CHICAGO — For decades, they had waited for an apology. This group of black men, some now graying and bent by age, had complained of violent abuse at the hands of the police in the 1970s and ’80s on this city’s South Side. They said they had been suffocated with plastic bags, beaten with phone books, shocked with cattle prods — torture tactics meant to extract confessions to crimes.

On Wednesday, after years of investigation, public debate and litigation, the City of Chicago expressed remorse. City Council members voted without dissent to pay $5.5 million in reparations to victims of torture and abuse by a group of officers known as the “Midnight Crew” and overseen by a notorious police commander, Jon Burge.

For those affected, there were also promises of a memorial, psychological counseling and job training, and assurances that their story would be taught in Chicago schools.