For six decades, Oscar D’Angelo was one of Chicago’s most influential powerbrokers, a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker who had the ears of eight mayors as he reshaped his Little Italy neighborhood.

He helped mayors win support for controversial projects, such as the University of Illinois Chicago campus Mayor Richard J. Daley built after demolishing acres of homes and businesses in Little Italy.

Daley’s son, Mayor Richard M. Daley, had D’Angelo’s support when he leveled the Maxwell Street market two decades ago, replacing it with University Village, a development of homes and stores abutting the university and Little Italy.

D’Angelo loved doing favors, like providing free rental cars to Cook County judges and city officials, a corrupt practice that caused the Illinois Supreme Court to

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