NEW YORK — The No. 2 man in the Chicago Police Department will not be suspended, fired or removed for taking a family vacation in early June — approved and paid for in October — in violation of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s edict that no top brass take time off during the summer.
During an exclusive interview Monday, Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times the controversy caused by Anthony Riccio’s June 1-to-7 trip to Aruba to celebrate his daughter’s graduation is “over for now” and she’s prepared to move on.
“I’ve had an opportunity to get fully up to speed on what happened. We’ve dealt with it internally and I think it’s over for now,” the mayor said.
Lightfoot was pressed to describe how the matter was resolved without punishment when she hinted strongly last week that Riccio would pay a price for the ill-advised vacation.
“I wanted to make sure that I understood what had happened and the circumstances. As I understand, it was a pre-paid vacation that was paid last fall and already approved,” she said.
“I’ve emphasized to him and to the superintendent that it’s important that they lead by example. So I think we’ve come to an understanding and I’m ready to move forward.”
Lightfoot spoke to the Sun-Times after meeting with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Manhattan headquarters of his Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Later Monday, the mayor was scheduled to tape a segment of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and speak at the Democratic National Committee’s 20th annual LGBTQ gala.
After putting the Riccio vacation controversy to rest, Lightfoot was asked about the pulmonary embolism that hospitalized Riccio’s boss, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson, over the weekend.
Is the mayor concerned Johnson’s ongoing health issues could make it difficult for him to continue as superintendent—particularly after the superintendent survived kidney transplant surgery after being the recipient of an organ donated by his own son, who is also a Chicago Police officer?
“No, I don’t. Look, two years ago, he had a kidney transplant. So I would expect them to be extremely diligent and conservative in their treatment of him,” the mayor said.
“I’ve talked to him every day. And I know that he’s on the mend. And they’re just waiting for clearance from the doctors in order for him to be released and resume his responsibilities.”
Hours before Johnson was released from the hospital and returned to the office, Lightfoot said she was neither surprised nor concerned that doctors has kept him in the hospital on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“The doctors are being cautious…They’re not gonna let him out until they’re confident the blood clot has been resolved…I’ve had [a similar] circumstance with my mother,” she said.
Last week, a livid Lightfoot hinted strongly that Riccio’s days as the Chicago Police Department’s No. 2 man could be numbered after he defied her no-summer-vacation mandate.
“That would be incredibly disappointing to me if that happened because I gave a very specific directive that no exempt should be taking vacation during the summer,” Lightfoot told reporters at an unrelated event on Friday.
“If that happened, that’ll be something that we have to have a serious conversation about.”
Pressed then on whether she would remove Riccio, Lightfoot said, “I need to know more details before I can even go down that path. But, exempts have to set the example. And the example of doing something that the mayor has directed them not to do is highly problematic.”
If Lightfoot had decided to remove or discipline Riccio for a vacation approved and paid for before she took office, it could have been yet another blow to the morale of police officers who have worked under an expired contract for two years.
Last week, Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham branded as “wholly false” a “rumor” Lightfoot said she heard from a “credible” source and saw fit to repeat on the city’s cable channel: that the union told officers to “lay back” and “do nothing” over Memorial Day weekend.
Two days later, Lightfoot mixed it up on the City Council floor with the first vice-president of the FOP when Patrick Murray accused the new mayor of freezing the police union out of transition discussions on public safety and police reform.
Lightfoot has been holding weekly meetings with police brass she calls “Accountability Monday.” She summons Johnson and his team to the mayor’s office to hash out the violence that took place over the previous weekend.
Lightfoot has acknowledged “pushing” Johnson and his team to have a “sense of urgency” about reducing the traditional summer surge of violence and that, if they don’t have that sense of urgency, they’re in the wrong line of work.
She wants them to use all of the data analytics and other tools at their disposal to implement a winning crime-fighting strategy.
Lynn Sweet reported from New York. Fran Spielman reported from Chicago.
