In nominating Judge Louis J. Freeh to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, President Clinton turned yesterday to a man who, the judge's friends say, has been unconsciously training for the job his entire professional life.
Judge Freeh is a former F.B.I. agent and Federal prosecutor whose work on complex and celebrated Government cases led to his appointment, at 41, to a Federal judgeship in Manhattan.
His nomination as Director had been expected for weeks before it was announced yesterday by President Clinton, who said Mr. Freeh would be "both good and tough -- good for the F.B.I. and tough on criminals." Friends and supporters say the job is one that plays to Judge Freeh's strengths.
Described by former colleagues as an innovative investigator and tactician, as well as a leader and comrade, Judge Freeh at times sounds too good to be true.
Some current and former law-enforcement officials say that Judge Freeh, who is 43, will have no experience in running a vast agency of more than 20,000 employees, an organization burdened by budgetary cutbacks and an increasingly restive work force. Doing the Right Thing
Continue reading the main storyIn addition, they say, the judge's expertise in the Mafia reflects a bygone era. The focus today, they say, is on newer immigrant groups, like Asians, with which the judge has had little first-hand experience.
Still, those who have known and worked with him say the man they call "Louie" is one of those people who lives up to his notices. They say that unlike some who rise to high office, Judge Freeh (pronounced free) has achieved his status not so much by making the right moves as by doing the right thing. In fact, friends say, he did not campaign for the director's job and made it clear he would be happy to remain a judge.
"He combines the best skills of an investigator with the best instincts of a trial lawyer," said Howard M. Shapiro, a former colleague in the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York who is now a professor at Cornell University Law School.
Despite his roles in episodes like the 17-month trial in the "pizza connection case," which ended in March 1987 with the convictions of 17 defendants on charges of operating an international drug ring and moving millions of dollars through pizzerias as fronts, Judge Freeh is not well known outside law-enforcement circles.
That, say his friends, is by the choice of the judge, whom they describe as a private man whose personal life revolves around his wife, Marilyn, and their four young sons. He met his wife when she was a clerical worker at the bureau's headquarters in Washington.
With his dark, deep-set eyes and somber mien, Judge Freeh can come across as a bit grim. "He kind of looks like a sourpuss because he brings such seriousness to his work," said James Esposito, the head of the F.B.I.'s Newark office who has known the nominee since the late 1970's. A No-Frills Routine
Those who know him describe his daily life as no-frills. For Judge Freeh, lunch is usually a sandwich from the cafeteria in the Federal Courthouse, or a slice of pizza from a parlor near Foley Square.
But they say his strait-laced, businesslike manner masks an impish side that he reveals to close friends. "He has a wonderful sense of humor when he doesn't have a public profile," said Mr. Esposito.
"It sounds like he's boring, but he isn't," said Richard A. Martin, a lawyer who prosecuted the pizza connection case with Judge Freeh.
Those who know him predict that if he is confirmed by the Senate, Judge Freeh, who has turned away recent requests for interviews, would start with credibility from being one of the agency's own -- although he claims never to have fired his gun in anger and to have been an awful shot. Has Kept F.B.I. Ties
As recently as June 1991 when in his last case as a Federal prosecutor he obtained the conviction of a Georgia man, Walter Leroy Moody Jr., in the mail-bomb killings of a Federal appeals judge and a civil rights lawyer, Judge Freeh worked closely with F.B.I. investigators. Friends say that he has retained close ties to somebureau officials, including Larry Potts, the assistant director of the criminal division.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former United States Attorney for New York for whom Judge Freeh worked from 1983 to 1989, called the judge "the singularly best-suited person in America to run the F.B.I."
Louis Joseph Freeh was born on Jan. 6, 1950, in Jersey City, the son of William Freeh Sr., a real estate broker, and his wife, Beatrice, who moved to Hudson County from Brooklyn.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in 1971, he attended Rutgers Law School in Newark at night, obtaining a degree in 1974. A year later, he joined the F.B.I. For the next six years, his assignments included investigating organized crime. One inquiry resulted in the convictions of a former official of the longshoremen's union, Anthony Scotto, and more than 125 labor leaders, shipping executives and figures from organized crime. Grace Under Pressure
Friends and acquaintances say that from the outset Louis Freeh showed a flair for investigative work. Rusty Wing, a Federal prosecutor handling fraud cases when he met Louis Freeh in the mid-1970's, recalled an instance of grace under pressure: Mr. Wing's wife, also a prosecutor at the time, ran into Agent Freeh in a health spa on Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights.
"He was there under cover," recalled Mr. Wing, now a lawyer in Manhattan. While continuing his workout, Agent Freeh managed to continue the interview with his subject after making it clear to Mrs. Wing that he didn't want her to say anything.
Mr. Wing said he was among those who spoke on behalf of Judge Freeh when he moved in 1981 from the F.B.I. to the United States Attorney's office. In 1987, he was one of the leaders of a team of prosecutors who obtained convictions of virtually all the pizza connection defendants, who were accused of participating in a Mafia ring that stretched from Turkey, Sicily and Brazil to New York. Low on Theatrics
The case required some five years of investigation before the 17-month trial -- the longest in the history of the Southern District. Judge Freeh masterminded the prosecution, at times traveling to Turkey and Switzerland to interview witnesses and take depositions. Richard Martin recalled Louis Freeh's presentation as deliberate, if untheatrical.
"He's very straightforward, but he presents evidence that is itself very exciting, very powerful," Mr. Martin said. "A lot of the defense lawyers did not realize that this guy was killing them slowly."
But after the trial, defense lawyers became some of his biggest boosters. "He was utterly reliable, completely responsible about the facts," said Ivan Fisher, who represented a key defendant. And Federal judges who had seen him in action urged him to seek the bench.
When Mr. Giuliani left office in 1989, Louis Freeh was named interim second-in-command and headed the office's organized crime strike force under Mr. Giuliani's successor, Otto Obermaier. Picked by Thornburgh
In 1990, he was named by Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to oversee the investigation in the mail-bombing case that involved an appellate judge in Mountain Brook, Ala., and a civil rights lawyer in Savannah, Ga. He is credited by some with rescuing a case that had bogged down in disorganization. Mr. Shapiro, who was brought into the mail-bomb prosecution by Mr. Freeh, said he was promised that they would try the case as partners.
"I was a little skeptical about that, but when it came down to it, the way we split up the trial was, I did the opening, he did the closing, and I did the rebuttal," Mr. Shapiro said. "He didn't feel he had to prove anything."
On early flights to Atlanta, Mr. Shapiro recalled, other prosecutors and agents might get a few extra hours of sleep. "Louis," he said, "would be sitting there working, writing, thinking."
For his summation, Mr. Freeh spoke for two hours without consulting a note. The jury convicted Mr. Moody of all 71 counts, and he was sentenced to seven life terms plus 400 years in prison.
Friends say Judge Freeh, appointed a judge by President George Bush in 1991, has taken to the bench in much the same way he devoted himself to the jobs of agent and prosecutor. While some who know him say that he was still finding his way as a judge, he has handed down some significant rulings, including a decision last February in which he concluded that the state had been violating Federal law by adding an extra charge to hospital bills paid by some insurers. Getting an Early Start
Commuting from northern Westchester County, the judge likes to gets an early start on his days in court, because, friends say, he likes to leave early enough to spend time with his children.
In an interview last year, Judge Freeh said that being a trial judge was "the greatest."
"There's something about the ebb and flow of human events, ordinary and sublime, all the different hues of human nature," he said.
The move to Washington will remove Judge Freeh from that ebb and flow. "For Louis," said Mr. Martin, "this job is going to be a sacrifice, because he is a private guy who likes to spend time with his family."
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