Christy S. Berkos, 85, a retired Cook County judge and former Cicero town attorney who oversaw security measures for a 1966 civil rights march in the western suburb, died of natural causes Tuesday, May 10, at Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, his daughter said.
As Cicero town attorney during the 1960s, Mr. Berkos and several Chicago leaders met with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to discuss a planned march to protest housing segregation in the town.
After discussions led to an agreement to improve housing, King called off the protest. But splinter civil rights groups rebelled, denounced the agreement and decided to march into Cicero anyway.
Fearing violence, Mr. Berkos enlisted 2,000 National Guardsmen to patrol the area, on top of hundreds of state police troopers and Cicero cops on duty to escort marchers.
Kim Kinnas, Mr. Berkos’ daughter, recalled threatening calls being made to the family’s home.
“It was a crazy time,” his daughter said. “People were calling, saying that Cicero was going to burn down. But my father was trying to be responsible and maintain order.”
Mr. Berkos was born in Chicago and attended Morton High School and Morton College. After completing his degree, he served in the Navy during World War II.
After the war, he enrolled at Chicago-Kent College of Law and obtained his law degree in 1952. He went on to serve as Cicero’s town attorney for 23 years.
In August 1966, after King called off plans to march in Cicero, Mr. Berkos told the Tribune he had been “very fearful” that a large protest could have proved disastrous.
“You can’t stop a person who is mentally ill from getting on a rooftop,” Mr. Berkos said.
In 1976, Mr. Berkos was elected Cicero town president. He served one term and was then elected as a Cook County judge.
He presided over the trials of three teenagers who were found guilty of the 1986 rape and murder of Rush University medical student Lori Roscetti. He sentenced them to life in prison without possibility of parole. A fourth man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Following a Tribune investigation and the results of new DNA tests, the three men serving life were released from prison and the convictions of all four men were vacated in December 2001.
Mr. Berkos also is survived by his wife, Rita; another daughter, Cindy Erickson; a son, Daniel; and two grandchildren.
Services were held.
