Richard Gerstein
{{Hatnote|For the business executive, see Cargomatic. For the musician and songwriter, see Gene Simmons (album).}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = State Attorney for Miami-Dade County, Florida
| term_start = 1956
| term_end = 1978
| predecessor =
| successor = Janet Reno
| birth_name = Richard Everett Gerstein
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|9|5}}
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|4|26|1923|9|5}}
| death_place = Miami, Florida, U.S.
| party = Democratic
| education = University of Miami (BBA and LLB)
}}
Richard E. Gerstein (September 5, 1923, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – April 26, 1992, Miami, Florida) was an American lawyer and six-term State Attorney for Miami-Dade County.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/27/us/richard-e-gerstein-dead-at-68-prosecuted-key-watergate-figure.html |title=Richard E. Gerstein, Dead at 68; Prosecuted Key Watergate Figure |first=Steven Lee |last=Myers |date=April 27, 1992 |newspaper=The New York Times |url-access=subscription}} He is perhaps best known for obtaining the first conviction in the Watergate scandal, of Watergate burglar Bernard Barker, and uncovering the first connections between the botched burglary and President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-02-mn-1324-story.html |title=Richard E. Gerstein; Prosecutor in Watergate Case |date=May 2, 1992 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite news |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/04/27/Services-set-for-attorney-Gerstein/7061704347200/ |title=Services set for attorney Gerstein |date=April 27, 1992 |agency=United Press International}}
Early life
Gerstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1923.{{cite web |url=https://floridabarcls.org/1984-honorable-richard-e-gerstein/ |title=1984 – Honorable Richard E. Gerstein |publisher=The Florida Bar}} He graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1947 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1949 and practiced law.
World War II
He served as a United States Army Air Forces navigator. During a bombing raid over Germany, he lost his right eye. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his crippled bomber back to England from a mission over Ludwigshaven, Germany.
Public service
In 1956, he was elected to his first term as State Attorney for Dade County, at age 33 the youngest state attorney in Florida history{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/17/archives/miami-prosecutor-sure-of-5th-term.html |title=Miami Prosecutor Sure of 5th Term |date=September 17, 1972 |newspaper=The New York Times}} and the first Jew elected to a countywide office in Florida.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/04/archives/a-power-in-miami-for-two-decades.html |title=A Power in Miami for Two Decades |date=December 4, 1977 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
In 1963, anti-semite Donald Branch was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for bombing the home of Don Shoemaker, editor of the Miami Herald, and plotting to assassinate several Jewish Miami community leaders, among them Gerstein.{{cite news |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/miami-anti-semite-gets-20-years-prison-sentence-plotted-to-kill-jews |title=Miami Anti-semite Gets 20 Years Prison Sentence Plotted to Kill Jews |date=January 18, 1963 |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}
Gerstein launched a month-long inquiry into the controversial first Liston-Clay (Muhammad Ali) fight in Miami Beach in 1964, which found no evidence that the boxing match had been fixed; Sonny Liston had a sore shoulder during the fight that handicapped him.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_4161000/4161687.stm |title=1964: Cassius Clay crowned world champion |publisher=BBC News}}
That same year, he lost a high-profile case against incestuous lovers Candace Mossler and her nephew Melvin Powers, charged with murdering Mossler's millionaire husband.
During his 1968 reelection campaign, Gerstein was accused of taking a bribe by his Republican opponent, Shelby Highsmith, and the Miami Herald.{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,723869-1,00.html |title=Newspapers: There Go De Judge |date=November 15, 1968 |magazine=Time}} However, the grand jury was not convinced; it indicted the alleged bribe giver and another accuser on the charge of perjury and also rebuked the Herald.
In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, police arrested five burglars who had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC, and wiretapped at least one telephone. Martin Dardis, Gerstein's chief investigator, was tipped off about a connection between a Miami bank and Bernard Barker, one of the burglars.{{cite news |title=Martin Dardis: Obituary |author=Amy Driscoll |newspaper=Miami Herald |date=May 17, 2006 |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/Herald/obituary.aspx?n=Martin-Dardis&pid=17802469#fbLoggedOut}}{{cite news |title=Martin Dardis, 83, Watergate Investigator, Dies |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 20, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/20/us/20dardis.html |url-access=subscription}} A check for $25,000 had recently been deposited in Barker's account. Gerstein launched an investigation, suspecting the operation was based in Key Biscayne, a village in his county; the money linked the burglars to Nixon's reelection campaign.
In December 1977, partway through his sixth term, he resigned, effective January 20. He was succeeded by a former aide, Janet Reno.
Post-public service
He became a partner in the law firm of Bailey, Gerstein, Rashkind & Dresnick.
In 1991, he represented Paul Reubens, who played Pee-wee Herman; Reubens pleaded no contest to charges of indecent exposure.
Death
On April 26, 1992, the 68-year-old Gerstein suffered a fatal heart attack. He was taken to Miami Heart Institute, but was dead on arrival. By chance, Richard Nixon, the man Gerstein had helped to bring down, was brought to Miami Heart Institute the same night, for a sprained ankle.{{cite news |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/04/27/richard-gerstein-watergate-lawyer/ |title=Richard Gerstein, Watergate lawyer |date=April 27, 1992 |newspaper=Tampa Bay Times}}
Honors
Gerstein received the Rockefeller Public Service Award in 1979.{{cite news |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-04-27-1992118057-story.html |title=Richard Gerstein Watergate prosecutor |date=April 27, 1992 |newspaper=Baltimore Sun |url-access=subscription}}
In 1992, Miami's courthouse was renamed the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building.{{cite web |url=https://news.miami.edu/law/stories/2020/04/late-alumnus-honored-with-1-million-gift-to-the-school-of-laws-litigation-skills-program.html |title=Late Alumnus Honored with $1 Million Gift to the School of Law’s Litigation Skills Program |publisher=University of Miami School of Law}}
References
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Category:Jewish American government officials
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
Category:State attorneys in Florida
Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Category:University of Miami alumni