CHICAGO – Will the city act?

That’s the question many Chicagoans will be asking Wednesday – a day after the dramatic conclusion of a civil trial that stemmed from a notorious 2007 beating of a female bartender by off-duty police officer Anthony Abbate. A video recording of the attack later went viral worldwide.

Jurors came back with a verdict Tuesday and gave voice to what has been whispered for years: That at least some Chicago police adhere to a code of silence to protect their fellow officers. And while the city all but promised an appeal of the verdict, Mayor Rahm Emanuel also suggested that anyone in the Police Department perpetuating a code of silence would face consequences.