Carrie Austin

Prime Suspect: Carrie Austin, Chicago Alderman
Nickname: Family Ties
Status: Under federal investigation

The feds, already having taken down the longest tenured Chicago Alderman in Ed Burke, then set their sights on the second longest serving, Alderman Carrie “Family Ties” Austin. This past June, the FBI raided the ward office of Austin located on the far south side of the city. The federal authorities are said to be looking into the circumstances behind the building and purchase of a new home by Austin in her West Pullman neighborhood. Others are more interested in her apparent affinity and brazen defense of nepotism. Austin has 7 of her immediate family members on the government payroll (6 of them for the City of Chicago), hiring four of them herself