60-462: Midnight Crew can refer to: A group of police officers led by Jon Burge known for involvement in a torture scandal Midnight Crew, a gospel music quartet led by Pat Uwaje-King The Midnight Crew, a group of characters in Homestuck Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
120-464: A Northwestern University journalism professor, and his students were studying cases of people on death row . They discovered evidence related to death row inmate Anthony Porter that might help exonerate him. Chicago Daily News The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States , published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago , Illinois. The Daily News
180-586: A stay of execution for Aaron Patterson, a death row inmate from Chicago. His conviction for murder was based primarily on a confession which he claimed was coerced by torture from Burge and his officers. In 1999, lawyers for several death row inmates began to call for a special review of convictions that were based on evidence and confessions extracted by Burge and his colleagues. These inmates: Aaron Patterson; Madison Hobley; Stanley Howard; Leonard Kidd; Derrick King; Ronald Kitchen; Reginald Mahaffey; Jerry Mahaffey; Andrew Maxwell, and Leroy Orange , became known as
240-479: A 2003 civil suit against him for damages for alleged torture. Burge was convicted on all counts on June 28, 2010, and sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison on January 21, 2011. He was released on October 3, 2014. Raised in the community area of South Deering on the Southeast Side of Chicago, Burge was the younger son of Floyd and Ethel Ruth ( née Corriher) Burge. Of Norwegian descent, Floyd
300-400: A career as a city police officer, ending it as a commander. Following the shooting of several Chicago law enforcement officers in 1982, the police obtained confessions that contributed to convictions of two people. One filed a civil suit in 1989 against Burge, other officers, and the city, for police torture and cover-up; Burge was acquitted in 1989 because of a hung jury . He was suspended from
360-634: A death sentence, his case was not reviewable on the same grounds by the Appellate Court, and it went directly to the Illinois Supreme Court . In April 1987, the Supreme Court overturned Andrew's conviction with a ruling that his confession had been coerced involuntarily from him while under duress. It ordered a new trial. In October 1987, the appellate court further ruled that Jackie Wilson should have been tried separately from his brother. He
420-462: A dozen of the injuries were documented as caused while Wilson was in police custody . Both Andrew Wilson and his brother Jackie confessed to involvement in the February 9 fatal shootings of the police officers. A medical officer who saw Andrew Wilson sent a memo to Richard M. Daley , then Cook County State's Attorney , asking for his case to be investigated on suspicion of police brutality. During
480-409: A mural by John W. Norton depicting the newspaper production process . The Art Deco structure became a Chicago landmark, and stands today under the name Riverside Plaza . In 1930, the radio station obtained a license for an experimental television station, W9XAP, but had already begun transmitting from it just prior to its being granted. Working with Sears Roebuck stores by providing them with
540-546: A new civil case by Banks, while employing lawyers to prosecute him on departmental charges. The City hired outside counsel to prosecute the detectives at the internal hearing. After having spent $ 750,000 to defend Burge in the Wilson case, the City of Chicago debated whether to follow normal procedures and pay for the defense of its police officers. In 1993, Andrew Wilson was granted a new judicial hearing in his civil case against Burge by
600-582: A new corporation, CDN Publishing Co., Inc., based in DuPage County, Weston published a number of special editions of the Chicago Daily News , including one celebrating the Chicago Auto Show . The following year, a Rosemont -based group headed by former Illinois governor Richard B. Ogilvie contracted to purchase CDN Publishing, with the expressed intention of publishing the Chicago Daily News as
660-441: A penalty equal to time served. Upon reinstatement the two detectives were initially demoted, but about one year later, they were reinstated at full-rank with backpay for time served while demoted. Burge attempted to have the ruling overturned, but the suspension and subsequent firing were upheld. Due to the internal hearing, the City of Chicago was simultaneously paying lawyers to defend Burge during an appeal by Wilson and
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#1732881005260720-651: A rookie Chicago police officer was shot and killed on a CTA bus on February 5. On February 9, 1982, a person on the street grabbed a police officer's weapon, and shot and killed both the officer and his partner. This last incident occurred within Burge's jurisdiction; he was a lieutenant and commanding officer of Area 2. Burge was eager to catch those responsible and launched a wide effort to pick up suspects and arrest them. Initial interrogation procedures allegedly included shooting pets of suspects, handcuffing subjects to stationary objects for entire days, and holding guns to
780-567: A stock clerk in the Jewel supermarket chain in 1966. In June 1966, Burge enlisted in the army reserve and began six years of service, including two years of active duty . He spent eight weeks at a military police (MP) school in Georgia . He received some training at Fort Benning , Georgia, where he learned interrogation techniques. He volunteered for a tour of duty in the Vietnam War , but instead
840-489: A third suit against Burge and the city, saying that he had been subjected at the age of 13 to electric shock during interrogation and forced into a coerced confession. In November 1991, the Chicago Police Department's Office of Professional Standards (OPS), the internal affairs division that investigates complaints of police misconduct , acknowledged an October 25, 1991, request for action against Burge. This
900-486: A two-week trial in 1983, Andrew Wilson was convicted of the killings and given a death penalty sentence. His brother, Jackie, was convicted as an accomplice and given a life sentence. Both appealed their convictions. In 1985, Jackie Wilson's conviction was overturned by the Illinois Appellate Court because his right to remain silent had not been properly explained by the police. As Andrew Wilson had been given
960-541: A weekend edition beginning that August. Weston hosted a party celebrating the signing of the contract with Ogilvie at the iconic Pump Room in the Ambassador Chicago Hotel. The gala was attended by hundreds of the city's well-known names in politics, publishing, broadcasting and advertising. The next day, Ogilvie reneged on the deal. The check he signed as payment to Weston bounced and his corporation filed for federal bankruptcy protection. Weston's last edition of
1020-574: The Chicago Daily News featured extensive photo coverage of the October 4, 1979, visit to Chicago of Pope John Paul II . In 1984, Weston sold his rights to the Chicago Daily News trademark to Rupert Murdoch , who, at the time, was owner and publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times . The headquarters of the Daily News and Sun-Times was located at 401 North Wabash before the building was demolished. It
1080-764: The Daily News became one of a cooperative of four newspapers, including the New York Globe , The Boston Globe , and the Philadelphia Bulletin , to form the Associated Newspapers syndicate. In 1922, Lawson started one of the first columns devoted to radio. He also introduced many innovations to business operations including advances in newspaper promotion, classified advertising, and syndication of news stories, serials, and comics. Victor Lawson died in August 1925, leaving no instructions in his will regarding
1140-530: The Daily News was widely syndicated and boasted a first-class foreign news service. It became known for its distinctive, aggressive writing style which 1920s editor Henry Justin Smith likened to a daily novel. This style became the hallmark of the newspaper: "For generations", as Wayne Klatt puts it in Chicago Journalism: A History , "newspeople had been encouraged to write on the order of Charles Dickens , but
1200-456: The People's Law Office , received anonymous letters during the trial from a person claiming to be an officer who worked with Burge. This person alleged that the Wilson case was part of a larger pattern of police torture of African-American suspects, which was sanctioned by Burge. U.S. District Judge Brian Barnett Duff did not permit the jury to hear this anonymous evidence. Gradually, the cases of
1260-623: The WGN call letters to this second station. The Daily News would eventually take full ownership of the station and absorb shared band rival WQJ, which was jointly owned by the Calumet Baking Powder Company and the Rainbo Gardens ballroom. WMAQ would pioneer many firsts in radio—one of them the first complete Chicago Cubs season broadcast on radio in 1925, hosted by sportswriter-turned-sportscaster Hal Totten . In April 1930, WMAQ
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#17328810052601320-565: The "Death Row 10". In the 1990 Goldston Report, the City of Chicago listed 50 alleged instances of police brutality and abuse by Burge and other officers. Chicago had struggled for decades with the issue of coerced confessions; in the 1990s it quietly reopened several controversial brutality cases. Despite an extensive investigation into the actions by a number of police employees, few others but Burge were sanctioned. Several politicians, including US Representative Bobby Rush , requested that State's Attorney Richard A. Devine seek new trials for
1380-489: The 30-day period ended, and the officers remained suspended without pay. They sued for reinstatement, but their claims for reinstatement were initially denied. During the hearing, an internal report, which had been suppressed for years, revealed earlier police review findings that criminal suspects were subjected to systematic brutality at the Area 2 detective headquarters for 12 years and that supervisory commanders had knowledge of
1440-619: The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling was based on the fact that during the 1989 civil suit, the officers' defense had worked to "immerse the jury in the sordid details of Wilson's crimes" and did not respond to a suspect's "right to be free from torture and the correlative right to present his claim of torture to a jury that has not been whipped into a frenzy of hatred". An investigation conducted by Chicago Police Department's Office of Professional Standards (OPS) concluded in 1994 that Burge and his detectives engaged in "methodical" and "systematic" torture, and "The type of abuse described
1500-480: The Area 2 Violent crimes Unit until he was promoted to commander of the Bomb and Arson Unit in 1986. In 1988, Burge became Area 3 (Brighton Park) detective commander. According to The Guardian , between 1972 and 1991, Burge "either directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody. Federal prosecutors stated that Burge's use of torture began in 1972. Burge
1560-582: The Chicago Police Department in 1991 and fired in 1993. In 2002, a four-year review revealed numerous indictable crimes and other improprieties, but no indictments were made against Burge or his officers, as the statute of limitations for the crimes had expired. In 2003, Governor George Ryan pardoned four of Burge's victims who were on death row and whose convictions were based on coerced confessions. In 2008, Patrick Fitzgerald , United States Attorney for Northern Illinois , charged Burge with obstruction of justice and perjury in relation to testimony in
1620-451: The City of Chicago's policy toward police brutality contributed to Wilson's injuries). Burge was acquitted of these charges in a second trial, which began on June 9, 1989, and lasted nine weeks. In the verdict of the civil case, jurors found that Chicago police officers employed a policy of using excessive force on black suspects. The first lengthy report of torture by the Chicago police
1680-514: The Daily News was instructing its staff to present facts in cogent short paragraphs, which forced rivals to do the same." In the 1950s, city editor Clement Quirk Lane (whose son John would become Walter Cronkite 's executive producer) issued a memo to the staff that has become something of a memorial of the paper's house style, a copy of which can be found on Lane's entry. After a long period of ownership by Knight Newspapers (later Knight Ridder ),
1740-555: The Death Row 10 who were allegedly tortured by Burge into making coerced confessions. Devine met with representatives and supporters of the inmates and was convinced to request that the Illinois Supreme Court stay proceedings against three of the inmates. However, the Illinois Supreme Court denied Devine's request. Rush sought out Attorney General Janet Reno to pursue federal intervention. In February 1999, David Protess,
1800-643: The February 1982 murders; he also had been the victim of the pattern of a police and city cover-up. Jury selection for the civil trial began on February 15, 1989. The original six-person jury (as was customary for civil trials in Illinois) consisted of two women and four men. By ethnicity it was made up of three African Americans, one Latino, and two whites. When Burge took the stand on March 13, 1989, he denied that he injured Andrew Wilson during questioning and denied any knowledge of any such activity by other officers. Wilson's legal team, led by G. Flint Taylor of
1860-454: The Field years were mostly a period of decline for the newspaper, partly due to management decisions but also due to demographic changes; the circulation of afternoon dailies generally declined with the rise of television, and downtown newspapers suffered as readers moved to the suburbs. In 1977 the Daily News was redesigned and added features intended to increase its appeal to younger readers, but
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1920-550: The abuses. During the February 1992 hearings, several alleged victims testified against Burge. The internal hearing concluded in March 1992, and the Chicago Police Board found Burge guilty of "physically abusing" an accused murderer 11 years earlier; it ordered his firing from the police force on February 10, 1993. Detectives Yucaitis and O'Hara were given 15-month suspensions without pay and reinstated, which amounted to
1980-456: The air rights over the railroad tracks that ran along the west side of the Chicago River. He commissioned architects Holabird & Root to design a modern building over the tracks that would have newspaper production facilities and radio studios. The 26-floor Chicago Daily News Building opened in 1929. It featured a large plaza with a fountain dedicated to Strong's mentor, Victor Lawson, and
2040-447: The campaign. He sought an independent citizens' review of the police department. On January 28, 1991, Amnesty International called for an investigation into police torture in Chicago. When the city's mayor, Richard M. Daley , seemed reluctant to initiate an investigation, his opponent Davis questioned whether there was a police and city coverup . Eventually, after pressure by citizens' organizations and anti-brutality organizations,
2100-488: The changes did not reverse the paper's continuing decline in circulation. The Chicago Daily News published its last edition on Saturday, March 4, 1978. As reported in The Wall Street Journal , later in 1978, Lloyd H Weston , president, editor and publisher of Addison Leader Newspapers, Inc., a group of weekly tabloids in the west and northwest suburbs—obtained rights to the Chicago Daily News trademark. Under
2160-529: The death penalty; ten women were in favor of imposing this sentence and two men opposed it. The following month Andrew Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1989, seven years after his arrest in 1982, Andrew Wilson filed a civil suit against four detectives (including Burge), a former police superintendent, and the City of Chicago. He said that he had been beaten, suffocated with a plastic bag, burned (by cigarette and radiator ), and treated with electric shock by police officers when interrogated about
2220-403: The disposition of the Daily News . Walter A. Strong , who was Lawson's business manager, spent the rest of the year raising the capital he needed to buy the Daily News . The Chicago Daily News Corporation, of which Strong was the major stockholder, bought the newspaper for $ 13.7 million (equivalent to $ 238 million in 2023) —the highest price paid for a newspaper up to that time. Strong
2280-544: The divisional central base camp in Đồng Tâm, and serving a tour as a provost marshal investigator. During his military service, Burge earned a Bronze Star , a Purple Heart , the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and two Army Commendation Medals for valor , for pulling wounded men to safety while under fire. Burge claimed to have no knowledge of or involvement in prisoner interrogation, brutality or torture in Vietnam. Burge
2340-466: The heads of minors. Jesse Jackson , Operation PUSH spokesman; the Chicago Defender ; and black Chicago Police officers were outraged. Renault Robinson , president of Chicago's Afro-American Police League characterized the dragnet operation as "sloppy police work, a matter of racism." Jackson complained that the black community was being held under martial law . The police captured suspects for
2400-595: The killings on February 9 through identification by other suspects. Tyrone Sims identified Donald "Kojak" White as the shooter, and Kojak was linked to Andrew and Jackie Wilson by having committed a burglary with them earlier on the day of the killings. Andrew Wilson was arrested on the morning of February 14, 1982, for the murder of the last two police officers. By the end of the day, he was taken by police and admitted to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center with lacerations on various parts of his head, including his face, chest bruises and second-degree thigh burns. More than
2460-425: The late nineteenth century. Victor Lawson bought the Chicago Daily News in 1876 and became its business manager. Stone remained involved as an editor and later bought back an ownership stake, but Lawson took over full ownership again in 1888. During his long tenure at the Daily News , Victor Lawson pioneered many areas of reporting, opening one of the first foreign bureaus among U.S. newspapers in 1898. In 1912,
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2520-460: The other officers named in Wilson's suit were resolved. On March 15, 1989, Sergeant Thomas McKenna was acquitted of brutality ; and on March 30, 1989, detectives John Yucaitis and Patrick O'Hara were each acquitted of charges by a unanimous jury. But, the jury was at an impasse regarding Burge. Duff ordered a retrial for Burge, former Police Supt. Richard J. Brzeczek , and the City of Chicago on two other outstanding charges (conspiracy and whether
2580-527: The paper was acquired in 1959 by Field Enterprises , owned by heirs of the former owner of the Marshall Field and Company department store chain. Field already owned the morning Chicago Sun-Times , and the Daily News moved into the Sun-Times ' building on North Wabash Avenue. A few years later Mike Royko became the paper's lead columnist, and quickly rose to local and national prominence. However,
2640-508: The police department resumed an internal investigation. In 1991, Gregory Banks filed a civil suit for $ 16 million in damages against Burge, three colleagues, and the City of Chicago for condoning brutality and torture. He said that he had falsely confessed in 1983 to murder after he was tortured by officers: they placed a plastic bag over his head, put a gun in his mouth, and performed other acts. He claimed officers abused eleven other suspects, using such measures as electro-shock . The suit
2700-473: The receivers, those present at the stores were able to see Bill Hay , (the announcer for Amos 'n' Andy ), present a variety show from the Daily News Building, on August 27, 1930. Ulises Armand Sanabria was the television pioneer behind this and other early Chicago television experiments. In 1931 The Daily News sold WMAQ to NBC . In its heyday as an independent newspaper from the 1930s to 1950s
2760-514: The title Midnight Crew . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midnight_Crew&oldid=1118217705 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Jon Burge Jon Graham Burge (December 20, 1947 – September 19, 2018)
2820-635: Was a blue collar worker for a phone company while Ethel was a consultant and fashion writer for the Chicago Daily News . Burge attended Luella Elementary School and Bowen High School where he showed interest in the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC). There he was exposed to military drill , weapons , leadership and military history . He attended the University of Missouri but dropped out after one semester, which ended his draft deferment . He returned to Chicago to work as
2880-626: Was a common precursor to a police dismissal and gave the City of Chicago's Corporation counsel 30 days to consider the report. Burge was suspended for 30 days pending separation, starting on November 8, 1991. The Chicago Police Board set a November 25 hearing to formalize the firing of Burge and two detectives based on 30 counts of abuse and brutality against Wilson. The hearing reviewed the internal police investigation finding that Burge and Detective John Yucaitis had physically abused Andrew Wilson in 1982, while Detective Patrick O'Hara did nothing to stop them. The suspension attracted controversy after
2940-587: Was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department . He was found guilty of lying about "directly participat[ing] in or implicitly approv[ing] the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody in order to force false confessions . A United States Army veteran, Burge had served tours in South Korea and Vietnam. When he returned to the South Side of Chicago , he began
3000-803: Was assigned as an MP trainer. He served as an MP in South Korea , gathering five letters of appreciation from superiors. On June 18, 1968, Burge volunteered for duty in Vietnam a second time, and was assigned to the Ninth Military Police Company of the Ninth Infantry Division. He reported to division headquarters, where he was assigned to provide security as a sergeant at his division base camp, Đồng Tâm . Burge described his military police service as time spent escorting convoys, providing security for forward support bases, supervising security for
3060-514: Was brought by the People's Law Office attorneys who had represented Andrew Wilson in the 1989 police brutality case. The suit described 23 incidents against black and Hispanic suspects between 1972 and 1985. Banks' suit named Sergeant Peter Dignan as one of the officers involved in the abuses. In 1995, Dignan was promoted for meritorious service, even though the City of Chicago had settled out of court with Banks on his suit. In 1993, Marcus Wiggins filed
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#17328810052603120-480: Was convicted as an accomplice at his second trial. The court also ruled that evidence against Andrew Wilson, regarding other matters for which the police wanted him, was incorrectly admitted at his trial on murder charges. His case was remanded to the lower court for retrial. Andrew Wilson was convicted at his second trial in June 1988. After five days of deliberation, the jury was unable to agree on Wilson's eligibility for
3180-487: Was founded by Melville E. Stone , Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing on December 23. Byron Andrews , fresh out of Hobart College , was one of the first reporters. The paper aimed for a mass readership in contrast to its primary competitor, the Chicago Tribune , which appealed to the city's elites. The Daily News was Chicago's first penny paper , and the city's most widely read newspaper in
3240-481: Was hired in February 1922 and went on to have a long and distinguished career in broadcasting. What would become WMAQ had its inaugural broadcast April 12, 1922. That same year, the rival Chicago Tribune began to experiment with radio news at Westinghouse -owned KYW . In 1924 the Tribune briefly took over station WJAZ , changing its call letters to WGN, then purchased station WDAP outright and permanently transferred
3300-509: Was honorably discharged from the Army on August 25, 1969, aged 21. Burge became a police officer in March 1970 at age 22 on the South Side of Chicago . In 20 years of service, he earned 13 commendations and a letter of praise from the Department of Justice . In May 1972, he was promoted to detective and assigned to Area 2 (Pullman Area) Robbery . From 1981 to 1986, he served as the commander of
3360-782: Was not limited to the usual beating, but went into such esoteric areas as psychological techniques and planned torture." As more information about Burge's tenure was published, activists worked on behalf of Chicago inmates on death row who claimed to have been wrongfully convicted . In 1998, representatives from the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Chicago Law School , the London-based International Center for Criminal Law and Human Rights , law professor Anthony Amsterdam , former federal judges George N. Leighton and Abner Mikva , Illinois judge R. Eugene Pincham , and activist Bianca Jagger , called for
3420-561: Was organized as a subsidiary corporation with Walter Strong as its chairman of the board, and Judith Waller as vice president and station manager. On August 2, 1929, it was announced that the Chicago Daily Journal was consolidating with the Daily News , and the Journal published its final issue on August 21. By the late 1920s, it was apparent to Walter Strong that his newspaper and broadcast operations needed more space. He acquired
3480-531: Was published beginning in January 1990 in the alternative weekly Chicago Reader . Through that year, as additional material was published by the Chicago Tribune , civil activists and victims of Burge pushed for disciplinary action against the officer. Danny K. Davis , who was running for Chicago mayor in the Democratic primary scheduled for February 26, 1991, made police brutality and excessive force an issue in
3540-575: Was the leader of a group of police officers known variously as the "Midnight Crew", "Burge's Ass-Kickers", or the "A-Team", who abused suspects to coerce confessions. Federal prosecutors stated that the "Midnight Crew" used methods of torture including beating, suffocation, burning, and electrical shock to the genitals, among other methods. The most prominent events related to his abuses occurred in winter 1982. In February 1982, there were several shootings of law enforcement officers on Chicago's South Side: two Cook County Sheriff's Officers were wounded and
3600-619: Was the president and publisher of the Chicago Daily News Corporation from December 1925 until his death in May 1931. As Lawson's business manager, Strong partnered with the Fair Department Store to create a new radio station. Strong asked Judith C. Waller to run the new station. When Waller protested that she didn't know anything about running a station. Strong replied "neither do I, but come down and we'll find out." Waller
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