CHICAGO TO LAS VEGAS-NO-WORK CONTRACTS MILLIONS

More political corruption, kickbacks, no-work.

When former University Medical Center boss Lacy Thomas needed to reel in kickbacks from his Chicago cronies, he allegedly fell back on a familiar scheme.

Thomas has been under criminal investigation for allegedly directing no-work contracts worth millions of dollars from the cash-strapped county hospital to his friends in Chicago. His payback, according to sources close to the investigation, came in the form of no-work contracts from Chicago to Las Vegas — directed to his wife.

Because of that and other alleged improprieties, Metro Police on Thursday recommended that the Clark County district attorney’s office prosecute Thomas and two Chicago businessmen who benefited from the contracts.

Jones is an influential player in Chicago politics, the godson of former Cook County Board of Commissioners President John Stroger, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources said at least one of the alleged kickbacks came from a contract awarded to Henrene Thomas by one of Jones’ clients, Family Guidance Centers Inc., a drug rehabilitation clinic in Chicago.

Under that contract, Henrene Thomas was supposed to open a clinic in Las Vegas, sources said. The money ended up in Henrene Thomas’ account, but the clinic never opened, and it in fact was never intended to open, sources said.