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In this captivating account of two of the most corrupt and blood-soaked chapters in Chicago law enforcement history, award-winning lawyer and author of The Torture Machine Flint Taylor draws on his vast experience to guide readers through the sordid world of prosecutorial misconduct and police violence
This compelling follow-up to his exposé of systemic police torture within the CPD looks at the roles of Cook County prosecutors and Democratic machine politicians in covering up both those widespread abuses, and the political assassination of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. This story begins with a focus on then rising political star Edward V. Hanrahan, who, in his position as state's attorney, authorized the notorious police raid on Hampton's apartment and then vociferously orchestrated a cover-up that took more than a decade to completely unravel. Taylor shows how Hanrahan's racist political strategy would ultimately lead to his own political downfall following the efforts of a Black-led movement.
Taylor traces the ways that Hanrahan's legacy was continued and brought to bear on the case of Jackie Wilson, a victim of police torture wrongfully incarcerated for thirty-six years, thanks in large part to the same style of racist prosecutorial misconduct. Drawing on unique insights gained from his position as one of the leading lawyers in opposition, Taylor deftly guides readers through the numerous twists and turns of Wilson's forty-year effort that not only won an innocent man his freedom but also resulted in the criminal indictment of a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney who played an important role in this shameful history.
Leading readers through this saga, Taylor asks whether there can be such a thing as effective progressive prosecutors dedicated to fair and equal justice in such an inherently unjust and systemically racist legal system.
List of contents
Introduction
PART I: THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON
Chapter 1: The Vicious Black Panthers
Chapter 2: Edward V. Hanrahan and His Special Prosecutions Unit
Chapter 3: The SAO, FBI, and SAP Plan the Murderous Raid
Chapter 4: Rush Is Next
Chapter 5: Hanrahan Strikes Back
Chapter 6: Those Bullet Holes Aren't
Chapter 7: Hanrahan Is a Madman
Chapter 8: The Coroner's Inquest
Chapter 9: The Federal Grand Jury
Chapter 10: The Federal Grand Jury Report
Chapter 11: The Special Prosecutor
Chapter 12: The Special Grand Jury
Chapter 13: The Indictment
Chapter 14: Hanrahan Takes the Stand
Chapter 15: The Battle to Unseal the Indictment
Chapter 16: Political and Legal Machinations and Maneuvers
Chapter 17: More of the Same, an Election, and a Political Revolt
Chapter 18: Hanrahan on Trial
Chapter 19: A Show Hearing
Chapter 20: The Trial Continues
Chapter 21: An Election and Another Verdict
Chapter 22: Our Lawsuit, Part One: Discovery of the FBI's Role
Chapter 23: The Civil Rights Trial
Chapter 24: The Appeals
Chapter 25: A Retrial?
Chapter 26: And the Beat Goes On
Part II: THE JACKIE WILSON SAGA
Chapter 1: The Culture
Chapter 2: The Wilsons Are Captured, Tortured, and Convicted
Chapter 3: The Convictions Are Reversed
Chapter 4: Enter The International Con Man
Chapter 5: Jackie's Second Trial Begins
Chapter 6: Coleman Takes the Stand
Chapter 7: The Trial Concludes
Chapter 8: Andrew's Civil Rights Trials
Chapter 9: Appeals and a Police Board Hearing
Chapter 10: A Special Prosecutor, a Report, and a Conviction
Chapter 11: Jackie Gets a New Hearing
Chapter 12: The Torture Hearing and The Judge's Decision
Chapter 13: The Torture Hearing Appeal
Chapter 14: Uncovering More Coleman Evidence
Chapter 15: Groundhog Day: the Third Trial Begins
Chapter 16: Trutenko Takes the Stand
Chapter 17: A Certificate of Innocence and Another Special Prosecutor
Chapter 18: A Civil Suit, Another Special Prosecutor, and a Conversation with Coleman
Chapter 19: Trutenko and Horvat in the Dock
Chapter 20: Trutenko Walks
Afterword
Selected Bibliography / Resources
About the author
As a law student,
Flint Taylor was a founding member of the People's Law Office and has been a partner of the PLO since 1972. As a student and lawyer, he has been dedicated to litigating against police violence and racism for more than fifty-four years. Among the landmark cases that Taylor has litigated are the Fred Hampton Black Panther case; the Greensboro, North Carolina case against the KKK, Nazis and Greensboro police; and a series of cases arising from a pattern and practice of police torture and cover-up by Chicago police Commander Jon Burge, former Cook County State's Attorney and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and numerous other law enforcement officials. He has represented, and continues to represent, many wrongfully convicted persons, including police torture victims who have spent decades in prison and on death row. He has chronicled his work and that of the People's Law Office in an award-winning historical memoir titled
The Torture Machine.
