Burge was found guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury. The conviction comes two decades after complaints first emerged against Burge but does not answer why the system protected him for so long.

"This case is not about Jon Burge,’" said Francine Sanders, who authored a report on Burge’s torture for the police Office of Professional Standards. "It's about a system, a culture, a sickness in human nature that allows things like this to happen."

The city's mayor, Richard M. Daley, was the Cook County State’s Attorney in the 80s when the abuse occurred. Mary Mitchell, a prominent columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, maintains he owes the city “further explanation” of how Burge was able to get away with torture.

"Hopefully, the Burge conviction will not only be a wake-up call for the police officers who tend to be heavy-handed, but also for citizens who are concerned about policing in their neighborhoods,’’ she wrote.

Flint Taylor, an attorney for several men who accused Burge of torture, already plans to file a civil suit against Burge and Daley on behalf of Ronald Kitchen, "a Burge accuser whose murder conviction was overturned," according to the New York Times.

Victims of the abuse, which included shocks, burns and games of Russian Roulette, were ecstatic after the guilty verdicts were announced.

“These people stole my fucking life," said Mark Clements, 45, who spent 28 years locked up after being tortured by Burge’s staff into confessing to murder. "I sat in a prison cell, and I prayed for this day."