When Anthony Holmes goes to the doctor today, he’s asked: How many heart attacks have you had? That’s because, Holmes says, the torture he faced in 1973 at the hands of then-Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge included shocking him with an electric shock box and suffocating him with plastic bags. Burge and the mostly white […]
Tag: Jon Burge
Posted inNews & Politics
‘House of Screams’ revisited
The reporting is an icon of the paper’s journalism, but John Conroy wonders what it actually accomplished.
Posted inNews & Politics
Queer to the Left came to raise hell
The group rejected the mainstream gay rights movement and kept alive the spirit of radical LGBTQ+ activism.
Posted inNews & Politics
The Chicago police union is trying to put its members on the state’s torture inquiry commission
Two bills introduced in the state legislature are “a smack in the face,” says one torture survivor.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Torture survivors’ silence will not protect the Chicago Police Department
An effort by the Fraternal Order of Police to prosecute survivors for telling their stories is an all-to-common abuse tactic.
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Torture Justice Memorials is pushing ahead to create a site of remembrance for Burge victims
Monthlong exhibition will feature designs for a future memorial organizers are committed to building despite a lack of city funding.
Posted inBlogs
The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill is at war with American exceptionalism and imperialism
A Q&A with the Chicago-born investigative reporter, who returns to town October 9 for a live taping of his political podcast Intercepted.
Posted inBlogs
Distinguished CPS principal resigns after threats, controversy over anti-police speaker
The tension at Wildwood Elementary comes as the Jon Burge police torture curriculum is rolled out across the district.
Posted inBlogs
That time a Cook County judge ruled on the case of a man he himself put in prison when he was still a prosecutor
In 2006 John Conroy reported an incredible story about how the Jon Burge torture scandal continues to reverberate in the judiciary
Posted inNews & Politics
Why does Chicago continue to embrace Al Capone?
In death, the totalitarian political parasite became a folk hero.
Posted inBlogs
The activists and the aldermen: The #NoCopAcademy campaign’s crash course in Chicago civics
After a City Council setback, the #NoCopAcademy campaign reflects on strategy—and aldermen on both sides of the issue respond.
Posted inBlogs
Illinois school funding bill includes city property tax increase of up to $130 million a year, and other Chicago news
Also, Rauner signs automatic voter registration and immigration bills.
Posted inBlogs
The FOP’s new spokesman believes in a vast left-wing media conspiracy
Martin Preib has accused Chicago journalists of being in cahoots with Northwestern University and others to vilify cops.
Posted inBlogs
Mendoza and Munger continue to spar even though the comptroller’s race is over, and other Chicago news
Also, former Mayor Daley is scheduled for deposition in January in a Jon Burge-related torture lawsuit.
Posted inBlogs
Todd Ricketts tapped by Trump for Commerce Department, and more Chicago news
Trump passes on the bouquet to Ricketts scion Todd, bids him to say hello to the folks.