Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Maurice Possley worked as an investigative reporter for nearly 25 years for the Chicago Tribune. As a federal courts reporter and then as a deputy metropolitan editor, he unearthed great misconduct and wrongful convictions. He had a front row seat to the FBI’s infamous investigation into Cook County’s court system during Operation Greylord in the 1980s. Former Gov. George Ryan cited Maurice’s reportage and that of his colleagues at the Chicago Tribune as playing a role in his historic decision to institute a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois in 2000 and commute the death sentences of 171 death row inmates to life in prison without parole.

During its Mayor Monday look at corruption and transparency in Chicago, Eight Forty-Eight spoke to Possley about what he saw during his years in the reporting trenches and whether or not a new mayor could turn this ship around.

Possley is currently working for the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law.