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</font><h1><b>U.S. attorney, FBI probing allegations of police torture
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</b></h1><h3><b>BURGE CASE | 148 claim they were beaten in 1980s
</b></h3><font size=3>Chicago Sun Times, September 27, 2007<br>
BY <a href="mailto:apallasch@suntimes.com">ABDON M. PALLASCH</a> AND
<a href="mailto:ldonovan@suntimes.com">LISA DONOVAN</a> Staff Reporters
<br>
The U.S attorney and the FBI are investigating 20-year-old claims that
Chicago Police under the command of former Lt. Jon Burge tortured
confessions out of suspects and lied about it under oath. <br>
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald never actually said the name
"Burge," but an attorney representing some of his alleged
victims in a civil suit said those are the civil cases Fitzgerald
referred to Wednesday when he said: <br>
"The United States attorney's office is conducting an active
criminal investigation into allegations of perjury, false statements and
obstruction of justice by officers who served in the Chicago Police
Department in the 1980s, in relation to currently pending federal civil
lawsuits in which persons in Chicago Police Department custody during
those years allege they were abused." Fitzgerald was speaking at an
unrelated news conference. <br>
At least 148 men, almost all of them African-American, told a special
prosecutor that Burge and his officers at the old Area 2 police station
beat them to extract confessions. Some of those men went to Death Row on
false confessions until former Gov. George Ryan pardoned them. The city
fired Burge, saying he was responsible for the torture of suspects. But a
special prosecutor concluded it was too late to file charges against
Burge or his officers. <br>
The city also provided attorneys to defend Burge against civil suits that
have cost the city $8 million in lawyers' fees so far. Burge lives in
Florida and draws a city pension. <br>
'We're very pleased'<br>
Special Prosecutor Edward Egan said last year that at least a dozen
police officers in Burge's "midnight crew" at the Area 2
station in Pullman tortured suspects, and at least three former
prosecutors acquiesced or at least failed to ask why suspects appeared
battered and bruised. <br>
Egan turned the results of his four-year investigation over to Fitzgerald
to see if he could bring charges. <br>
"We're very pleased that decades after [former Cook County State's
Attorney, now Mayor] Richard Daley should have prosecuted Burge, the U.S.
attorney's office are looking into the conduct of his men," said
Flint Taylor, who represents one of the men who says he was tortured.
"It's time we put Burge and his men behind bars, where they so
richly deserve to be." <br><br>
</font><h1><b>Feds looking into possible perjury charges against
Burge<br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h3><b>Pardonned Hobley investigated again<br><br>
<br>
</b></h3>
<img src="http://a.abclocal.go.com/graphics/v3/global/stockgraphics/icons/wls_byline.gif" width=33 height=22 alt="WLS">
</b></h3><h4><b> By Charles
Thomas</b></h4><font size=3 color="#7B8694"><b>September 26,
2007</b></font><font size=3> - An ex-officer accused of torturing
suspects may face perjury charges, according to officials. <br><br>
</font><h2><font size=2><b>The news of a possible investigation into
police torture at the command of former Chicago Police Commander John
Burge was announced Wednesday at a City Council finance committee
hearing. The meeting was held to explain why the city did not pay out on
a $15 million settlement reached with three suspects who were allegedly
tortured by Burge or his men. </b></font></h2><font size=3><b>One of the
men involved in the police torture lawsuit is Madison Hobley, who was
pardoned by ex. Gov. George Ryan. He, too, said he was tortured by Burge.
<br>
"We're confident they're using that as a negotiation tool and what
the feds are actually investigating is John Burge and his torture of
Madison Hobley," said Flint Taylor, plaintiff's attorney. <br>
Fitzgerald confirmed there is an investigation underway into Burge and
his detectives. <br>
"The investigation is into allegations of perjury involving
testimony in recent and pending federal civil lawsuits," Patrick
Fitzgerald, US attorney said. <br>
On Wednesday, federal investigators also said Hobley is being
investigated- this time by the feds- in the same murder for which he was
pardoned. <br>
"The federal government is pursuing a murder/arson investigation for
the same crime that Madison Hobley was originally convicted for,"
said Mara Georges, city corporation counsel. <br>
Georges said she was told to keep the information secret last year, but
has since been given permission to release it. The U.S. confirmed a few
hours later that Hobley is a subject of a new federal investigation into
the 1987 murders of seven people in an arson fire on Chicago's South
Side. <br>
"This would be a federal offense. Double jeopardy does not bar them
pursuing the case," said Fitzgerald. <br>
Hobley spent 16 years on death row. He and two others are now suing the
City of Chicago for police torture. Several aldermen were pressuring the
law department to settle the Burge lawsuits. A study projected the city
could be out $195 million in a jury trial. <br>
"It could put us in a very precarious position financially,"
said Ald Ed Smith, 28th Ward. <br>
Georges was asked if the city would separate Hobley's case and negotiate
settlements with other plaintiffs. <br>
"I cannot discuss specifics of the settlement or what the unresolved
issues were," Georges said. <br>
The city has already paid about $16 million in legal fees to defend
various Burge-related lawsuits. <br>
</b>
<img src="http://a.abclocal.go.com/graphics/v3/wls/wls_120.CharlesThomas.jpg" width=120 height=90 alt="Charles Thomas">
</b> <br>
ABC7 News Team<br><br>
<br>
</font><h1><b>Alleged torture by police is now a federal matter<br><br>
<br>
</b></h1><h2><b>U.S. also probing '87 fire that killed
7</b></h2><font size=3>By Jeff Coen and Gary Washburn, Tribune staff
reporters Tribune staff reporters Michael Higgins and Steve Mills also
contributed to this report
<dl>
<dd>September 27, 2007
</dl>After years of listening to calls for a federal investigation into
the Chicago police torture scandal that allegedly ran from the 1970s into
the early 1990s, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald announced Wednesday that
his office is engaged in a criminal investigation of the matter.<br><br>
Without using the names of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge or the
detectives who worked under him, Fitzgerald said his office would look
into whether any of the officers lied under oath or obstructed justice as
part of the civil litigation resulting from allegations that police
tortured dozens of suspects.<br><br>
Fitzgerald also confirmed a surprise disclosure earlier Wednesday from
the Daley administration's top attorney that federal prosecutors have
launched an investigation into the fatal 1987 fire that led to the
conviction in state court of Madison Hobley, an alleged victim of Burge's
torture.<br><br>
Hobley and four other former Death Row inmates have sued Burge and more
than 20 officers who worked with him, mostly at Area 2, alleging that
they were coerced into falsely confessing to murders. Attempts to reach a
settlement between the city and three of the plaintiffs ran aground,
renewing calls by community groups and politicians for a federal
investigation.<br><br>
Fitzgerald said he would not speculate on the possible outcome of either
probe. A special prosecutors' report paid for by the county and released
last year concluded that dozens of suspects had been tortured but that no
one could be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run
out.<br><br>
"We're not going to prejudge what will happen," Fitzgerald said
at a news conference called to announce an unrelated arrest. "We're
not going to predict whether there will be charges or anything beyond
that, but we do want to make clear that we're very, very serious about
this investigation."<br><br>
Flint Taylor, an attorney with the People's Law Office who has
represented some of the plaintiffs in the Burge suits, said Burge denied
any torture took place while answering written questions in 2003 as part
of the lawsuit filed by Hobley. By contrast, in deposition testimony
since then, Burge has consistently invoked his 5th Amendment right
against self-incrimination, Taylor said.<br><br>
If federal prosecutors conclude that Burge lied in his 2003 answers, that
would fall within the statute of limitations, Taylor said<br><br>
One of Burge's lawyers, James Sotos, declined to comment but said he
believes that Burge only has answered questions in the 2003 sworn written
statement.<br><br>
Reached in Florida, Burge declined to comment on Fitzgerald's disclosure
of a criminal investigation.<br><br>
"I am not at liberty to discuss the situation," Burge said.
"I'm sure you understand."<br><br>
Earlier Wednesday, Corporation Counsel Mara Georges released a letter
from Gary Shapiro, Fitzgerald's top assistant, formally disclosing that
the Justice Department is investigating the events surrounding the 1987
fire that killed seven people. Hobley spent 16 years on Death Row for the
crime before he was pardoned by Gov. George Ryan in early 2003.<br><br>
In his Sept. 17 letter to Georges, Shapiro noted he had asked her earlier
to keep the information about the investigation confidential because
public disclosure could have jeopardized the probe.<br><br>
"We no longer believe that to be the case," he wrote without
further elaboration in the two-paragraph letter.<br><br>
The investigation, which Georges said was disclosed to her last fall,
explains why the city backed away last November from a proposed $14.8
million settlement with Hobley and two of the other alleged torture
victims.<br><br>
Taylor called Georges early release of that information troubling and
said it was a preemptive strike by the city to get ahead of Fitzgerald's
announcement.<br><br>
Taylor also noted that two depositions of former officers in the Burge
lawsuits were abruptly canceled Wednesday as well.<br><br>
U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen on Tuesday suggested a proposed figure
to settle the lawsuits, according to Taylor and Georges. Taylor would say
only that it was no lower than $14.8 million.<br><br>
Fitzgerald said that his office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms are actively investigating the 1987 fire. Although Fitzgerald
wouldn't name the target of the probe, Georges earlier made it clear that
Hobley is the focus.<br><br>
State prosecutors such as Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine could
not charge Hobley again for the same offense due to the Constitution's
ban on "double jeopardy." But federal prosecutors would not
necessarily have the same restraint.<br><br>
"I will say this," Fitzgerald told reporters. "If we file
charges ... if we believe there's evidence sufficient to prove that they
carried out this murder, it would be irrelevant legally whether or not
that person was charged or convicted or pardoned in the state system. ...
There is a federal statute that makes arson by murder a federal
offense."<br><br>
Attorney Steven A. Miller, a former federal prosecutor, agreed that
Hobley has no protection from the federal government.<br><br>
Ryan pardoned four of the men, including Hobley, after Burge's alleged
wrongdoing came to light.<br><br>
<br><br>
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