story of James J. Laski, Jr., former Chicago City Clerk, and his fall from the second-highest elected position in the city to his incarceration in a West Virginia federal prison for his role in the infamous Hired Truck Program scandal.  It is the story of big city politics, betrayal at both political and personal levels, and the dehumanization of federal prison and its drug and rehabilitation program.  This book takes readers where many have never been before:  literally behind City Hall walls and prison gates, to tell a truly inspiring tale of success, downfall, faith, and survival.