Ex-Chicago alderman pleads guilty to taking bribes

A former Chicago alderman pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking bribes and kickbacks to sell bandages to public hospitals.

Prosecutors say Ambrosio Medrano and a Cook County commissioner agreed to accept kickbacks for influencing hospitals to buy bandages from two businessmen, who were co-defendants.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence, while Medrano is expected to ask for 21 to 27 months.

The former commissioner, Joseph Moreno, pleaded guilty in July.

Medrano was convicted in another case earlier this year — for trying to bribe a Los Angeles official for a lucrative health care contract. But the official was actually an undercover FBI agent. Medrano faces five years in federal prison for that conviction.

He spent nearly two years in prison in the 1990s for accepting bribes.