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Freeh then served as an investigator and chief prosecutor in the famed "pizza connection" case, which ended after a 17-month trial that destroyed an international heroin-smuggling ring run by the Sicilian Mafia. Before being named to the federal bench, Freeh was sent to Atlanta to rescue the floundering investigation of a series of mail bombings that had killed a federal judge and a prominent civil rights lawyer. He wove together an intricate case against the man accused of sending the bombs and gave the closing arguments himself. "It was the single most powerful piece of courtroom advocacy that I have ever witnessed," says Howard Shapiro, who worked on the case with Freeh.
Some critics point out that he does not have the experience to run a bureaucracy the size of the FBI, which employs 20,000 people, but one colleague is not worried. "He has managed cases involving thousands of lawyers, agents and police officers here and abroad," says Bob Bucknam, who helped prosecute the pizza-connection case. Freeh already has a strong basis for support within the bureau: he is the first former agent to head the organization since Clarence Kelley retired in 1978. Freeh's old pals include Larry Potts, head of the criminal-investigations division.
Even so, Freeh, whose confirmation hearings are scheduled this week, will take over an FBI in the midst of a stressful re-evaluation of both its mission and its structure. With the cold war over, the bureau's veteran counterintelligence hands are trying to shift their focus to such areas as the arms trade, industrial espionage and the free-lance terrorism that led to the World Trade Center bombing in February. With street crime proliferating and municipal budgets strained, the FBI is also under pressure to use its agents to back up police forces. But many senior agents would rather be devoting their resources to more complex investigations. And despite Sessions' successful efforts to change recruitment policies, the FBI remains an insular organization dominated by white men.
The broad support for Freeh, inside and outside the bureau, should buy him time to tackle some of these issues before critics start sniping at him. While he has always avoided the spotlight in his career, his earnest, apolitical style should win points with the public. "This is a guy with all the right stuff to bring the bureau into the 21st century," says Bucknam. But all the praise for Freeh's nomination could have a downside. In the end, his biggest challenge may be living up to expectations.