How One Lie Convicted One Mayor: The Lawrence Jackson Scandal

Being mayor wasn’t enough for Lawrence Jackson. He also wanted the money. Undoubtedly, the night he won the mayoral election of Riverdale, he thought himself, “I finally made it.“ And then he thought, “I can make more.”

The Garbage Deal

When Riverdale Materials LLC filed for a special-use zoning permit in 2017, they knew Mayor Jackson’s office would approve the permit. James Bracken, the owner, was Jackson’s friend and business partner. The move should’ve been simple, but it quickly got more complicated than Jackson was prepared for.

Tri-State garbage disposal raised the first alarm. The company said that Riverdale Materials LLC should have to go through the same licensing process they had. Tri-State also wanted the company to pay royalties to the Village of Riverdale as they themselves did. And this was standard protocol, so the village agreed. And all was well. Except it wasn’t.

The village did not put Riverdale Materials LLC through the rigorous licensing and royalties process. Tri-State saw this as favoritism. The company didn’t hesitate to publicly voice its concerns. Jackson responded by announcing the village would be cutting ties with Tri-State after its contract ended in August of 2019. The village claimed it was doing so for budgetary reasons, but it invited Tri-State to submit a bid.

Also, even though the village was struggling financially, it would be paying the Flood Brothers, a different garbage disposal company, over $18,000 for spring waste removal. Tri-State found this problematic because by contract, they were supposed to do it for free. The village’s decision stood opposite to its claims of financial troubles. Tri-State didn’t like it. The cutting of a nearly one-million-dollar contract dealt them a huge financial blow. They wouldn’t let this stand.

The Big Lie

Tri-State was not prepared to simply walk away from a nearly million-dollar contract. They were prepared for war. They immediately turned to the courts, assembling a team of relentless private investigators determined to uncover the real reason for the contract termination.

What they found was not just a conflict of interest but a hidden business relationship. The investigators quickly established an undeniable link between Mayor Jackson and James Bracken, the owner of Riverdale Materials.

The smoking gun was fired sometime around February 2018.

Investigators for Tri-State discovered that Jackson and his wife had formed Centennial Holdings LLC, a company with no prior experience operations. The evidence was irrefutable. Bracken had been running the shell company on their behalf, making Jackson his secret partner. Centennial Holdings was a secret back door, funneling kickbacks from Bracken straight to the mayor.

Armed with this bombshell, Tri-State’s legal team had the leverage they needed. Lawrence Jackson was now forced to sit for a sworn deposition in the lawsuit against him. The situation tumbled off a cliff from there, with the deposition taking place on February 25, 2021.

Inside the deposition room, Jackson held a hand high in front of the court reporter and swore an oath he had no intention of keeping. He sat beside his attorney, while the lawyers for Tri-State prepared their questions.

The questions began softly. Jackson confirmed he was indeed the mayor of Riverdale and acknowledged being so since 2013. He reflected on the parameters of the deal between Riverdale and Tri-State that had been cancelled. He breezed through the easy questions, managing to avoid incriminating himself. But the attorneys weren’t finished.

Tri-State’s lawyers insinuated Jackson was disgruntled with the company for questioning the Riverdale Materials LLC contract. Because of that, the mayor had cut their contract out of retaliation. They pushed for the truth and asked, “How do you know James Bracken, the owner of Riverdale Materials LLC? Did Bracken introduce you to the Flood Brothers company?”

In that moment, Lawrence Jackson, the mayor of a city, made a choice. That choice was to lie.

Downplaying his easily-provable relationship with Bracken, Jackson denied Bracken was his business partner. He claimed that an administrator who worked for Riverdale introduced him to the Flood Brothers not James Bracken. Centennial Holdings was a legitimate company he and his wife owned. He swore he had no conflicting interests with Bracken, his company or the Flood Brothers. He then doubled down on the idea that ending the contract with Tri-State was a strict budgetary move. Nothing was amiss.

After the deposition, Jackson headed into court with his head held high. Tri-State had nothing on him. Their civil case wasn’t a threat. His lawyers agreed and submitted a motion for summary judgement. They wanted the case threw out without further consideration. And the judge gave them what they wanted. Jackson and the village had won. The civil case was over.

Jackson’s denial of facts was enough to get Tri-State’s lawsuit dismissed before trial, but twenty months later, this lie came back in the form of an indictment.

The Conviction of Mayor Lawrence Jackson

For nearly two years after the deposition, Jackson ran the village as usual. He occasionally worried about the lie he’d told but then dismissed it. The lawsuit against him and the village had been thrown out in court. And Jackson hadn’t been charged with anything. He was good. He thought. But his lie had quietly made it to federal authorities. They evaluated the transcript of the lies the mayor had told under oath. This receipt would end up costing Jackson the most.

On Wednesday in late October of 2023, the news Jackson had been dreading came. With his wall of degrees and awards behind him in his office, he read and reread the FBI press release announcing his indictment. It was time for him to answer for the lies he’d told.

With the pressure building, Jackson walked into the U.S. District Court in Chicago with his legal team. Inside sparsely populated room, he listened as prosecutors read the case against him. They wanted no bail for him. When it was their turn, his lawyers reminded the court that Jackson had no previous criminal history and was a pillar in the community. He wasn’t a flight risk. After weighing both arguments, the judge sided with the defense, allowing Jackson to walk free for now. The judge set trial, but Jackson didn’t plan on going that far.

Before the trial could even begin, his lawyers submitted a motion to dismiss. They hoped to get it thrown out before trial as they had the civil case. His lawyers argued against his obstruction charge, saying that his false deposition testimony wasn’t enough to charge him. From their view, the obstruction charge required the government to prove he intended to manipulate physical evidence. The government, they said, hadn’t proven this. The judge disagreed and dismissed their motion. The trial would happen.

In early November of 2025, Jackson’s trial began. His case being as high-profile as it was, much of the proceedings were kept under wraps. A Federal jury heard the evidence and evaluated it. By Wednesday, November 13, the jury had heard enough. They marched in with a verdict.

At the defense table, Jackson sat tensely with his attorneys, hoping for the best. The jury had heard his side and the evidence, and maybe that was enough to get him off. Again, he was mistaken.

The jury found the mayor guilty of one count of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. The lie he had told almost two years ago under oath had led to his undoing. He had ruined himself and destroyed his legacy.

The victory of the civil case summary judgment, the one he had secured by the lie, evaporated. Within days of the federal verdict, the Village Board acted. The man who had been the chief executive of Riverdale for over twelve years was formally removed from office. His framed campaign posters, the official promises of transparency and accountability, were quietly taken down, replaced by the unsettling reality of a federal felony conviction.

The Final Backlash

Exactly one week after his conviction, Mayor Jackson formally walked out of his office for good. He had failed to keep the promise of transparency had been elected on. For that, he was stripped of his power and dignity. He was now a convicted criminal, but his story is more complicated than that.

For twelve years and almost three full terms, most of the people of his village supported him. They saw him deliver on promises to the community to reduce crime and lower taxes. Under his leadership, Riverdale became a safer, more affordable place for his constituents. They show love and appreciation to him for this across multiple social media platforms. He was the mayor many of them wanted and needed. This is why their unconditional love and his legal downfall haunt him.

Sitting at home, Jackson is probably replaying those lies in his head, as he awaits sentencing. Although a date hasn’t been set, it looms in the court system. Soon, his number will be called, and the courts will hear his side before handing down his sentence. His lawyers will mention the good he did for Riverdale. They’ll highlight his previously-clean record and use this to argue for a shorter sentence or probation. The prosecution will point to his intentional perjury, arguing that his lies were a corrupt act to conceal his financial dealings.

The courts will decide if Jackson gets probation or does up to twenty-five years in federal prison. Jackson is no longer mayor of Riverdale, but his legacy will forever be a part of it, good or bad.

Jermaine Reed, MFA is an educator, author and editor in chief of TheReedersBlock. He has written over 14 books, nonfiction and fiction. Physical and digital copies are available here on Amazon. FOLLOW Jermaine Reed, MFA for his controversial but real hot takes.

*A note from the Editor: When I started writing this, all I saw was salacious news surrounding former mayor Lawrence Jackson. Being inundated with such negative news misshaped my early judgment. As I dug deeper into this father and husband, I saw he’d been elected three times. He’d lowered property taxes for his constituents and crime. The question became, is he a bad person? The resounding answer is, no.

Jackson made some poor decisions, and he has paid dearly already. He’s been stripped of his office and is currently facing a twenty-five-year potential sentence. The conviction makes him a felon, the exact image a successful Black man spends his life struggling against. Jackson has lost this battle. He hasn’t lost who who he is, and others have come before him.

Malcolm-X was an armed robber who did eight years in prison. His legacy was defined by his transcendence. Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks were arrested for peaceful civil disobedience. Donald Trump is a 34-count convicted felon who won office after the election. Jackson made a few bad decisions, but if he remains solid in who he is overall, he’ll be ok. I have no judgement to pass.