Some reading on Patrick Fitzgerald: "The Original Untouchable"

[crispini]

I decided to read through some articles and background info about Fitzgerald because it seems like an awful lot is riding on his shoulders right now. If you've got more info, please post!

Wikipedia
Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born 1961) is the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. (snip)

Fitzgerald attended Amherst College and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1985. After practicing civil law, he became an Assistant United States Attorney in New York in 1988. He handled drug-trafficking cases and in 1993 helped prosecute John Gambino of the Gambino mafia family. In 1994, he became the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 other individuals charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

more....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Fitzgerald

DOJ official biography
Patrick J. Fitzgerald began serving as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on September 1, 2001. Mr. Fitzgerald was initially appointed on an interim basis by Attorney General John Ashcroft before being nominated by President George W. Bush. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on October 23, 2001, and President Bush signed his commission on October 29, 2001.

(snip)
During the last three years, Mr. Fitzgerald has provided leadership and played a personal role in many significant investigations involving terrorism financing, public corruption, corporate fraud, and violent crime, including narcotics and gang prosecutions.

In Chicago, Mr. Fitzgerald has supervised the continuing public corruption investigation known as Operation Safe Road, which began in 1998, and which resulted in the convictions of more than 65 defendants, including more than 30 public employees and officials. In 2004, he has overseen the beginning of an investigation of the City of Chicago's Hired Truck Program. Mr. Fitzgerald has also committed himself personally to the implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods as part of a concerted effort with the Chicago Police Department and other state and federal law enforcement agencies to reduce gun violence.

more...
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/aboutus/patrickjfizgerald.html

LA Times: A Prosecutor Who Didn't Back Down
Fitzgerald earned his reputation as a tough prosecutor when he was assigned to oversee terrorism-related cases in the U.S. attorney's office in New York. He led the first major federal probe of Al Qaeda and won convictions of five terrorists accused of plotting the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa.

Admired by counter-terrorism agents for his courtroom aggressiveness and photographic recall of facts, Fitzgerald also has been criticized by defense lawyers for harsh tactics.

more...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-fitzgerald8jul08,0,1244179.story?coll=la-home-headlines

This next WaPo article is really good! Wish I could post more!

The Washington Post: The Prosecutor Never Rests
The gifted son of an Irish doorman makes no bones about challenging the establishment. His office is also prosecuting former Illinois governor George Ryan and loyal associates of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on influence-peddling and corruption charges.

(snip)
"What's been interesting is seeing the media accounts and the columnists portray him as some sort of runaway prosecutor. That makes me smile," says Comey, who is largely responsible for Fitzgerald getting the Plame assignment. "Because there is no prosecutor who is less of a runaway than this guy."

(snip)
"I thought, 'He is the original Untouchable,' " Peter Fitzgerald says. "You could just see it in his eyes that he was a straight shooter. There were no levers that anyone had over him. He had no desire to become a partner in a private law firm. He has no interest in electoral politics. He wanted to be a prosecutor." (emphasis mine)

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55560-2005Feb1.html

Anyone else have some interesting articles or quotes on Fitzgerald?

(edited for cooler title! :D )