In prison for bribes -- and still pressing old injury claim

Now doing seven years in prison for taking bribes in the Hired Truck scandal, former city worker John "Quarters" Boyle is still trying to get City Hall to pay him for injuries he says he suffered three years ago.

Boyle is among 12 former employees convicted in the Hired Truck scandal who filed workers compensation claims against the city. The others settled before they were convicted, for a total of at least $350,000, state records show.

Boyle landed a city job operating heavy equipment in 1997 despite having been convicted of stealing $4 million from the Illinois tollways. Boyle got his job with help from Dominic Longo of the Coalition for Better Government, a political group whose members often got city jobs, according to a "clout list" kept by Mayor Daley's one-time patronage chief.

Boyle reported he was injured on April 7, 2003, while working in a city yard at 4201 N. Oak Park Ave. on the Northwest Side. In the accident report he filed, Boyle said he was getting off a truck when he grabbed an icy hand rail, slipped and fell from the top of a ladder, leaving him with "extreme pain and numbness to his left side.''

He missed more than six months of work, returning in October 2003. A year later, he was charged with taking bribes from companies in the city's Hired Truck Program and fired.

Boyle said he had a witness to his fall -- Russell Marzullo, a city cement mixer. The city fired Marzullo a year ago when he and four other men -- including his brother, Frank Marzullo, then Berwyn's top cop -- were charged with beating a man. At the time of his arrest, Marzullo was doing paperwork and other light duty for the transportation department, an assignment he got after reporting he injured a wrist and neck nearly two years ago. Awaiting trial, Marzullo is suing the city, arguing he can't be fired because he has a pending workers comp case. Attorneys for Boyle and Marzullo declined to comment.

Of the 26 other former city employees convicted in the Hired Truck case, the dozen who had at least one workers comp claim include:

•  Richard Coveliers, a sewer inspector who paid bribes to get work for a trucking company he secretly owned. He filed four workers comp cases. The city paid him more than $114,000.

•  Patrick Stillo, an asphalt foreman who took about $15,000 in bribes from trucking companies that stole asphalt from the city. Stillo had seven claims; three caused him to miss work. The city paid him $94,210, including $30,324 for a shoulder strain Stillo said he suffered while lifting sewer covers.

•  Daniel Katalinic, a deputy commissioner of streets and sanitation who took bribes from truck companies. He also ran an army of patronage workers. Katalinic had four cases against the city. Twice, he reported being hurt driving a city truck, and twice while general superintendent. The city paid him more than $34,000, state records show.

•  John Briatta, chief of emergency dispatch crews for the water department, who took bribes from truck companies. Briatta, brother-in-law of Cook County Commissioner John M. Daley, the mayor's brother, filed a claim in 2001. Briatta reported he tripped while walking up stairs and broke a bone in his right hand. Briatta didn't miss any work. The city paid $12,258.56 to settle "all claims arising out of the alleged occurrence."