In 1982, then Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley and his first assistant, Richard Devine were specifically informed by Police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek that Andrew Wilson had been tortured at Area 2 police headquarters by Jon Burge. Daley and Devine rejected Brezeczek’s request to investigate, and Daley chose instead to publicly commend Burge rather than to prosecute him. As a result, scores of additional African American men were tortured by Burge and his men during the next decade.
When Daley later became Chicago Mayor, he sought to publicly discredit the OPS Goldston Report, which specifically found that there was “systematic abuse” and “planned torture” at Area 2 under Burge. In 2006, Daley gave a sworn “statement” to the Special Prosecutors who were investigating police torture in which he attempted to justify his failure to act, and after the Special Prosectors issued their 2006 Report finding that Burge and his men tortured “with impunity,” promised to apologize to all the torture victims. Instead, in 2008, when the US Attorney did what Daley and Devine refused for decades to do – – – indict Jon Burge – – – Daley again denied any responsibility and made what the press termed a “sarcastic apology.”
In 2010, Federal Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer ordered that Daley be held as a civil Defendant in the Michael Tillman torture case, based on allegations that his decades long involvement in the torture scandal and repeated failure to act to stop it made him part of a conspiracy to cover-up. Daley’s deposition has been scheduled for later this summer.
Read more concerning Daley and his role in the Chicago Police Torture Cases
February 25, 1982 letter from Chicago Police Superintendent Richard Breczek to then State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley informing him of the torture of Andrew Wilson
Sworn Statement of Mayor Richard M. Daley given to Special Prosecutor on June 12, 2006 in regard to the torture that occurred while he was State’s Attorney and Mayor
Sarcastic apology from Mayor Daley to torture victims and “anybody in the City of Chicago”
1990 Goldston Report of Chicago Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards finding that “abuse did occur and that it was systematic” at Area 2
Read more about the torture cases on the Chicago Police Torture page on this site
