U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello steers clear of politics
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
January 4, 2009
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| A STORIED CAREER During his tenure as an attorney, Joseph Russoniello has taken part in numerous interesting cases, such as when he tried Peoples Temple member Larry Layton for the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Enforcing federal law in a city where cannabis clubs flourish, decriminalizing prostitution was put on the ballot and police are barred from assisting in immigration raids might seem like a thankless mission, made for someone equal parts diplomat and law-and-order stickler.
But for Joseph Russoniello, U.S. attorney of the Northern District of California, the job was appealing enough to lure him back to his post for a second time.
As Russoniello, 67, looks at The City’s skyline from the window of his 11th-floor office in the Federal Building, he is flooded with memories of cases that defined San Francisco and shaped him as a prosecutor. After being appointed by President Ronald Reagan to his first term, from 1982 to 1990, Russoniello personally tried Larry Layton of the Peoples Temple for his part in the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana.
Layton, the only person prosecuted in the massacre, had been found not guilty of attempted murder in a Guyanese court after claiming to have been brainwashed. Layton, who fired a gun at four people on the Jonestown airstrip, could not be charged in the U.S. for attempted murder. Instead, Russoniello tried him under a federal statute for assassinating a member of Congress and internationally protected people. He was convicted of conspiracy and of aiding and abetting Ryan’s murder. Layton was paroled in 2002.
Russoniello said he was deeply affected by the stories told by massacre survivors, and rattled by the power of personality and the opportunism of ambitious politicians.
“I got to see what a demon Jim Jones was and how quick politicians were to wrap their arms around him, because they could provide political support,” he said.
Russoniello and his team would also travel to Europe to collect evidence against John Walker, convicted of spying for the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Later, he would prosecute spying of a different kind: trying the Hitachi and Mitsubishi corporations for their theft of IBM secrets.
“It was such an incredible case,” Russoniello. “No one guessed at the time that industrial espionage was a problem. That case changed things.”
Last year, Russoniello resigned from private practice and was appointed to his post again — this time by President George W. Bush. His appointment followed the controversial firing of U.S. attorney Kevin Ryan, after Justice Department audits found fault with his management style.
Morale was low among attorneys in the office, Russoniello said.
“I was mostly thinking in terms of the staff,” he said. “I thought my coming back might be a shot in the arm for them.”
Russoniello, a former contributor to Rudy Giuliani, says his job now is to enforce federal law, not play politics.
But local and state policies are often at odds with federal enforcement, he said. Russoniello is a critic of medical marijuana dispensaries, which he believes are often money-making enterprises. And until San Francisco agreed to review its sanctuary city policy, the relationship between the feds and The City was strained, he said.
“It is not local government’s job to come up with its own immigration policy,” Russoniello said.
Additionally, the decriminalizing of prostitution — a San Francisco proposal struck down on the November ballot — comes from an attitude of smug ignorance of the effects of sex trafficking on women, he said.
Getting illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of felons — Russoniello’s top priority in his second stint — is very much an ongoing effort, he said. The problem, he admits, is still of mammoth proportions. But his office is now reviewing gun cases filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office that can be prosecuted under federal law. Federal cases tend to be disposed of more quickly and the penalties are more stringent.
“We can take these people off the streets instead of recycling them through the system,” he said.
Hazy future doesn’t distract Russoniello
Throughout his career as a U.S. attorney, Joseph Russoniello has served at the behest of Republican presidents. And though the job itself isn’t political, the new Democratic administration could spell the end of the line for the top prosecutor.
“I don’t know what the new administration means for me. I really don’t. But I’m a realist,” he said. “If I serve six months, a year or the next three years, it’s beyond my control. We serve at the pleasure of the president.”
The U.S. attorney position is paradoxical, Russoniello said.
“We’re perceived to be political and pro-partisan, but it doesn’t matter to us,” he said. “We’re here to uphold the law.”
In the meantime, Russoniello has started writing a book. It has yet to take shape, he says, but he’s playing with a couple themes: being on the edge of history and the lighter side of the law.
He recalled a very serious case in which attorneys were working around the clock. When he reported on a Saturday morning, his staff was diligently poring over their work — all while wearing cartoonish hats.
“There are so many things people wouldn’t believe, so many oddities in the law,” he said.
— Tamara Barak Aparton
U.S. attorney Joseph Russoniello on ...
San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy: Until The City took a look at its policy and remedied it, it really was an impediment to us. The idea of a city forming its own immigration policy and “deporting” individuals back to their countries without running those names — The City didn’t know who it was dealing with. They were treating as juveniles adults who were benefiting from this generous offer. The other problem was the prohibition against police officers cooperating with federal officers on immigration enforcement, which morphed into no cooperation at all. It was unfortunate we had the problem.
Medicinal marijuana clubs: A person whose physician has determined they would benefit from medical marijuana, those people are so low on our priority list, they have nothing to fear. But 95 percent of dispensaries are not in compliance with the state attorney general’s guidelines. They are commercial enterprises.
Gun violence: Throughout the last year, what we’ve started doing is looking at all [local gun cases] and see which fit the federal enforcement guidelines. By putting these in the federal courts, we can dispose of them more quickly. We can take these people off the streets instead of recycling them through the system.
Sex trafficking and prostitution: San Francisco has always had a serious prostitution problem. There’s a certain smugness and complacency and a feeling of “it isn’t any of my business.” Those attitudes are very much the product of a lack of knowledge of how empty the endgame is for people. The women are promised a great deal, are often introduced to drugs and their lives are shortened.
National security threats: Obviously, since 9/11 there’s been substantial anti-terror resources, and much of what has been done has been done in the dark. It’s like the store detective looking for shoplifters. One of the things we do as lawyers is to look at passport fraud as attempts to test the system. We look at export-control violations and money laundering. Our vigilance level is very high. The proof in the pudding will not be in the cases brought but in the safety and security of people in the district.
Joseph Russoniello
Hometown: Jersey City, N.J.
Family: Father was in the bakery business, mother was a secretary; grandmother lived with them
Siblings: Brother and sister
College: Fairfield University
Law school: New York University
First job out of college: FBI special agent in Memphis
First stint as U.S. attorney: 1982-1990
Job between U.S. attorney stints: Partner at Cooley Godward Kronish
Current residence: He and his wife split time between Russian Hill and Napa
Books currently reading: “Snowball,” a biography of WarreBuffett; “Madman and the Professor”; biography of Mao Tse Tung
Most memorable case: Trial of Larry Layton of the Peoples Temple for the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana
Movie: “My wife will kill me if I don’t say ‘Romeo and Juliet’; that’s the movie that was popular whewe were first married”
Credo: “Always do the right thing”
Heroes: Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy
Favorite television show: “Everybody Loves Raymond”
