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<h1><b>Burge suits could cost city $195 mil. <br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h3><b>TORTURE LAWSUITS | 13 aldermen say case 'untenable,' want
to settle </b></h3><font size=3>September 23, 2007<br>
BY <a href="mailto:apallasch@suntimes.com">ABDON M. PALLASCH</a> Staff
Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com <br>
Chicago taxpayers could be on the hook for $96 million to $195 million if
the city insists on going to court to defend former Police Cmdr. Jon
Burge in civil suits filed by men who say his officers tortured false
confessions from them, according to a study by five men suing Burge.
<br><br>
The city was ready to settle with three of the men for $14.8 million,
according to court filings in the case. <br><br>
Instead, the city will pay more than that just to lawyers for Burge --
$16 million -- to prepare the case, interview witnesses, etc., says the
study by Steven Whitman, the City of Chicago's former chief
epidemiologist. That is on top of the $8 million the city already has
paid Burge's lawyers. <br><br>
All five men were freed from prison after their confessions were found to
have been coerced. Burge was fired after the city accused him of allowing
torture, but he still draws a city pension. <br><br>
Whitman estimated jurors would award the men $500,000 to $2 million for
each year each man was wrongfully imprisoned. <br><br>
Even if the city were to win all five cases -- and Whitman estimated only
a 3 percent chance of that -- the city would spend $16 million on Burge's
lawyers, he said. <br><br>
Asked about the study Saturday, Mayor Daley said: "Every lawyer
wants more money. It's all about money. Sure you have to settle but you
have to have a reasonable settlement. You would take $300 million? That's
why lawyers sue everybody." <br><br>
Some aldermen have blasted the city Legal Department, urging it to settle
and arguing the city can't win cases defending Burge after it fired him
for running a torture department in the 1980s. <br><br>
The Council's Finance Committee is to discuss the issue Wednesday.
<br><br>
<b>Contributing:</b> <i>Art Golab</i> <br><br>
<br>
</font><h1><b>chicagotribune.com<br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h2><b>Aldermen call for federal prosecution of
Burge</b></h2><font size=3>By Monique Garcia<br>
Tribune staff reporter<br>
7:07 PM CDT, September 20, 2007<br><br>
The abuse and torture scandal surrounding former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon
Burge and those who worked under him has cast a shadow over the
department that will only be lifted after their federal indictment and
prosecution, a group of Chicago City Council members said
Thursday.<br><br>
Led by Ald. Ed Smith (28th), the group, including Ald. Robert Fioretti
(2nd), Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) and Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th), delivered a
letter to U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office urging him to take
action against Burge and other investigators accused of torturing
suspects in their custody from the 1970s to the early 1990s.<br><br>
"It's the right thing to do," Smith said. "If we allow
this to stand still and don't move on it, then other police officers
might feel it's OK to do this kind of thing."<br><br>
The alderman said they would not be deterred by a report released last
year by Cook County prosecutors concluding that, despite evidence of
torture, Burge and Area 2 detectives who worked under him could not be
prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.<br><br>
"We must put an end to the nightmare that has been afflicting us for
so long," Fioretti said.<br><br>
Flint Taylor, an attorney with the People's Law Office, which represents
several of the accusers, said Fitzgerald could prosecute the former
police officers on several federal charges, including perjury,
obstruction of justice and conspiracy.<br><br>
Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to
comment.<br><br>
<i><a href="mailto:mcgarcia@tribune.com">mcgarcia@tribune.com</a><br>
</i>Copyright © 2007, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/">Chicago
Tribune</a><br>
-----------------------<br><br>
</font><h1><b>5 aldermen urge feds to prosecute Burge, cronies <br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h3><b>COPS | Fitzgerald asked to dig into torture allegations
</b></h3><font size=3>September 21, 2007<br>
BY <a href="mailto:fspielman@suntimes.com">FRAN SPIELMAN</a> City Hall
Reporter
<a href="mailto:fspielman@suntimes.com">fspielman@suntimes.com</a> <br>
Five Chicago aldermen sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald
on Thursday urging him to "investigate, indict and prosecute"
former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge for torturing African-American
criminal suspects. <br>
"We strongly believe that the federal prosecution of Burge and his
police helpers is possible and that the statute of limitations is not a
bar. Burge and all involved can be prosecuted for perjury, obstruction of
justice and for ongoing conspiracy to cover up their torture
scheme," wrote the aldermen -- Bob Fioretti, (2nd), Pat Dowell
(3rd), Billy Ocasio (26th), Ed Smith, (28th) and Helen Shiller (46th).
<br>
Arguing that the Burge scandal "casts a long shadow" over the
Chicago Police Department, the aldermen wrote, "It is appalling that
none of the offending police officers have ever been criminally charged.
On behalf of our constituents, we urge you to take all possible action to
prosecute Jon Burge and his men for their actions in the aftermath of
their torture of African-American men at Area 2 and Area 3 police
headquarters." <br>
Last year, a $7 million report by special prosecutors concluded that
Burge and his underlings tortured criminal suspects for two decades while
police brass looked the other way. <br>
But the report concluded that it's too late to prosecute because the
statute of limitations has long since run out. <br>
Locke Bowman, the legal director of the MacArthur Justice Center at
Northwestern University's School of Law who represents one of the torture
victims, disclosed that he and attorney Flint Taylor have met with
federal prosecutors "on more than one occasion" to discuss
Burge and have "good reason to believe" that a federal
investigation may be under way. <br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=5 color="#333333"><b>Alderman: Burge Is Not Above The
Law<br><br>
</font><font size=3>CHICAGO (WBBM) </b> -- A group of anti-brutality
activists and Chicago aldermen say retired police lieutenant Jon Burge is
not beyond the law.<br><br>
WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.<br>
<br>
The aldermen delivered a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald
Thursday, asking him to investigate and press charges.<br>
<br>
A special prosecutor determined that the statute of limitations precludes
prosecution in Cook County Circuit Court of Burge and the police
detectives who worked with him. <br><br>
But Ald. Ed Smith (28), who led the group that delivered the letter to
Fitzgerald, said other ways exist in federal court. <br>
<br>
Activist attorney G. Flynt Taylor said cases citing them for perjury,
obstruction of justice, conspiracy and racketeering would be easy to
make.<br>
<br>
"It's time to stop hiding behind the statute of limitations,"
Taylor said. "There is no problem."<br>
<br>
Taylor said that even if the five-year limit on perjury prosecutions were
employed, statements made by Burge and detectives who worked under him
more recently in federal court could be grist for indictments. He
said Fitzgerald has not been shy about prosecuting other high-profile
cases. <br>
<br>
The aldermen compare the Burge case to those of Klansmen brought to
justice in recent years for murders committed during the 1950s and
'60s.<br>
<br>
The U.S. Attorney's office does not routinely comment on requests to
prosecute or investigations that have not yielded charges. <br>
<br>
Those who say they were framed by Burge, or forced to give false
confessions, claim that he and his detectives used electric shock, cattle
prods, near suffocation and mock executions to force prisoners to
talk. <br>
<br>
Burge retired under a cloud more than 10 years ago, but his Chicago
Police pension remains intact and he has never been charged with a
crime. Burge has lived in the Tampa Bay area since shortly after he
retired. <br><br>
</font><font size=2><i>Contents of this site are Copyright 2007 by
WBBM</i></font><font size=3> <br><br>
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