Benito Romano

Benito Romano (born 1950) was the first Puerto Rican to hold a United States Attorney's post in New York on an interim basis.

His family was poor, Romano grew up on Simpson Street in the South Bronx and his father worked in a factory that made cigarette holders.

Romano as chief of the public corruption unit, played a crucial role in the negotiations during which Geoffrey A. Lindenauer, an official in the city's Parking Violations Bureau, was persuaded to testify for the Government.

Romano has endorsed the major insider-trading cases and the emphasis on drug, organized-crime and government-corruption prosecutions that began in Giuliani's term.

Subsequent to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Romano was a partner for 20 years at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and the leader of their white collar defense practice.