FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	

CRM

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1998	

(202) 616-2777

TDD (202) 514-1888


RENO NAMES VICINANZO TO HEAD CAMPAIGN FINANCE TASK FORCE


	Attorney General Janet Reno today announced that career prosecutor David Vicinanzo will
head the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force upon the departure of current chief
Chuck La Bella.  Vicinanzo has been Chief of the Criminal Division at the New Hampshire U.S.
Attorney's office since 1993, prosecuting public corruption, organized crime, RICO, money
laundering and many other kinds of criminal cases.


	Vicinanzo will arrive this summer and serve as La Bella's principal deputy for a transition
period, until La Bella departs to take the position of interim U.S. Attorney in San Diego.  


	"David Vicinanzo is one of the federal government's top prosecutors, and he is the right
person for the job," said Reno.  "He has the experience and dedication to build on the Task
Force's progress."


	The Task Force was established in the fall of 1996 to investigate allegations of wrongdoing
surrounding the 1996 election cycle.  In the past five months, the Task Force has brought charges
against Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Maria Hsia and others.


	Vicinanzo has prosecuted numerous municipal and state officials of both parties on public
corruption charges, including bribetaking, extortion, fraud, and tax evasion.  He supervised the
prosecution and 1995 convictions of 23 former Honda dealers and executives for commercial
bribery.  He convicted 15 members of the Hells Angels on narcotics and violent racketeering
charges, helping prevent them from gaining a foothold in New Hampshire.


	"I have prosecuted cases with Dave Vicinanzo for 10 years, and he is the most talented and
aggressive, yet evenhanded prosecutor I have ever met," said Jeff Howard, former Republican
Attorney General of New Hampshire.  Howard also served as a U.S. Attorney and as Principal
Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department during the Bush administration.


	"In 29 years with the FBI, I never met anyone brighter or more aggressive, or with a better
work ethic than Dave Vicinanzo," said Richard Swensen, who headed the FBI's New England
Division from 199397, and the New Orleans office for three years after that.


	Vicinanzo received awards for his prosecutions of the Hells Angels and for his prosecutions
of large, violent narcotics enterprises.  In 1995, after a nationwide search involving more than a
hundred candidates, he was a finalist for the job leading the prosecution of the Oklahoma City
bombing case.


	Vicinanzo became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1988.  "Attorney General Reno and Jeff
Howard are right," said New Hampshire U.S. Attorney Paul Gagnon.  "Dave Vicinanzo is highly
qualified for this important and sensitive position."


	Before that, he practiced law at Chadbourne & Park in New York City, and served as an
adjunct professor at the Fordham University School of Law.  He graduated from the Fordham
University School of Law in 1985, and earned an A.B. with Honors from Harvard in 1981.  After
college, he studied for a year in Mexico City on a Rotary Fellowship.


	Vicinanzo, a resident of Concord, is married and the father of seven boys.  He plans to
move his family to the Washington area. He is active in parish affairs in Concord, and serves on
the board of the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which protects the rights of abused
and neglected children in the legal system.


	Reno also extended her deep appreciation to La Bella.  "Chuck La Bella should be proud
of his record," said Reno.  "He has helped restructure the task force, he has gotten results, and
he has set high standards and a high energy level that I want to sustain."  


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