Edward A. McDonald (born 1947) is an American

criminal defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the Defense (legal), defense of individuals and companies charged with Criminal law, criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while other ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He practices law at the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

branch of

Dechert LLP Dechert LLP (; ) is a multinational American law firm of more than 900 lawyers with practices in corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, financial services, asset management, and private equity. In 2021, the firm r ...

, primarily working on

white-collar crime The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class indivi ...

and

securities law Securities regulation in the United States is the field of U.S. law that covers transactions and other dealings with securities. The term is usually understood to include both federal and state-level regulation by governmental regulatory agencie ...

. McDonald has appeared in '' Goodfellas'' and in '' Kiss of Death''.

Early life and career

McDonald graduated from

Xaverian High School Xaverian High School is an independent Catholic high school located in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, serving grades 6 through 12. Grades 9-12 offer a college preparatory program and grades 6-8 are middle school. History T ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and then attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, earning a degree in 1968. He earned his

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

. After serving as an assistant

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

for five years, McDonald joined the

United States Organized Crime Strike Force The United States Organized Crime Strike Force (Strike Forces) is a program of the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division empowering individual and coordinated units based in American cities across the country to pursue illegal ra ...

in 1977. McDonald prosecuted a case involving the

1978–79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal The 1978–79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal involved a scheme in which members of the American Mafia recruited and bribed multiple Boston College Eagles men's basketball players to ensure the team would either not win by the re ...

for the Justice Department in 1981. As a prosecutor, McDonald sponsored

Henry Hill Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testi ...

in significant cases in which he testified, including the Boston College point-shaving case. McDonald also helped get Hill and his wife

Karen Friedman Hill Karen B. Friedman Hill (; born January 16, 1946) is an American woman known for her involvement in the American Mafia through her husband Henry Hill, who was an associate of the Lucchese crime family. The events of their lives were chronicled in ...

into the

United States Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justic ...

(WPP).

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

cast McDonald to play himself in the 1990 film '' Goodfellas'' in a scene in which McDonald negotiates to get the Hills into the WPP. McDonald improvised the line, "Don't give me the babe-in-the-woods routine, Karen. I heard you on those wiretaps." The line was based on what McDonald recalled saying to the real Karen Hill. McDonald started practicing law privately in 1989. In 2011, the

Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) is the largest police union representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. It represents about 24,000 of the department's 36,000 officers. The PBA was orig ...

hired McDonald and other high-profile lawyers to defend against a massive

ticket fixing Ticket fixing is a practice in which a public official destroys or dismisses a pending traffic ticket as a favor to a friend or family member. For example, police officers in a number of jurisdictions have been charged with destroying pending tic ...

scandal. McDonald represented former mobster

Joseph Massino Joseph Charles Massino (January 10, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American mobster. He was a member of the American Mafia, Mafia and Crime boss, boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of ...

in 2013 after Massino's two life sentences, imposed in 2011, were commuted by a federal judge. He has been a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

since 1990. He is married and has three children.

References

External links

Edward A. McDonald profile
at

Dechert Dechert LLP (; ) is a multinational American law firm of more than 900 lawyers with practices in corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, financial services, asset management, and private equity. In 2021, the firm r ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Edward A. 1947 births Living people New York County assistant district attorneys United States Department of Justice lawyers Lawyers from Brooklyn 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Boston College alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni