Louis Freeh
Louis Freeh
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Freeh began his career as an agent of the FBI, and was later an assistant United States Attorney and a United States district court judge, the position he held when appointed FBI director. He is now a lawyer and consultant in the private sector. He acquired Italian citizenship on October 23, 2009
Born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Louis Freeh was educated by the Christian Brothers and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1974 and an LL.M. degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City field office and at F.B.I. Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy U.S. Attorney, and Associate U.S. Attorney. He was also a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush appointed Freeh a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a position he held until he was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Freeh and his wife, Marilyn, have 6 sons. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although is not a member of the Opus Dei prelature (as rumors have stated). According to The Bureau and the Mole, a book by David A. Vise, Freeh's son was enrolled at the private The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, which Vise describes as "an Opus Dei academy". Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware. One of his sons currently attends Georgetown University in Washington, DC Washington, DC.
A notable case Freeh was associated with was the "Pizza Connection" investigation, in which he was lead prosecutor. The case, prosecuted in the mid-1980s, involved a drug trafficking operation in the United States by Sicilian organized crime members who used pizza parlors as fronts. After a 14-month trial, 16 of 17 co-defendants were convicted. The "Pizza Connection" case was, at the time, the most complex criminal investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. government.
Shortly before and during Freeh's tenure, the FBI was involved in a number of high-profile incidents and internal investigations.
Among other Justice Department officials (including Attorney General Reno), Freeh was named a co-defendant in Zieper v. Metzinger, a 1999 federal court case. The American Civil Liberties Union assisted the plaintiffs who sued due to the FBI's conduct in investigating "Military Takeover of New York City", a short (fictional) film made in October 1999 that discussed riots and a military takeover of Times Square on New Year's Eve, 1999.
In May 2000, he reached an agreement with Rep. José Serrano, then Puerto Rican Independence Party senator Manuel RodrÃguez Orellana and then Puerto Rico Senate Committee on Federal Affairs chairman Kenneth McClintock, the islands' current Senate President, to release FBI files on Puerto Rican political activists. Nearly 100,000 pages have been released and are being catalogued by the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico.
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Freeh said that the widespread use of effective encryption "is one of the most difficult problems for law enforcement as the next century approaches". He considered the loss of wiretapping to law enforcement as a result of encryption to be dangerous and said that the "country [would] be unable to protect itself" against terrorism and serious crimes.
An investigation of the August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which an FBI sharpshooter killed the wife of a wanted suspect, was ongoing when Freeh became Director. A paramilitary FBI unit, the Hostage Rescue Team, was present at the incident; Freeh later said that had he been director, he would not have involved the HRT. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was later charged with manslaughter; Freeh said that he was "deeply disappointed" at the charges, filed by a county prosecutor and later dropped.
Freeh was not censured for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation.
Born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Louis Freeh was educated by the Christian Brothers and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1974 and an LL.M. degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City field office and at F.B.I. Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy U.S. Attorney, and Associate U.S. Attorney. He was also a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush appointed Freeh a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a position he held until he was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Freeh and his wife, Marilyn, have 6 sons. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although is not a member of the Opus Dei prelature (as rumors have stated). According to The Bureau and the Mole, a book by David A. Vise, Freeh's son was enrolled at the private The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, which Vise describes as "an Opus Dei academy". Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware. One of his sons currently attends Georgetown University in Washington, DC Washington, DC.
A notable case Freeh was associated with was the "Pizza Connection" investigation, in which he was lead prosecutor. The case, prosecuted in the mid-1980s, involved a drug trafficking operation in the United States by Sicilian organized crime members who used pizza parlors as fronts. After a 14-month trial, 16 of 17 co-defendants were convicted. The "Pizza Connection" case was, at the time, the most complex criminal investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. government.
Shortly before and during Freeh's tenure, the FBI was involved in a number of high-profile incidents and internal investigations.
Among other Justice Department officials (including Attorney General Reno), Freeh was named a co-defendant in Zieper v. Metzinger, a 1999 federal court case. The American Civil Liberties Union assisted the plaintiffs who sued due to the FBI's conduct in investigating "Military Takeover of New York City", a short (fictional) film made in October 1999 that discussed riots and a military takeover of Times Square on New Year's Eve, 1999.
In May 2000, he reached an agreement with Rep. José Serrano, then Puerto Rican Independence Party senator Manuel RodrÃguez Orellana and then Puerto Rico Senate Committee on Federal Affairs chairman Kenneth McClintock, the islands' current Senate President, to release FBI files on Puerto Rican political activists. Nearly 100,000 pages have been released and are being catalogued by the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico.
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Freeh said that the widespread use of effective encryption "is one of the most difficult problems for law enforcement as the next century approaches". He considered the loss of wiretapping to law enforcement as a result of encryption to be dangerous and said that the "country [would] be unable to protect itself" against terrorism and serious crimes.
An investigation of the August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which an FBI sharpshooter killed the wife of a wanted suspect, was ongoing when Freeh became Director. A paramilitary FBI unit, the Hostage Rescue Team, was present at the incident; Freeh later said that had he been director, he would not have involved the HRT. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was later charged with manslaughter; Freeh said that he was "deeply disappointed" at the charges, filed by a county prosecutor and later dropped.
Freeh was not censured for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation.
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