Thirty years ago this week, a single gunshot changed New
Orleans' relationship with its police force. A young, white cop,
Gregory Neupert, took a fatal bullet to the neck. In short
order, four black citizens were killed in a hail of police
gunfire. The chief of police was eventually forced out amid a
racially tinged uproar. The mayor felt the wrath of an outraged
citizenry. The violent police response to Neupert's killing led
to the federal indictment of seven officers in one of the
earliest, wide-ranging civil rights probes of the New Orleans
Police Department. Three of the so-called "Algiers Seven" were
eventually convicted in an exhaustive trial that relied on the
testimony of a fellow cop who broke ranks. Though four citizens
were dead, the conviction centered on the beating and abuse of
other citizens, but not on the killings. This week, another dark
chapter in the history of the NOPD begins, one with haunting
parallels to the Neupert case. Starting Monday, a new group of
officers will be tried in federa