Manella Makes Mark Winning the Big Cases

She may not receive as much media attention as Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, but U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella prosecutes some of the biggest criminal cases in Southern California.

Since President Bill Clinton appointed Manella in late 1993 to be the top federal law enforcement official in seven Southern California counties, her office has established a track record of winning high-profile cases, including convicting Rep. Walter Tucker III (D-Compton) of extortion and tax fraud and former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore of extortion.

Manella’s lawyers also convicted Palmdale resident M. Elizabeth Broderick--the self-described “lien queen” who told hundreds of followers they could wipe out their debts by writing their own checks on the U.S. government--on conspiracy, fraud and money-laundering charges.

And when Manella’s office went after Rockwell International, the aerospace company not only pleaded guilty to three counts of hazardous-waste mishandling but turned around and wrote a record $6.5-million check to the U.S. government to pay fines in connection with a 1994 chemical explosion that killed two scientists at the firm’s open-air field lab near Simi Valley.

“This is the best legal job there is,” Manella, a former Superior Court judge, said recently. “As U.S. attorney I have greater authority and ability to have the most impact on the prosecutorial priorities of this office and on seeing that citizens are protected and vindicated.”

As U.S. attorney for California’s central district, which stretches from San Bernardino to San Luis Obispo, it is Manella who is ultimately responsible for the roughly 1,500 cases her attorneys bring each year.

Manella also works with other federal agencies to ensure, for example, that the priorities of federal investigators are in sync with those of her attorneys, who often prosecute white-collar crimes, health care and defense fraud as well as complex violent crimes.

It is Manella’s office that is prosecuting famed-computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, the Mexican Mafia prison gang and an Antelope Valley skinhead charged in machete and baseball-bat assaults targeting African Americans.

Manella also spends time lobbying Washington for more resources for her chronically understaffed office, which has resulted in a 15% staffing increase to 230 lawyers. She credits her subordinates for any success the office has had.

“The principal reason by far is the level of talent this office attracts,” Manella said. “It is not an exaggeration to say we get the best and the brightest lawyers and that there is a tremendous sense of people wanting to live up to the office’s reputation.”

Manella knows that desire well, given that she spent eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1980s. In 1990, then-Gov. George Deukmejian, a Republican, appointed Manella, a lifelong Democrat, to the Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Two years later, Gov. Pete Wilson, another Republican, elevated her to the Superior Court and the following year she was confirmed as U.S. attorney for the state’s central district.

A resident of Studio City, where she grew up, Manella, 45, is an accomplished opera singer--she once said she went into law because she realized that she would have to be a great opera singer to make a career of it--who practices ballet for relaxation.

“To me, life would not be worth living without all those things,” Manella said. “I love the law but not to the exclusion of everything else.”