Paul Jerome Curran (February 21, 1933 – September 4, 2008) was an American

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician who served in the New York State Assembly and fought corruption as a federal prosecutor and as the state's commissioner of investigation.

Early life and education

Curran was born on February 21, 1933, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.McFadden, Robert D
"Paul Curran, 75, Corruption Foe, Dies"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', September 6, 2008. He was the son of Thomas J. Curran (1898–1958), a prominent Manhattan Republican leader. He attended

Xavier High School A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

. He graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1953, and from

Fordham Law School Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test tak ...

in 1956.

Career in law and politics

After serving as an officer in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, he spent three years prosecuting narcotics cases as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Curran joined the law firm of Kaye Scholer LLP in 1961 and became a partner in 1969; except for his service as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1973 to 1975, he remained a partner at Kaye Scholer until 1996, when he took the role of special counsel with the firm. Curran was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1963 to 1966, sitting in the 174th, 175th and 176th New York State Legislatures. On December 23, 1966, he was appointed by Mayor John V. Lindsay to help in the passing of laws concerning New York City by the State Legislature. He resigned from the State Assembly to take up the post with the Lindsay administration. Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed Curran to the New York State Commission of Investigation in 1968, elevating him to chairman the following year. Under his leadership, and despite the body's lack of authority to prosecute crimes they had uncovered, the Commission exposed kickbacks and fraud in Buffalo and Albany. He was appointed by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1973. He remained in office until 1975, obtaining convictions of

Carmine Tramunti Carmine Paul "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti (October 1, 1910 – October 15, 1978) was an Italian-born American mobster who was the boss of the Lucchese crime family. Biography Operating in Harlem Carmine Paul Tramunti was born October 1, 1910, in Napl ...

, the head of the

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...

, and Representative Bertram L. Podell. He obtained an indictment against nursing home operator

Bernard Bergman Bernard Bergman (September 2, 1911 – June 16, 1984) was an Orthodox rabbi and businessman who was best known for his operation of a large network of nursing homes and his conviction of Medicaid fraud in 1976. Bergman turned an inheritance of $25 ...

, that later led to a guilty plea in a $1.2 million Medicaid fraud case. He was a consultant to the Pentagon on intelligence matters in 1976.

Special counsel

In 1979, U.S. Attorney General

Griffin Bell Griffin Boyette Bell (October 31, 1918 – January 5, 2009) was the 72nd Attorney General of the United States, having served under President Jimmy Carter. Previously, he was a U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fift ...

appointed Curran as a special counsel to investigate loans made to the peanut business owned by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

by a bank controlled by

Bert Lance Thomas Bertram "Bert" Lance (June 3, 1931 – August 15, 2013) was an American businessman who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter in 1977. He is known mainly for resigning from the Carter admini ...

, a friend of the president and the director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

. Unlike

Archibald Cox Archibald Cox Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer and law professor who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. During his career, he was ...

and

Leon Jaworski Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski (September 19, 1905 – December 9, 1982) was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon a ...

who were named as

special prosecutor In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...

s to investigate the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

, Curran's position as special counsel meant that he would not be able to file charges on his own, but would require the approval of Assistant Attorney General

Philip Heymann Philip Benjamin Heymann (October 30, 1932 – November 30, 2021) was an American lawyer, federal prosecutor, legal scholar, and law professor who headed the Criminal Division of the Justice Department as Assistant Attorney General during the Pre ...

. As special counsel, he became the first lawyer to question a sitting president under oath as part of an investigation of that president.Special Counsel, Litigation
Kaye Scholer. Accessed September 6, 2008. The investigation was concluded in October 1979, with Curran announcing that no evidence had been found to support allegations that funds loaned from the National Bank of Georgia had been diverted to Carter's 1976 presidential campaign.

1982 New York gubernatorial primary run

Curran entered the Republican primary race in 1982. Curran lost in the primary to Lewis Lehrman by a 4-1 margin. The gubernatorial election that was ultimately won by Democrat

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...

.Lynn, Frank
"CUOMO BEATS KOCH IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY; LEHRMAN, MOYNIHAN AND MRS. SULLIVAN WIN"
''

'', September 24, 1982. Accessed September 7, 2008.

Personal life

Curran married Barbara Ann Frank in 1954, and they had seven children. He lived in Manhattan and Spring Lake, New Jersey. He died on September 4, 2008. in

, of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Paul J. 1933 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American politicians Fordham University School of Law alumni Georgetown University alumni Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly People from Manhattan People from Spring Lake, New Jersey Military personnel from New York City United States Air Force officers United States Attorneys for the Southern District of New York Kaye Scholer Special prosecutors Military personnel from New Jersey