Despite a sharp drop in homicides, Chicago has regained the title of America's murder capital.
The city finished 2003 with 599 homicides, police said. That was down from 648 a year earlier and the first time since 1967 that the total dipped below 600.
Still, the nation's third-largest city outpaced all others for the second time in three years. New York, with about three times the population, ended the year with 596 homicides. Los Angeles, which had the most murders in 2002 at 658, wound up 2003 with 499.
Chicago Police Supt. Philip J. Cline said a mix of gangs, guns and drugs were to blame for many of the homicides.
