[2] After graduating from law school, Russoniello was appointed a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and later served as an Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco before joining Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in 1975.

He personally prosecuted Larry Layton of the Peoples Temple for his part in the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana, and tried several other high profile criminal and civil cases.

In 2008, Russoniello was nominated again to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (which encompasses the 15 counties from the Oregon-California border to Monterey, including the San Francisco Bay Area).

[3] Upon taking office, Russoniello indicated that his priorities during his second term would include national security, helping to get guns off the street and prosecuting Internet child pornography distribution.

Russoniello was, until his recent appointment as United States Attorney, a member of the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).