Gilbert Salvador Iberri Garcetti (born August 5, 1941) is an American politician and lawyer. He served as Los Angeles County's 40th district attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. He is the father of the 42nd mayor of the city of Los Angeles

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 election, and reelected in 2017. A fo ...

Early life and education

Garcetti was born in Los Angeles, the son of Salvador Garcetti and Juanita Iberri. His father was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, and brought to the United States as a child after his own father, Massimo Garcetti, a judge and immigrant to Mexico from Italy, was hanged during the Mexican Revolution. Gil's mother was born in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, one of nineteen children born to a father whose parents were from Sonora, Mexico, and a mother born in Arizona, to Mexican parents. In 1959 Garcetti graduated from George Washington High School in South Los Angeles. The school has since become

Washington Preparatory High School George Washington Preparatory High School is a public four-year high school in the Westmont section of unincorporated Los Angeles County, California. Founded in 1926, the school has a Los Angeles address but is not located in the city limits of Lo ...

. Garcetti received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in management from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

and a Juris Doctor from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

Career

Before becoming Los Angeles County District Attorney, Garcetti served within the office for over twenty years, from trial prosecutor to managerial positions and eventually becoming chief deputy district attorney for his predecessor, Ira Reiner (district attorney from 1984 to 1992). Reiner demoted Garcetti shortly after his 1988 re-election. Garcetti challenged his former mentor in the 1992 election. The campaign featured both candidates saying their opponent was corrupt. Reiner said Garcetti was a "secretive" person and "(was) not to be trusted in a position of power." Garcetti bested Reiner in the non-partisan June primary (where the top two candidates would advance should no candidate win an absolute majority), taking 34 percent to Reiner's 25, outpacing the incumbent by more than 100,000 votes. In September 1992, just two months before the general election, Reiner announced that he was suspending his campaign, saying he could not stomach the negative tactics he felt that were needed to win. California law allowed candidates to be removed from the ballot only if they died more than 59 days before the election, so Reiner remained on the ballot. Garcetti won the general election with more than 81 percent of the vote.

Los Angeles District Attorney

Entering the 1992 elections, Los Angeles County, California was still recovering from the aftermath of the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

. His first term was dominated by his office's prosecution of the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was ...

. The long, costly

criminal trial Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail ...

ended with a "not guilty" verdict on October 3, 1995. Despite the setback, Garcetti won re-election in 1996, narrowly defeating challenger John Lynch. Garcetti focused both his terms working to solve a number of issues including domestic violence, hate crimes,

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

fraud and combating LA's street gangs. In late 1999 the LAPD's

Rampart scandal The Rampart scandal involved widespread police corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers either as ...

erupted with allegations of extreme police misconduct from the city's Rampart Division which likely contributed to Garcetti's defeat in the 2000 election. Garcetti was challenged for re-election in 2000 by

Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence Cooley (born May 1, 1947) is an American politician and prosecutor. He was the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 2000 to 2012. Cooley was re-elected in 2004 and again in 2008. In 2010, Cooley won the Republican nominati ...

, a veteran of the L.A. County D.A.'s office. In a situation much like Garcetti's demotion in 1988 that led him to challenge Reiner in 1992, Cooley was demoted by Garcetti after Garcetti's 1996 re-election after Cooley supported Garcetti's opponent, John Lynch. Garcetti came in second in a competitive three-person primary, taking 37 percent of the vote to Cooley's 39. In the two-person runoff, Garcetti lost overwhelmingly, losing by a margin of approximately 64 to 36 percent.

Other activities

Politics

The 2000 election ended Garcetti's 32-year career with the LA County district attorney's office. In 2002,

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tem ...

president

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla ( ; born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Padilla served as the 30th secretary of state of California from 201 ...

appointed Garcetti to the Los Angeles city ethics commission for a five-year term. In the fall of 2002, Garcetti was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He has been developing a foundation to help Latino and African-American students complete their high school education. He is currently a strong proponent of Proposition 34, an initiative that will replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Garcetti has argued that the death penalty is broken beyond repair, that it is "horrendously expensive" and that it carries the risk of executing an innocent person.

Photography

After leaving the DA's office, Garcetti focused on

art photography Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stan ...

, producing two collections on the Walt Disney Concert Hall: ''Iron: Erecting the Walt Disney Concert Hall'' (Balcony Press 2002), focusing on the

ironworker An ironworker is a tradesman who works in the iron-working industry. Ironworkers assemble the structural framework in accordance with engineered drawings and install the metal support pieces for new buildings. They also repair and renovate o ...

s who constructed the landmark, and ''Frozen Music'' (Balcony Press 2003), focusing on the finished building itself. Photos from these works were featured in an exhibit at the National Building Museum in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and at the

Pasadena Museum of California Art The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) was an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States, showcasing art and design originating from California. The museum was founded by long-time Pasadena residents and art collectors Robert ...

. His most recent exhibition, ''Dance in Cuba: Photographs by Gil Garcetti'' (Balcony Press 2005), was featured at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Spring 2006. ''Water is Key: A Better Future for Africa'' (Balcony Press 2007) was published via a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to the

Pacific Institute The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security is an American non-profit research institute created in 1987 to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues of development, environment, and security, with a ...

as a benefit to

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s supporting clean water projects in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

''The Closer''

Gil Garcetti was a consulting producer on the TNT series ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...

'' from its debut in 2005 and '' Major Crimes'' from its debut in 2012. His son,

member, later Mayor of Los Angeles

, appeared as the fictional Los Angeles Mayor Ramon Quintero, in two episodes each of both series. In his first appearance, father and son appeared together onscreen, with Gil playing the LAPD Chief of Police.

Personal life

Garcetti was married to Sukey Roth, who is of Russian Jewish descent. Gil and Sukey Garcetti have one son,

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

, who was elected to the LA City Council three times (2001, 2005, 2009), and was the former mayor of Los Angeles, and one daughter, Dana Garcetti-Boldt, a former deputy district attorney in Garcetti's office, who is now an

acupuncturist Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...

. Garcetti was portrayed by

Bruce Greenwood Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He is known for his role as the American president John F. Kennedy in '' Thirteen Days,'' for which he won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion ...

in the 2016 miniseries '' The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story'' and by

Mark Moses Mark W. Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Paul Young in the ABC comedy-drama ''Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2011) and as Herman "Duck" Phillips in the AMC period drama ''Mad Men'' (2007–2014). ...

in the 2017 miniseries '' Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders'' .

Electoral history

References

Additional sources

* Robert Greene
Former District Attorney Gil Garcetti Nominated to City Ethics Commission
''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'', August 15, 2002; accessed May 19, 2006 * Benjamin Parke

'' Daily Bruin'', February 10, 2000; accessed May 19, 2006 * Scott Simon
The Legacy of the O.J. Simpson Case
''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program '' Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

'' (

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

), June 12, 2004; accessed May 19, 2006 * Scott Simon
Garcetti Photos Capture Disney Hall, Ironworkers
''