Been doing a little research on Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney

[Dover]

who was recently put in charge of the Plame case.

First the bio that has been circulating, excerpted from this article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2001 /PRNewswire - http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4PRN/2001_Oct_24/79407576/p1/article.jhtml

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, 40, began his prosecutorial career in 1988 by handling significant drug trafficking cases, and prosecuting major heroin smuggling rings. In 1993 he and another lawyer prosecuted, and won convictions against, John Gambino, a capo of the Gambino Crime Family and three other members of the Gambino Crime Family crew for a variety of charges, including murder and racketeering.

In June of 1994, he became counsel in the prosecution of the "blind sheik," Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 other defendants, who were accused of a seditious conspiracy involving the bombing of the World Trade Center and a plot to bomb the United Nations, the FBI Building in New York, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, and to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. The nine-month trial resulted in convictions.

The following year, Fitzgerald was named Co-Chief of the Organized Crime and Terrorism Section of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Shortly thereafter he became National Security Coordinator for the Office. In these capacities, he was responsible for supervising the investigation and development and prosecution of the case against Osama Bin-Ladin. He was the chief counsel in the prosecution of those alleged to have perpetrated the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Last week, Patrick Fitzgerald participated in the sentencing of four defendants convicted of participating in the 1998 bombings of the two U.S. Embassies in Africa. Earlier this year, Fitzgerald prosecuted the defendants, securing convictions.

Senator Fitzgerald expressed his deep appreciation toward his colleague from Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin, for his help in moving Patrick Fitzgerald's nomination through the confirmation process.

Patrick Fitzgerald was sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in September.

------

And a little more info:

This from a May 13th 2001 AP report ...

The son of Irish immigrants and a graduate of the Harvard Law School, Patrick Fitzgerald said he is neither a Republican nor a Democrat.
"I'm an independent," he told reporters.

Sen. Fitzgerald said a professional prosecutor with a streak of professional independence was just what he wanted.

The senator said that at the outset of his search he consulted outgoing FBI director Louis Freeh.

"I asked Mr. Freeh who in his opinion were the best prosecutors in the country and one of the first names he mentioned was Pat Fitzgerald," the senator said.

Patrick Fitzgerald graduated from Harvard's law school one year ahead of Sen. Fitzgerald's wife, Nina. But aides to the senator said the two apparently had never met while at Harvard.

In New York, Fitzgerald has the reputation of a tough, no-nonsense prosecutor who doesn't relish bantering with reporters. He is trusted by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and was by her side when law enforcement officials gathered the night in July 1996 when TWA Flight 800 burst into flames over Long Island and 230 aboard were killed.
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He certainly has been in the thick of things!
A couple of things struck me as interesting. His involvement in the case on Bin Laden for one thing, and the interesting timing of his job change from N.Y. to Chicago just days prior to 9/11 (he officially took up his new office on Sept. 1, 2001). So that's the primary area of interest I'm focusing on, and hope others are looking at other things. So here are just a few things I've found so far and I'll update as I find more if it looks like anyone here is interested. I'm not drawing conclusions, just following some interesting connections and trying to connect the dots, so no tin foil please. I guess I'll post these in chronological order:

________


Sept. 19, 2001 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010919-13.html

The President intends to nominate Patrick J. Fitzgerald to be United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Fitzgerald is currently Interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, since 1988. During his time in the U.S. Attorneys Office in New York, Fitzgerald served as the Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, National Security Coordinator and a Member of the Attorney General's Critical Incident Response Group. Fitzgerald is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard University Law School.

______


Memorial Service Planned for Former Chicago Agent

Thomas J. Kneir, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today that a memorial service has been scheduled for John P. O'Neill, age 50, who was a victim of the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York City.

A 31-year veteran of the FBI and an expert on counter-terrorism, Mr. O'Neill had taken a position as Security Director for the World Trade Center just two weeks before the attack. At the time of his retirement from the FBI, Mr. O'Neill headed the counter-terrorism program in the New York Office. Mr. O'Neill served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office from 1991-1995.

The memorial service will be held at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, October 9th, at Old St. Patrick's Church, 700 West Adams in Chicago. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Patrick J. Daly, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago FBI; and Robert E. Walsh, retired Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco FBI will eulogize Mr. O'Neill. Local media attendance is welcome. Additional questions can be directed to the FBI press office at [phone].

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Dec. 3, 2001

The ISBA (Illinois Bar Assoc)

http://www.illinoisbar.org/Association/0112-3f.htm


Prosecutor installed

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was installed Nov. 16 as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Chief Judge Marvin E. Aspen of U.S. District Court administered the oath.

Fitzgerald had been appointed interim U.S. attorney by Attorney General John Ashcroft on Sept. 1, and the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination unanimously on Oct. 23. He succeeds Scott R. Lassar.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa and a 1985 graduate of the Harvard Law School, Fitzgerald was chief of the New York district's Organized Crime-Terrorism Unit. He also has been national security coordinator and chief of the Narcotics Unit.

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Be sure to read this (definitely a proponent of the Patriot Acts):

Fitzgerald's Testimony

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Protecting Our National Security from Terrorist Attacks: A Review of Criminal Terrorism Investigations and Prosecutions.
October 21, 2003

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/2003_h/031021-fitzgerald.htm


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More about the "misunderstood" Patriot Act, in the words of Fitzgerald:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0926-04.htm

[grasswire]

1. thanks for the info

Freeh's endorsement isn't worth much, but still interesting.

[Dover]

2. Didn't realize Fitzgerald was being considered for DOJ, replacing

DOJ deputy Larry Thompson

This is an article from Aug. of 2003

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1059980479667

[WilliamPitt]

3. Importnt things to consider

1. Working in the Southern District for NY U.S. Attorney's office is like playing for the New York Yankees. Only the best and the brightest. That office is also considered to be apolitical.

2. This guy is out of NY and later IL, which means he is apart from Main Justice. The difference between what is happening at Main Justice and what happens in the state-level offices is the difference between the sun and the moon.

[Dover]

4. Would like to know more about the differences between Main and State-level

Also curious what you think about his strong stance on Patriot Acts.

I don't understand why there isn't more about him in the goggle searches prior to his position in Illinois. If you find anything about his work in NY I'd really like to see it, particularly as regards his role as Nat. Security Coordinator.

[Malva Zebrina]

5. thank you for doing and posting this information, Dover

I appreciate it very much.

[Dover]

6. Thanks Marianne....hope it's helpful in filling in the gaps.

...and hope others will do some googling on their own.

[Dover]

7. Fitzgerald's work on the African embassy bombings

Here's some links on Fitzgerald's earlier stint as U.S. Attorney of Southern District of NY. It's an article and Frontline piece about the embassy bombings in Africa and Bin Laden/al Qaeda that Fitzgerald was involved with.

1) http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/01/29/embassy.bombings.trial/

2) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/islam/cohen.html

3) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/side2/1054335

[MGKrebs]

8. Nice work, Dover. Interesting.

Whether it ends up amounting to anything or not, this work has to be done, and the regular media isn't going to do it.

In the immortal words of Rummy The Stick (as opposed to Colin The Carrot),
" as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know."

[Dover]

9. lol!

Ain't it the ....er...truth?

[RBHam]

10. I can read between the lines...

An insider, all the way.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

11. What do you mean by "insider"?

Spell out what is wrong with Fitzgerald.

[RBHam]

12. An arranger, a fixer...

Like making sure that whoever (BFEE) was really behind the cases he prosecuted was shielded. Like making sure to investigate only one side of the street...

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

13. You must be fucking kidding

I will provide Fitz's background if you are too lazy.

This man is the best prosecutor in the country.

[Dover]

14. Please add any information you have.

I personally do NOT like the fact that he is a strong proponent of the Patriot Act, as he could be in a position to influence the outcome of those laws.

[rman]

16. i think plenty of background has been provided by the topic starter. n/t

-

[rman]

15. Fitzgerald supports the Patriot Act

He argues in favor of it by mentioning only one relatively minor issue (sharing of info betwee agencies).
It doesn't take much to realize the patriot act is much more than that, but Fitzgerald doesn't talk about the act allowing citizens rights to be taken away based merely on inference.

[Dover]

17. I realize his position on the Patriot Act may not interfere with his

latest assignment on the Plame case, nor am I suggesting that he's a poor choice, necessarily (at least at this point based on what I've learned so far), but I think finding out as much as possible about him is important and a responsible thing to do.

He was one of the people invited to speak in favor of the Patriot Act at the Oct. meeting in Congress on Homeland Security issues and Terrorism. Leahy and other Dems were NOT pleased that Ashcroft didn't even bother to show up after having traveled the country endorsing the PA. Dems were particularly ticked off that they were not given any information about who was speaking and didn't receive any material on the presentations so they could prepare a line of questioning and discussion. So once again, the GOP strategy was to leave Dems outside the loop until the very last minute. No way of knowing whether Fitzgerald knew about this withholding beforehand or not.
Also, I'd like to add that as I stated in my initial post, I have purposely narrowed my research about Fitzgerald to his involvement with the al qaeda/bin Laden case and admit I've wondered what, if any, relationship he might have had with John O'Neill (the only connection so far being Fitzgerald's attendance at O'Neill's memorial service in Chicago...which isn't unusual). Since Fitzgerald has made his case for supporting the Patriot Act BECAUSE he felt there wasn't enough of an information- sharing relationship between his office in NY and the CIA/FBI intelligence community (who O'Neill worked for), I wonder if he's emphasizing that in order to distance himself from the whole O'Neill thing and the 9/11 failures of security, or if he really was left in the dark by those agencies. It is true that either by coincidence OR design...Fitzgerald left his NY post for his new position in Chicago just days before 9/11.



So my point is that there IS much more info that could be researched and added to this or another thread about other aspects of his resume, and the successes he's had busting crime rings, etc. And I welcome that.