Ryan reaches end of road: PrisonFitzgerald takes issue with claim of innocence
By Michael Higgins and E.A. Torriero, Tribune staff reporters
November 8, 2007
On Wednesday, there was no deal former Gov. George Ryan could cut. There was no one to cajole, and no backroom compromise to be struck.
After a long drive from his Kankakee home, Ryan reported to a federal prison camp near Oxford, Wis., to begin serving a 6½ -year sentence for fraud, racketeering and other corruption.
Ryan's first night behind prison walls marks the end of a dizzying fall from his days in the governor's mansion, where he held sway as the state's most powerful Republican and its consummate old-school dealmaker.
Ryan's arrival at prison -- after an eight-year federal probe, a six-month trial and more than 1½ years fighting to stay free -- marked the symbolic end of a long, expensive and so far unsuccessful attempt to overturn his conviction.
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