What do the feds know?

Plenty — especially about Chicago-area political figures, reputed mobsters, union leaders, government officials and others among the famous and the infamous.

The FBI gathers a lot of information on a lot of people. And, when those people die, the FBI’s files on them often become public documents, accessible upon request, though frequently heavily redacted.

Sometimes, it also will release its records on the living and on events and organizations like street gangs.

The Chicago Sun-Times has compiled FBI records on people and groups with ties to, or of particular interest to, the Chicago region and Illinois. They can be viewed through this portal, with new ones to be added regularly.

Beside shining a light on historical events and people and giving a glimpse of how law enforcement operates, some of the files, as you’ll see, are just plain entertaining.