Book Review: Prosecution Stories

Bennett Gershman worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for six years before deciding he wanted to pursue a job with the office of the deputy attorney general charged with investigating corruption in New York City’s criminal justice system. The creation of that office sprang from the general belief that prosecutors enjoyed too close a relationship with police officers to effectively investigate them. Frank S. Hogan — Gershman’s then-boss, and the man whose name graces the building in which the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is housed today — believed that the AG’s new unit was “a blot on the reputation and honor of every district attorney in the city,” and interpreted Gershman’s willingness to join that unit as a sign of disloyalty. He instructed Gershman to leave his job immediately upon being informed of the proposed job transfer. Thus, Gershman’s service as an assistant district attorney ended in a forced and abrupt exit.