One Mighty-Determined Plumber
The lawman investigating a White House leak just won't take no for an answer
Fitzgerald critics run the political gamut. Conservative columnist William Safire called him a "runaway Chicago prosecutor," whose strategies present "this generation's gravest threat to our ability to ferret out the news." Miguel Estrada, who represents Cooper and Time magazine and once worked with Fitzgerald in New York's Southern District, says his old colleague is simply wrong on the law. "I don't want to characterize him as overzealous--nothing much is gained by name-calling," says Estrada. "He's a delightful colleague and a very thoughtful lawyer. He's just trying to do his job, though I wish he hadn't subpoenaed my clients."
Fitzgerald declined to comment for this article. But Comey says his friend is "no antipress zealot" and that allusions that have been drawn to the antagonistic police inspector in the classic morality tale Les Miserables are unfair. "I've seen him portrayed as a kind of Javert, which both makes me laugh and cringe," Comey says, " because nothing could be further from the truth."
Fitzgerald, in fact, has built a reputation as one of the most apolitical, skilled, respected, and feared federal prosecutors in the country. "Do I agree with all the evidence in his cases? No," says criminal defense attorney Ronald Safer. "But do I question his motives? Not at all." Fitzgerald has been praised for his relentless attack on Illinois's scandal-plagued political machine and a spate of indictments of mobsters, gang members, and crooked businessmen. He indicted former Republican Gov. George Ryan and dozens of other state workers, including Ryan's former chief of staff, for a pattern of corruption during Ryan's eight-year tenure as Illinois secretary of state. In April, Fitzgerald arrested a dozen aging organized-crime figures, including Cosa Nostra bosses, "made" members, and two former police officers in connection with 18 murders dating back to 1970. "In one sweep, his office solved more mob murders than had been solved in the history of the mob," says Chicago Crime Commission President Thomas Kirkpatrick. Fitzgerald also has indicted a slew of city officials and obtained nine guilty pleas from employees who are accused of giving business to trucking companies in exchange for bribes and illegal campaign work. Last month, Fitzgerald charged three city employees with running a heroin ring out of the water department. And he has convicted a close ally of Mayor Richard Daley for bilking the city of millions of dollars for running a sham minority firm--all of which has sent shivers up and down City Hall. "Who knows how far up the ladder Fitzgerald's office will go?" says Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman. "He doesn't stop."
The doorman's son. It's this single-minded focus and innovativeness that have made Fitzgerald--a former rugby player--a formidable adversary in both sports and law. The son of Irish parents--his father worked as a doorman at a building on East 75th, just off Madison Avenue--Fitzgerald attended a Jesuit preparatory high school and was star of the speech and debate team. He worked maintenance jobs and spent summers opening doors in a Manhattan co-op to pay for his tuition at Amherst and Harvard Law School. "He really is the combination of the doorman's son and the brilliant Harvard lawyer," says Comey. After three years in private practice, Fitzgerald joined the Southern District and cut his teeth on drug, gang, and organized-crime cases before moving into the netherworld of Islamic terrorism.
How one of the nation's top terrorism prosecutors got stuck in what many of his colleagues view as an utterly thankless investigation shot through with politics is a quintessential Washington tale. When Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the inquiry to avoid a potential conflict of interest, it fell to Comey--whose confirmation for the deputy post was being held in limbo by a Democratic senator because of the controversy--to resolve the impasse. Comey handed Fitzgerald the hot potato, because "there's nobody better in the whole country." The decision, "remarkably, has not ended our friendship," Comey chuckles, later adding: "When I see him getting beat up and unfairly characterized--and most of the characterizations I've seen of him have been unfair--that's the only time I regret giving him this assignment."
With Eric Ferkenhoff
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