Four torture victims of former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge and his Area 2 cohorts will divide a $20 million settlement from the city, under an agreement reached today that, black aldermen contend, will allow the "nightmare" to end and the healing to begin.

Without the agreement to compensate Aaron Patterson, Leroy Orange, Stanley Howard and Madison Hobley, newly appointed Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis would have had a difficult time following through on his promise to re-establish trust between citizens and police in the African-American community, the aldermen contend.

"There's so much adverse feeling in our community [toward police]. This issue will continue to be a divisive issue until we find a way to get it healed. This is the first step in that direction. Without it, healing will not happen. It’s not the only answer. It's just a step in the right direction," said Ald. Ed Smith (28th).

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) was among a group of black and progressive white aldermen who've been pressuring Mayor Daley for months to "end the nightmare" of torture by Burge and his underlings.

"Failure to settle these cases when there was no argument anymore that there was torture by Area 2 detectives made the city look like it was unwilling to acknowledge, apologize and make restitution. For me, it meant we weren't holding the Police Department and ourselves accountable for the bad conduct that went on. It reflected badly on us as a city," she said.

"Settling promptly is a fiscally responsible thing to do, in addition to being morally right. My concern is, there may be some outstanding cases that are yet to be dealt with, but it's a great step forward."

Law Department spokesperson Jennifer Hoyle confirmed that a settlement has been reached with the four torture victims, but she refused to reveal the specific amount. Flint Taylor, an attorney representing one of the victims, was equally tight-lipped about the deal, expected to be approved Monday by the City Council's Finance Committee.

The settlement with Patterson alone is believed to be in the $5.2 million range, according to documents reviewed this week by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Last fall, the city reached a tentative, $14.8 million settlement with Orange, Howard and Hobley. All three men were allegedly coerced into murder confessions by Burge and his cohorts, only to be pardoned and released from Death Row by now-convicted Illinois Gov. George Ryan.

That settlement was never forwarded to the City Council for approval.

In late September, Corporation Counsel Mara Georges dropped a bombshell in an apparent attempt to justify the stalled settlement.

She disclosed that Hobley was the subject of an arson and murder investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

Georges said she learned last fall that the feds were investigating the Jan. 6, 1987 fire at 1121-1123 E. 82nd that killed seven people. But she was ordered to keep the information confidential. A Sept. 17 letter from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro released Georges from that obligation.

Taylor reacted angrily to Georges' disclosure. He called it a "negotiating tactic" designed to smear Hobley, lower his demands and explain away what he called the city's indefensible decision to back out of the $14.8 million settlement reached last fall.

Now, concerns about Patterson have been put aside in favor of a settlement that African-American aldermen have been demanding for months.

"It should have been settled a long time ago. These victims should not have to go begging," Smith said.

On the day he was appointed, Weis promised to re-establish trust in the Police Department, by opening a dialogue with community leaders "that will be continuous," beginning in neighborhoods where there is the "widest gulf." Now, his job will be made easier.

Last year, a $7 million report by special prosecutors concluded that Burge and his underlings tortured criminal suspects for two decades while police brass looked the other way. But the report concluded it's too late to prosecute because the statute of limitations has long since run out.

In late July, aldermen relived the Burge nightmare at yet another City Council hearing — and came away more determined than ever to cut off $2 million in annual pension payments to Burge and his Area 2 cohorts and their $10 million legal defense.

Five aldermen subsequently sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald urging him to "investigate, indict and prosecute" Burge for torturing African-American criminal suspects.

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City settling police-torture lawsuit, sources say

By Gary Washburn

Tribune staff reporter

1:51 PM CST, December 7, 2007

The city has reached a tentative agreement with four men who allegedly were tortured for their confessions by former police Cmdr. Jon Burge, City Hall sources said today.

The amount of the settlement was not disclosed, but the City Council's Finance Committee is expected to consider the settlement when it meets on Monday, setting the stage for approval by the full council on Wednesday.

"I am euphoric," declared Ald. Ed Smith (28th), one of several mostly minority aldermen who for months have been calling for a settlement. "We have been pushing for a long time. . . . We have been pursuing it vigilantly, and it's about time it reaches fruition."

Officials must now find a way to bring criminal charges against Burge and strip him of his city pension, Smith said.

"These [victims] will have to live with what this man did to them for the rest of their lives, and he is living off the fat of the land."

Burge, who was dismissed, is now retired, collecting his pension and living in Florida.

A tentative $14.8 million settlement that reportedly was hashed out earlier this year by city attorneys and lawyers for Leroy Orange, Stanley Howard and Madison Hobley--all of whom won pardons and were released from Death Row--never was recommended for council approval by Daley. Attorneys for Aaron Patterson also had been negotiating with the city on a settlement.

Back in September, the City Council's Finance Committee met in a rare, closed-door session after aldermen demanded to know why a proposed settlement of the Burge cases was derailed.

When First Deputy Corporation Council Karen Seimetz said she was barred from discussing settlement information by a judge's order, an angry Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) declared: "We [the council] are the client. She cannot be precluded from telling us what happened in court. She represents us."

That's when Ald. Edward Burke (14th) adjourned the meeting behind closed doors, where committee members were briefed by attorneys for the city.

After emerging, aldermen declined to reveal the information they got, citing warnings they received not to violate the court order.

At the end of September, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said his office would look into whether any of the Burge case officers lied under oath or obstructed justice as part of the civil litigation resulting from the torture allegations. Fitzgerald also confirmed a surprise disclosure from the Daley administration's top attorney that federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the fatal 1987 fire that led to Hobley's conviction in state court.

Hobley and several other former Death Row inmates sued Burge and more than 20 officers who worked with him, mostly at Area 2, alleging that they were coerced into falsely confessing to murder. 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.

In July 2006, special prosecutors released a long-awaited report stating there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Burge and four other former officers abused suspects to extract confessions in the 1980s. But prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle also concluded that none of the men can be charged with a crime because the state's three-year time limit on felony charges had passed.

"We have considered every possible legal theory that would permit us to avoid the effect of the statute of limitations," the report said. But "regrettably, we have concluded that the statute of limitations would bar any prosecution."

The prosecutors were appointed in 2002 to investigate claims that Burge and detectives working under him routinely used torture, including electric shock, Russian roulette, beatings and attempted suffocation.

Patterson is serving a 30-year prison sentence on gun and drug charges. The sentence, handed down in August, marked a stunning fall, rise and fall again for

Patterson, whose release four years ago had made him an important symbol for opponents of police torture. Soon after leaving prison, though, Patterson resumed his life as a gang "prince" intent on buying guns and defending his drug territory, a federal jury found in 2005.

Before his sentencing, Patterson railed against federal prosecutors, Chicago police and others in a 40-minute profanity-laced statement.

Patterson alleged he was selectively targeted for prosecution, entrapped by a police informant and then forced to go to trial with an attorney he didn't want.