This week began with opening statements in the racketeering conspiracy trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, whose attorneys insisted that no one had the right to speak for the speaker — that Madigan was “ignorant” of what people said behind his back.But it ended with prosecutors playing a crush of about 30 recordings that suggest otherwise: That Madigan’s longtime friend Michael McClain went straight from retiring as a lobbyist in late 2016 to doing “assignments” for Madigan — what a prosecutor called his “dirty work.”“This is no longer me talking,” McClain told a veteran lawmaker in one such recording from 2018. “I’m an agent.” Related Michael Madigan’s friendship with alleged fixer could be tested during their corruption trial Defense attorneys punched back, though, taking a longtime FBI agent to task over the way he and a colleague convinced former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez to wear a wire for the feds and make crucial recordings of his friends and colleagues that jurors will likely see soon.McClain attorney Patrick Cotter challenged Special Agent Ryan McDonald over whether the “best way to get a cooperator” was to put them in the backseat of a car and keep talking to them after they said they were scared, like Marquez did.“I wouldn’t say it’s the best way,” McDonald said.“It worked here,” Cotter retorted.The fireworks came as prosecutors began to drill into core pillars of the case against Madigan and McClain — the alleged racketeering enterprise and the bribery scheme at ComEd. Trial highlightsSecret FBI recordings showed Michael Madigan co-defendant Michael McClain working “assignments.”FBI agent testifies about convincing ex-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez to wear a wire.Defense attorneys question FBI tactics Much of the evidence related to ComEd was aired at a separate trial last year. It ended with the convictions of McClain and three others. Still, the introduction of secret FBI recordings, and the key testimony from former state Rep. Lou Lang, livened things up in the 12th floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John Blakey as the first week of testimony came to a close.The evidence supported prosecutors’ claim that Madigan led a criminal enterprise designed to enhance his political power and enrich his allies, with McClain serving as his agent. It also undermined the argument from Madigan attorney Tom Breen in opening statements that Madigan was “completely ignorant of what people are saying behind his back.”“They don’t have the authority to speak that way for Michael Madigan,” Breen said.Lang, who served more than 30 years in the Illinois House of Representatives, kicked things off by taking the witness stand Thursday morning. Late in 2018, someone had threatened to come forward with an allegation against Lang after Springfield had already endured months of #MeToo scandals, including an earlier one involving Lang.In one call heard by jurors Thursday, Madigan told McClain that “I think the guy’s gonna be a continuing problem.” In another, McClain bluntly asked, “When do you want me to call Lang and just lower the boom?”“Sooner rather than later,” Madigan tells him.Lang looked straight ahead on the witness stand Thursday as prosecutors played the Nov. 8, 2018, call that came next. In it, McClain told Lang it was time to resign from the General Assembly. McClain said, “This is no longer me talking. I’m an agent, somebody that cares deeply about ya, who thinks that you really oughta move on.”“I understood at that time that [McClain] was a messenger for the speaker,” Lang testified.Prosecutors didn’t stop there. McDonald replaced Lang on the witness stand, and the feds played a series of secret recordings demonstrating the close bond Madigan and McClain had as frequent dinner companions, friends and political confidants.The tapes also put a fine point on how Madigan knowingly assigned tasks to McClain, who wasn’t shy in touting himself as Madigan’s chosen messenger.One example had McClain being told by Madigan to cut financial resources to another House Democrat, former Rep. Natalie Phelps Finnie, D-Elizabethtown. She had apparently bucked the advice of Madigan’s political apparatus during her 2018 election bid by not wanting to air negative political ads.McClain had been raising money for Phelps Finnie.Another had McClain directing a lobbyist to keep his politically radioactive partner, former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, from entering or leaving Madigan’s statehouse office because of the “bad optics” it may create.In yet another, Madigan sought McClain’s advice and help in confronting then-state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, over a series of anti-Madigan political ads some of his Democratic state Senate candidates were airing in the fall 2018 elections.“It’s not enough to have Trump and Rauner to campaign against?” an incredulous Madigan asked McClain in one phone call.McDonald told jurors that investigators had tracked 20 different dinners Madigan and McClain had together.And in one instance, prosecutors played a recording of Madigan, who didn’t carry his own cell phone, using McClain’s device to contact his wife, Shirley Madigan, to find out what kind of soup she’d like him to order. Why the Madigan trial matters Why the Madigan trial mattersMichael J. Madigan was the longest-serving state House speaker in the United States. That position made him the leader of the Illinois House of Representatives for nearly four decades, where he shepherded legislation that affected everyday life in Illinois. He also served for more than 20 years as the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois. Ultimately, he rose to become one of the most dominant politicians in Illinois since the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.What to expect in the trialWho was caught up in the investigationWho is Judge John Blakey?The documents behind the caseRead all our coverage of the historic trial here. McDonald separately explained to jurors how he and another agent surprised Marquez around 6 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2019, at his mother’s home to confront him with evidence they’d gathered against him and others — and to convince him to wear a wire.The agent said Marquez agreed to do so about 45 minutes after the agents first knocked on the door. Marquez would go on to make recordings that were central to last year’s conviction of McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.Jurors in that trial heard that ComEd paid $1.3 million to Madigan allies for do-nothing jobs, hoping that Madigan would act favorably toward its legislation in Springfield. The convictions followed weeks of testimony that included a blistering cross-examination of Marquez by Cotter, who may be on track for a repeat performance in the current trial.On Thursday, Cotter and Breen questioned McDonald about whether he told Marquez he could get a lawyer and why the FBI didn’t record that January 2019 chat — which ended in an FBI car at a strip-mall parking lot after people began to stir in Marquez’s mother’s home.“Did you tell Mr. Marquez, that morning at his mother’s table, what crime you thought he was participating in?” Cotter asked. “Did he ask you, ‘What could happen to me?’ … Did you tell him what might happen? … Did you talk about jail?”The agent said he did not.“He didn’t ask?” Cotter pressed.“No,” McDonald said.