Ex-governor Ryan slated to appear in court today

CHICAGO -- For months, former Gov. George Ryan has deflected questions about a corruption probe surrounding his tenure as secretary of state and governor. Now, prosecutors are demanding answers.

Ryan, 69, is scheduled to appear in federal court today to answer charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements to agents investigating corruption in the Ryan era. He is expected to enter a plea of innocent at his arraignment.

The 22-count indictment that could send Ryan to prison for years said Ryan -- as secretary of state and then governor -- took payoffs, gifts and vacations in return for letting associates profit off state contracts and leases. One lobbyist friend, Larry Warner, allegedly collected $3.1 million.

Ryan and members of his family shared in $167,000 in graft that included payoffs, free vacations and cash siphoned out of his campaign fund and camouflaged as expenses, prosecutors said.

The indictment is the latest in the government's 5 1/2-year Operation Safe Road investigation of corruption under Ryan that began as an inquiry into bribes paid for drivers licenses.

66th person charged

Ryan becomes the 66th person charged in the investigation and the fourth former Illinois governor to be indicted by a federal grand jury in as many decades.

Ryan, a Republican known worldwide as a leading critic of the death penalty, gradually became the focus of the corruption investigation. The growing scandal was a factor in Ryan's 2001 decision not to seek a second term.

The indictment alleged Ryan worked to sabotage the federal probe by essentially dismantling the inspector general's office when he was secretary of state.