1. For more than a decade, until June 30,2012, Fitzgerald was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
22 Facts About Patrick Fitzgerald
1. 2.
Patrick Fitzgerald was born into a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent in Brooklyn.
3.
Patrick Fitzgerald's father worked as a doorman in Manhattan and a security guard at the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing, Queens.
4.
Patrick Fitzgerald received degrees in economics and mathematics from Amherst College, Phi Beta Kappa, before receiving his JD from Harvard Law School in 1985.
5.
Patrick Fitzgerald played rugby at Amherst and at Harvard he was a member of the Harvard Business School Rugby Club.
6.
Patrick Fitzgerald handled drug trafficking cases and in 1993 assisted in the prosecution of Mafia figure John Gambino, a boss of the Gambino crime family.
7.
In 1994, Patrick Fitzgerald became the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
8.
In 1996, Patrick Fitzgerald became the National Security Coordinator for the Office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
9.
Patrick Fitzgerald served as chief counsel in prosecutions related to the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
10.
On September 1,2001, Patrick Fitzgerald was nominated for the position of US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on the recommendation of US Senator Peter Patrick Fitzgerald, a Republican from Illinois.
11.
The Senator urged the selection because Patrick Fitzgerald is not from Chicago; Patrick said that he had visited Chicago only one day, for a wedding in 1982, before his selection.
12.
Patrick Fitzgerald soon expanded this investigation, uncovering a network of political bribery and gift-giving, and leading to more than 60 indictments.
13.
On May 23,2012, Patrick Fitzgerald held a press conference informing the public that he was stepping down from his position and retiring as the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Federal Court effective June 30,2012.
14.
Patrick Fitzgerald was well-known to Comey and was in fact already godfather to one of Comey's children.
15.
On December 30,2003, three months after the start of the Plame investigation, Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed Special Counsel.
16.
In February 2004, Acting Attorney General Comey clarified the delegated authority and stated that Patrick Fitzgerald has plenary authority.
17.
Patrick Fitzgerald announced on the courthouse steps that while he is always open to receiving new information related to the case, he expects to file no further charges, and the prosecutors would "return to their day jobs".
18.
In March 2007, Patrick Fitzgerald was ranked among prosecutors who "had not distinguished themselves" as opposed to "strong US Attorneys who exhibited loyalty to the administration" on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005.
19.
Mr Patrick Fitzgerald is a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged.
20.
On November 17,2005, Patrick Fitzgerald brought criminal fraud charges against former Canadian media mogul Conrad Black, as well as against three other Hollinger executives.
21.
On February 1,2006, the US Attorney's Office under Patrick Fitzgerald announced that it was indicting nineteen members of Risciso, a software and movie piracy ring, in US District Court in Chicago.
22.
On December 9,2008, Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed in a press conference in Chicago that Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, had been arrested by the FBI early that morning on charges of corruption.