The feds took jurors deep into the heart of their case against four former political power players accused of trying to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan on Tuesday, playing damaging video and audio secretly recorded by one of their colleagues.

The recordings brought jurors to a dimly lit table inside Saputo’s restaurant in Springfield, where then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez recorded Madigan confidant Michael McClain, who warned him in February 2019, “Don’t put anything in writing.”

They watched as then-City Club of Chicago President Jay Doherty, wearing a suit and blue tie, summed up the work done by other Madigan allies paid by ComEd: “Not much, to answer the question.”

And they heard McClain explain the arrangement with Madigan’s allies to a new ComEd CEO as the evolution of an “old-fashioned patronage system.” He said it was forced to change when advances in technology meant ComEd no longer needed meter readers who were historically recommended for their jobs by Madigan.

“That’s just what we’ve, we’ve always done for, Good Lord, over 20 years now,” McClain said.

Though many of the words captured by Marquez early in 2019 after he began cooperating with the feds have been made public before, prosecutors for the first time Tuesday publicly aired the video and audio recordings he gathered. 

They seemed to reveal that McClain, Doherty, then-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and then-Exelon executive Anne Pramaggiore acknowledged the purpose behind the payments to Madigan’s allies. In one recording, Hooker responded to a Marquez question about how “our friend” — meaning Madigan — would react if ComEd tampered with the arrangement. 

“You’re not going to do something for me, I don’t have to do anything for you,” Hooker said.

On the stand, Marquez said he believed Hooker’s statement to mean that if they didn’t continue to pay the subcontractors, “that would signal to Mike Madigan” that he could choose not to support ComEd legislation in the future. 

Marquez began to cooperate with federal investigators after they approached him on Jan. 16, 2019. He told jurors Tuesday that he agreed to cooperate after agents played him recordings in which he discussed the arrangement with the subcontractors. 

“After hearing the recordings, I realized that this was something that was affecting me, and I was concerned,” Marquez said.

His marathon testimony began Monday and is expected to last most of the week. Defense attorneys may not even have an opportunity to begin cross-examining him until Wednesday, at the earliest.

Marquez recorded McClain, Pramaggiore, Hooker and Doherty, approaching them to discuss the potential renewal of Doherty’s contract with ComEd, through which the subcontractors Frank Olivo, Raymond Nice, Edward Moody and Michael Zalewski were paid. 

Pramaggiore had recently been promoted from CEO of ComEd to a senior executive position at an Exelon affiliate. So the arrangement had to be explained to a new ComEd CEO, former federal prosecutor Joseph Dominguez.

During a Jan. 29, 2019 lunch at the Union League Club, Hooker suggested Marquez come up with a “write-up” to explain what the subcontractors did for ComEd. But during Marquez’s lunch one week later with McClain at Saputo’s, McClain told him “don’t put anything in writing.”

“I think all that can do is hurt ya,” McClain added later in the meeting. 

During a call on Feb. 18, 2019, Pramaggiore suggested that Marquez hold off messing with the arrangement, telling Marquez “we do not want to get caught up in a, you know, disruptive battle where, you know, somebody gets their nose out of joint.”

Pramaggiore attorney Scott Lassar predicted during opening statements that the recording of the call would exonerate Pramaggiore, who could be heard saying “oh my God” in the background, as Marquez tells her the subcontractors “pretty much collect a check.”

But asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu whether Marquez recalled Pramaggiore expressing any shock or surprise during the call, he said she did not. Nor did she later express any outrage or call for an investigation, he said.