john o'neill vs. barbara bodine

[rusty charly]

If information is power, then for more than 40 years now Elaine’s has been one of those New York anomalies where power flows as freely as bourbon, traded among tables of law-enforcement officials, government operatives, corporate executives, show-business types and reporters who, one way or another, disseminate the information to the rest of the city —and sometimes beyond.

Before he died in the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, former F.B.I. agent John O’Neill was a part of that Elaine’s nexus. Like many of the restaurant’s denizens, he struck a high profile with his slicked-back hair and double-breasted suits. Like them, he was no stranger to controversy, at the bureau and in his romantically complex personal life. But he was well respected in the law-enforcement and intelligence communities for his early grasp and relentless pursuit of the Al Qaeda threat, for his knowledge and expertise on Osama bin Laden. On many Monday nights, he could be found having dinner at Elaine’s with an international contact he’d groomed. And when O’Neill’s body was recovered from the rubble of Ground Zero, his wake was held in the restaurant’s back room.

http://www.observer.com/pages/transom.asp