Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.

Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko.〔"Secret Tapes Helped Build Graft Cases In Illinois", by Carrie Johnson and Kimberly Kindy, Washington Post, December 22, 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122102334.html?wprss=rss_politics">〕