Loretta Lynch
Loretta Elizabeth Lynch is the first Black woman to head the Justice Department. Lynch, 55, was the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. The area covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.
During her tenure as a prosecutor she has taken on the mafia, corrupt political officials, and abusive police officers. Lynch was also responsible for bringing charges against New York mafia captain Vincent Asaro and his Bonanno family crew in a 36-year-old cold case. Asaro was one of the masterminds behind the famous Lufthansa Airlines robbery in 1978. More than $6 million in cash and jewelry were stolen from Kennedy Airport, which was the largest cash robbery of its time and was made famous in the movie Goodfellas.
Lynch has also proven that she has no fear of taking on the NYPD and its “blue code of silence.” She was one of the prosecutorial team members who brought charges against police officers who beat and sexually abused Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. White house press secretary Josh Earnest stated, “Miss Lynch is a strong, independent prosecutor who has twice led one of the most important U.S. Attorney’s offices in the country.”
Lynch was born in North Carolina and received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University.
