Ross' gripes began in the mid-1990s, after he had been treated for mouth cancer at the University of Illinois at Chicago hospital. Disfigured by the treatment, which left him cancer-free, according to the hospital, he became convinced that he had been the victim of malpractice.
After a string of state and federal judges had rejected his claims, the Polish emigre last year filed a federal lawsuit that was randomly assigned to Lefkow. His anger came through in documents seeking more than $500 million from the state of Illinois, and millions more from doctors and lawyers.
Ross said he lost all his upper teeth during the treatment and needed to have his jaw rebuilt. The hospital said in a statement Thursday that Ross received "conservative and appropriate care" and that disfigurement is a common result of the treatment.
"He was becoming obsessed with the issue and more and more paranoid," said Don Rose, a Chicago political consultant whose partner hired Ross to do electrical work. He said Ross asked his help in filing his lawsuits and later asked him for money. Rose said he recommended several lawyers but did not give him any money.
Cline said Ross' name was on a list of litigants whom FBI agents and detectives had intended to interview. He said police were working their way through 600 tips and hundreds of cases in Lefkow's court and the business relations of her husband, a labor lawyer.
