The state Supreme Court slammed the door on the unusual effort of Cicero Police Pension Fund officials to restore retirement benefits to the town’s imprisoned former public safety director.
Without comment, the court last week rejected efforts by Cicero officials to reconsider the case of Emil Schullo, whose $60,000-a-year retirement benefits were terminated in 2003 after he was convicted in mob-linked corruption schemes that cost the town more than $6 million. State law prohibits paying retirement benefits to police officials who committed crimes while acting in the line of duty.
Schullo had been waging an unsuccessful court battle to restore his benefits. This summer, after the 1st District Appellate Court ruled against him, he filed a petition to appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court.
With that petition pending, his lawyers struck an unusual settlement deal with Cicero’s five-person Pension Board. They agreed that Schullo would withdraw his Supreme Court case, and the Pension Board would hold a hearing to consider his benefits.
The settlement reflected changes in the makeup of Cicero’s five-person panel, with new members sympathetic to the former chief.
But the Supreme Court refused to release the case and allow the settlement. In a order issued Thursday, the court denied the motion by Schullo and the board to remand the case to the board for rehearing.
The court also affirmed an Appellate Court decision denying Schullo benefits.
Schullo’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
That ends Schullo’s bid for pension benefits, said board attorney Matthias Delort.
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Housed in a Duluth, Minn., federal prison camp, Schullo, 58, is slated for release in January 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Web site.