Attorney Known as Aggressive, Affable, Fearless

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney appointed Tuesday to take over the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer’s identity, has never been reluctant to go after the powerful -- be they mobsters, terrorists or politicians.

Attorneys who have worked alongside Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, described him as a fiercely independent prosecutor and a workaholic, even by the driven standards of his profession.

“He’s a dogged prosecutor who is blinded by nothing,” said David Kelley, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan. “He takes the facts and follows them where they lead him.” Kelley and Fitzgerald worked together as chiefs of an organized crime-terrorism unit before they both became U.S. attorneys.

Earlier this month, the facts led Fitzgerald to indict former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, on racketeering charges stemming from an ongoing investigation of corruption in state government. If the evidence shows that someone close to President Bush or Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, Fitzgerald would not flinch from filing charges, his colleagues said.

“He is someone who will do his job without fear or favor,” said Mary Jo White, former U.S. attorney in New York who was Fitzgerald’s boss there. “Politics will not get in his way. He will truly get to the bottom of this, no matter what the barriers may be between him and getting the job done.”

Fitzgerald, 43, the son of an Irish immigrant who worked as a doorman in Brooklyn, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College and from Harvard Law School. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York for 13 years before being appointed by Bush as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois two years ago.

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), no relation, who was his chief sponsor for the position, sought him out because he wanted a prosecutor who was not linked to any of the powerful political actors in Chicago.

A few months before indicting Ryan, Fitzgerald indicted members of the Duff family, cronies of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, a Democrat, for illegally receiving $100 million in affirmative-action contracts.

Fitzgerald earned his reputation prosecuting terrorists and organized-crime leaders in New York through the 1990s.

He led the prosecution team against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 other defendants who were found guilty of conspiracy involving the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and a plot to bomb the United Nations.

He also participated in the prosecution of 23 defendants charged with a variety of terrorism offenses including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Colleagues and superiors described Fitzgerald as the rare person who is both intensely aggressive and affable.

“Eliot Ness with a Harvard degree and a sense of humor,” is how Deputy Atty. Gen. James B. Comey Jr. described Fitzgerald to reporters at a news conference announcing his appointment to the investigation. Comey was referring to the legendary federal agent who pursued mobster Al Capone.

White, who is now a lawyer in New York, said Fitzgerald was “one of the best liked colleagues” at the U.S. attorney’s office when she worked with him.

“He is highly respected by people above him and below him because he treats them all with respect,” she said.

Fitzgerald’s easygoing personality served him well investigating cases, she added.

“He gains the best access possible and retains his independence without ever being abrasive,” she said.

Jim Kallstrom, New York state’s homeland security advisor, worked with Fitzgerald when Kallstrom was head of the FBI’s New York field office and Fitzgerald was an assistant federal prosecutor.

While other prosecutors clashed frequently with FBI agents, Fitzgerald didn’t, Kallstrom said.

“He could mingle with chairmen of the board and cops on the street,” Kallstrom said. “I’ve known him for a long time and he is one of the most competent, nonpolitical people I’ve ever met. If you want to get to the bottom of something, find out what happened, he would be the perfect person to lead the investigation.”