Chicago to Pay $20M in Cop Torture Cases

The city of Chicago has agreed to pay almost $20 million to settle lawsuits by four black men who alleged they were tortured into false confessions by police, the New York Times reports. The settlement with the former death row inmates, pardoned in 2003, "speaks volumes about the seriousness of the systematic torture, abuse, and cover-up that went on in the city of Chicago for decades,” said one lawyer.

Numerous black men have reported that officers, led by a since-fired Chicago police commander, used electric shock, Russian roulette, beatings, and attempted suffocation during police interrogations in the 1970s and '80s. The $19.8 million settlement still must be approved by city aldermen. (More Chicago stories.)