For decades, black men have described torture at the hand of Burge and his officers, but no one listened. Suspects landed in jail and even on death row for crimes based on coerced confessions. Their complaints charge Burge used various methods including suffocation, water boarding and electric shocks.
Authorities have acknowledged that Burge may have committed these horrifying acts, but due to the statue of limitations having run out, he will not face torture-related charges. The police department fired him in 1993 for mistreatment of a suspect, but did not press charges. Decades later, then Gov. George Ryan released four condemned men saying Burge extracted confessions by using torture.
Prosecutors will call former police officers and more than half dozen men who claim to have been tortured by Burge and those under his command. The torture started in the 1970s and persisted until the 1990s at police stations on Chicago's South and West sides. These allegations earned Chicago a reputation as a haven for rogue cops, a place where police could abuse suspects without notice or punishment.
The scandal extends to the highest levels of city and county governments and the trial's witness list includes Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and his predecessor Jane Byrne. Daley was Cook County's state's attorney during Burge's tenure. During Daley's seven years as state's attorney, 55 separate victims are allegedly tortured at Area 2 in order to obtain confessions.
Burge, a 62 year old Army veteran, now lives in retirement in Florida. He's been diagnosed with prostrate cancer, and his trial has been delayed for months while he recovered from treatment. Some in the legal community say he wouldn't be facing charges at all if it wasn't for U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. The trial is expected to last six weeks.
Sources: ABC News; Huffington Post; Human Rights, Univ. of Chicago; New York Times
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