CHICAGO – The former Chicago alderman known for leading critics of the city’s first black mayor pleaded not guilty Thursday to scheming to get a $1.5 million kickback in a real estate deal.

Edward Vrdolyak, 69, is charged with fraud and bribery for allegedly plotting with millionaire political contributor Stuart Levine on the deal in which Vrdolyak was to be a middleman in delivering the money. Prosecutors say the money never changed hands.

U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur set bond at $500,000 for Vrdolyak, a powerful force in the so-called Council Wars that raged at City Hall in the 1980s. During Thursday’s hearing he was largely silent.

Defense attorney Michael Monico signaled after the hearing that the defense may attack the credibility of Levine who is believed to have made extensive tapes that prosecutors hinted tie Vrdolyak to corruption.

Monico noted that when the indictment was unveiled “the FBI agent in charge said that this is another case of greed and lust for money.”

“It seems clear that the person who was motivated by greed and lust for money was Mr. Levine,” Monico told reporters. He said Vrdolyak would take the case to trial.

Levine already has admitted that he used his membership on two state boards to pressure contractors for kickbacks and pleaded guilty to fraud. He has been helping federal prosecutors in corruption investigations in hopes of obtaining a lighter sentence.

The hint that the tapes made by Levine may be extensive came when prosecutors said that some of the recordings still have not been transcribed and that it may take several more days to do so.

They promised to hand over partial transcripts to defense attorneys quickly and Shadur urged them to turn over the tapes by June 8.

According to the indictment, Vrdolyak and Levine planned to get the money from a developer that wanted to be assured of buying a building on the city’s North Side that was owned by the Chicago Medical School.

Levine, who was the chairman of the medical school’s board at the time but has not been associated with the school for several years, sought to freeze out rival buyers in the $15 million sale in favor of Smithfield Properties. The company wanted to redevelop the building for condos, the indictment said.

Neither the school nor Smithfield was charged with wrongdoing.

Vrdolyak’s $500,000 bond is to be secured by his real estate in Michigan and the judge ordered him to surrender his passport and not leave the continental United States without permission.

Vrdolyak was the leader of white aldermen, all stalwarts of the once mighty Chicago Machine, who fought Mayor Harold Washington after his 1983 election.

Also, Vrdolyak was chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and alderman of the 10th Ward on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

The battle that raged for several years at City Hall focused a spotlight on Chicago’s racial and political tensions. Some began calling the city “Beirut on the lake.”

After Washington’s supporters won a majority on the council, Vrdolyak switched parties and ran for mayor unsuccessfully as a Republican.

As an attorney, Vrdolyak represented corruption-plagued, west suburban Cicero in the era when now imprisoned Betty Loren-Maltese was town president. He also was a radio talk show host.