NPR

As Manhattan DA, Morgenthau Pursued Drug Dealers And Crooked Banks Alike

Robert Morgenthau, the patrician lawman who a former aide said spent four decades "making mischief for people who engaged in bad conduct," died Sunday at age 99.

Former New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who died Sunday just 10 days short of his 100th birthday, was a towering figure in law enforcement, taking on mobsters, corrupt banks, murderers, drug dealers and crooked politicians.

During 40 years in public life, the patrician Morgenthau oversaw the prosecution of some of New York's most infamous criminals, including subway shooter Bernhard Goetz, Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski and Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon.

"The easiest thing to say is that he

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