A frail businessman was arrested and charged with the same crime as Jussie Smollett, and admitted his crimes straight away to save Chicago police an investigation, but now has a criminal record.
Robert Racky pleaded guilty to filing false police report last month, after calling the cops in August 2018 saying he been carjacked. In fact, he had been booted by the city for unpaid parking tickets.
The frail 76-year-old, who opened the first rooftop club outside the home of the Chicago Cubs in Wrigleyville in 1988, was thrown in jail for two days before a lawyer posted his bond.
He couldn’t afford to pay the bail himself because of a slew of financial problems and was suffering from crippling bronchitis at the time.
Racky admitted his crimes straight after he was arrested and saved the city a lengthy investigation, but was still dragged through the courts and will now likely end his life with a rap sheet.
It was his first offense. Now questions are being raised as to why Racky was subjected to different standards to Smollett.
Just a few weeks before Racky’s guilty plea, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx dropped all charges against the Empire star after he allegedly staged a hate attack to try and get a raise on the show.
The actor, who is black and gay, claimed that two white men attacked him on the sidewalk shouting racist and anti-gay slurs, as well as slogans of Donald Trump.
Smollet avoided a criminal record, despite the sworn testimony of two Nigerian bodybuilders who said Smollett had paid them to stage the hoax.
Smollett has never apologized for his actions, has never been held accountable, and the investigation into his conduct cost Chicago police $130,000. He did two days of community service.
Ever since, Foxx’s office has defended their decision to drop the charges against Smollett and insist they only focus on ‘violent crime’. She has also suggested race may be a factor in the criticism against her.
Foxx even said that Smollett’s deal is available to all defendants.
There was no violence involved in Racky’s arrest or conviction. However, police did find unloaded guns locked in a box in the back of his booted car.
However, he was never convicted of any weapons charges.
Foxx has faced calls to resign and her office has faced huge scrutiny since her decision not to go through with prosecuting Smollett.
Smollett has also been under intense scrutiny from President Trump, who on Saturday urged the actor to apologize to millions his ‘complete lie’.
Martin Preib, the vice president of the Chicago police union, told DailyMail.com that they do not ‘buy’ Foxx’s version of what happened to Smollett.
‘Which is why we have called for a federal investigation,’ he added. ‘We have also argued that a pattern may be emerging of Ms Foxx making questionable decisions that benefit her political allies and supporters’.
Foxx dropped the charges after she was contacted by Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s former Chief of Staff, who was working on behalf of the Empire star and said she had ‘concerns’ about the investigation, according to multiple reports.
Racky is the father of the famous rooftop seating at Wrigley Field. He used to be a wealthy man with substantial real estate holdings in the Windy City.
But, now his only income is $1,660 from social security after a series events within his family meant he was essentially stripped of his fortune.
Racky started the first Wrigley Field rooftop, The Lakeview Baseball Club, in 1988.
It became famous for the tote board under its seats that details the years elapsed since the Cubs’ last division, league and World Series titles.
In 2015, for example, the sign read AC0770107 (seven years since a division title, 70 since the pennant, 107 since the World Series title).
‘AC’ stands for ‘anno catuli,’ generally translated from Latin to mean “in the year of the Cub.” The accompanying “Eamus Catuli!” sign means “Let us go, little bears,” or “Let’s go Cubs!”
It was flipped to zero when the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in 2016, their first World Series win since 1908.
In 2011, a judge foreclosed the property. Ever since Mr Rasky has suffered a slew of financial problems and healthy issues.
Gilbert Liss, Racky’s lawyer, told DailyMail.com he had recently moved from Chicago to Iowa and mounting frustration with his business and ailing health was a factor with the run-in with the police.
‘Sometimes he doesn’t have his hands on any money, so he is unable to travel. I got him excused from failure to show up,’ he said.
‘The public defender got the weapons charges dropped,’ he added. ‘Those charges were kind of ridiculous because they (the weapons) were locked up in a car and there was no ammunition. I am not quite sure what the deal was.
A boot is clamped to the car when more than two parking tickets haven’t been paid.
‘He was having financial problems and he was frustrated. He had talked to people about getting the parking tickets wiped out and for whatever reason, it didn’t happen.
‘He got frustrated. Lost his temper and did something he stupidly shouldn’t have done.
‘It certainly wasn’t a Jussie Smollett type thing where it took the police days and days of intense investigation to figure out what happened.
‘It was clear cut and he admitted exactly what he had done.
Mr Liss opened the first Wrigley Field rooftop with Mr Racky. While they were trying to get it set up they endured pressure from the police and the city and neighborhood.
But they still managed to get it open. Mr Racky, who also was successful in real estate, was a wealthy man, but after decades it started to crumble.
‘There were family problems and other things that stripped him of control of his assets and it meant it was foreclosed upon,’ Mr Liss said.
‘These were not financial problems of his doing. He went from a wealthy man to being broke.
‘He couldn’t come up to the money to pay for two parking tickets. I had to post his bond and bail him out of jail after two days.
‘He is trying to build his business, things are tight and he was overwhelmed. He is trying to get together to put together some deals.
A spokesman for the Cook County State’s Attorney told DailyMail.com: ‘On Aug. 9, 2018, Racky contacted the Chicago Police Department and reported that he was the victim of a robbery in progress.
‘Racky yelled obscenities at the responding officers and told them that he called police because he was upset that a boot was placed on his car.
‘Officers recovered two rifles from Racky’s car. He did not have a FOID card or a valid driver’s license. Racky was arrested and while in custody later admitted to officers that he said he was being robbed because he wanted the police to show up.
‘On 4/22/19, Racky pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct and was ordered to pay a $434 fine and the felony charges were dropped.’
The office did not answer questions on why Racky was given different treatment to Smollett at the time of publishing.
It is not the only accusation of double standards that Foxx’s office have received.
CWB Chicago have highlighted some of the cases, including Mr Racky’s, that have been the victim of double standards in Foxx’s office.
Their research shows eight cases that are similar to Smollett’s, but the outcomes were far different.
Candace Clark, a Chicago resident, allegedly gave a friend access to her bank account and then falsely telling police that money had been stolen from it.
Clark is charged with a felony.
Judge Marc Martin slammed Foxx in a tirade on the bench.
‘I’d like to know why Ms. Clark is being treated differently than Jussie Smollett,’ he said. ‘It’s a disorderly conduct case. A lot less egregious than Mr. Smollett’s case. I have a problem with it.’
In Clark’s case, prosecutors are demanding that she make full restitution of $2,800 and serve deferred prosecution – none of which was asked of Smollett.
In court on April 11, Judge Martin pressed the prosecutor on the discrepancy.
‘We review each case individually and make offers based on the facts of each individual case,’ prosecutor Allison Kudzy responded, according to a court transcript.
Judge Martin was unimpressed.
‘Well, Ms Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-priced lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good,’ he said.
‘And this smells, big time. I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently,’ he continued.
‘There’s no publicity to this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole,’ the judge said.
‘Press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?’ he continued.
A spokesperson for Foxx declined to comment at the time, saying the case is ongoing.
Clark, who works an overnight shift at Home Depot, said she couldn’t believe it when the judge demanded to know why she was being treated differently than Smollett.