Former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, who was accused of torturing suspects in his South Side police district but was never prosecuted for the alleged crimes, has died, a Florida funeral home confirmed Wednesday. He was 70.
Burge led a "midnight crew" of rogue detectives accused of torturing more than 100 suspects, mostly black men, from 1972 to 1991. His alleged victims were shocked with cattle prods and smothered with typewriter covers. Guns were shoved in their mouths.
Burge was fired in 1993 and sentenced to prison in 2011 for lying in a civil case. It was too late to charge him criminally on the torture charges.
FILE - In this June 8, 2010 file photo former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge, is seen at the Federal Courthouse in Chicago. Burge, 70, who was linked to numerous cases involving the torture of suspects, has died in Florida. The Ruskin, Florida, funeral home handling Burge's remains confirmed his death Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. More than 100 men, most of them black, have accused Burge and his "midnight crew" of rogue detectives of shocking, suffocating and beating them to secure confessions. The alleged torture happened from 1972 to 1991.(AP PhotoCharles Rex Arbogast, File)
Sarah Zipperer of Zipperer's Funeral Home in Ruskin, Florida, on Wednesday would confirm only that the business was handling his remains. She refused to give the cause or date of his death, citing the wishes of his family.
In 2015, the city of Chicago agreed to pay $5.5 million in reparations to 57 Burge victims. G. Flint Taylor, a civil rights attorney and lawyer for some of the men, estimates the price tag for all Burge-related cases is about $132 million.
The allegations against Burge and his men even helped shape the state's debate over the death penalty. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan released four condemned men from death row in 2003 after Ryan said Burge extracted confessions from them using torture. The allegations of torture and coerced confessions eventually led to a moratorium on executions in Illinois. The state officially abolished the death penalty in 2011.
Word of Burge's death comes the week testimony began in the murder trial of white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald. The officer is accused of shooting McDonald 16 times as he walked away from police. It is considered one of the biggest trials in recent Chicago history. The possibility of such a trial would have seemed remote during Burge's time on the force.
"With the passing of Jon Burge, we must reflect on the dark legacy that he embodied," said Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who once led a civilian body that oversees disciplinary cases involving officers and a candidate for Chicago mayor. "So many lives shattered, and a horrible stain on the legitimacy of policing that resonates today. We must vow: never again in this City."
The Dean Angelo, former head of the city's police union, defended Burge's legacy.
"People picked a career apart that was considered for a long time to be an honorable career and a very effective career. I don't know that Jon Burge got a fair shake based on the years and years of service that he gave the city," Angelo said during a break at Van Dyke's trial.
At Burge's 2010 federal trial, prosecution witnesses told now familiar stories of abuse and torture. Burge's lawyers called the accusers thugs and liars who were maligning an honorable man who had served in the U.S. military in Korea and Vietnam and returned with a Bronze Star. Burge took the stand and broke his long silence, repeatedly denying he had tortured anyone. A jury disagreed and found Burge guilty of perjury.
At his 2012 sentencing, one alleged victim claimed Burge was so cruel that he laughed while he tortured him. Burge told the judge that "while I try to keep a proud face, in reality, I am a broken man."
Burge said he was "deeply sorry" for the disrepute his case had brought on the Chicago Police Department. He offered no apologies for his actions.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow cited Burge's "unwillingness to acknowledge the truth in the face of all the evidence" and sentenced him to 4 1/2 years in prison.
THULASENDRAPURAM, India (AP) — The temple reverberated with rhythmic Sanskrit and Tamil hymns, as a Hindu priest held a flame before the god. As this tiny South Indian village gathered to pray for Kamala Harris, a gaggle of reporters jostled for space and camera angles.
There's little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America's first leader with South Asian roots.
As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.
“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” said M. Natarajan, the temple priest that led the prayers in front of the image of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva.
Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in the village, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, more than 100 years ago. As an adult, he moved to Chennai, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.
Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram and she has no living relatives in the village, but people here still venerate the family that made it big in the U.S.
“Our village ancestors' granddaughter is running as a U.S. presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” Natarajan said.
The village's sudden fame has helped bring money into the village. Recently, construction began on a water storage tank with funds donated by a local bank. Village residents say it will carry a plaque with Harris’ name.
Harris’ late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. After moving to the U.S. to study, she married a Jamaican man, and they named their daughter Kamala, a Sanskrit word for “lotus flower.”
Other than trips during her childhood, Harris hasn’t visited India much — particularly not since becoming vice president — but she has often spoken emotionally about her ties to her late mother’s country of birth. On Tuesday, she released a campaign video highlighting her mother, who arrived in the U.S. at age 19 and became a cancer researcher.
Titled “Mother,” the video ends with a narrator saying: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”
Harris has often talked about how she was guided by the values of her Indian-born grandfather and mother. She has also spoken of her love of south Indian food, especially a type of steamed rice cake called idli.
Harris’ name is engraved in a list of donors — her aunt Sarala Gopalan gave money to the temple in her name — along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the election.
On Tuesday, the village temple also received rare international visitors: two American tourists and one from the U.K., all wearing black t-shirts that said “Kamala Freakin Harris.”
Manikandan Ganesan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said Harris’ bid for the presidency has made the village famous. He hopes Harris will eventually visit them.
“Even if she mentioned that she would visit our village, it would make us very happy,” Ganesan said. “Her victory itself will be a big source of happiness for us.”
Village residents also prayed for Harris’ victory in 2020, and set off firecrackers when she became the U.S. Vice President.
For women of the village, the candidate's journey is a source of inspiration.
Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar said Harris embodies a significant step toward female empowerment in places like Thulasendrapuram, where a majority of women continue to face discrimination and gender inequality.
“From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the U.S. presidential election — this brings happiness for us,” Sudhakar said. “The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”
Local villagers and international tourists receive blessings from a priest after participating in special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
A villager prays in front of the idols of Hindu goddesses after special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Villagers participate in the special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Villagers plant paddy in a field in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Manikandan Ganesan, right, a local shopkeeper, packs vegetables for a customer at his grocery store outside Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
A villager washes clothes at a pond adjacent to Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
M. Natarajan, head priest of Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple points out the name of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on a plaque, displaying names of donors written in Tamil language who donated for the renovation of temple, in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
An aerial view of Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar prepares a Kolam, a traditional art work using colored powder, that reads "Greeting America, our wishes for Kamala Harris' victory" for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Villagers tie a banner featuring Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris outside a temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
From left, Fiana Jones of United Kingdom, Devony Evans and Sajron Silalenka of United States wearing tees and cheer for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris outside a temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
