Richard E. Gerstein (September 5, 1923, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – April 26, 1992, Miami, Florida) was an American lawyer and six-term State Attorney for Miami-Dade County.
[3] During his 1968 reelection campaign, Gerstein was accused of taking a bribe by his Republican opponent, Shelby Highsmith, and the Miami Herald.
[9] In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, police arrested five burglars who had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC, and wiretapped at least one telephone.
Gerstein launched an investigation, suspecting the operation was based in Key Biscayne, a village in his county; the money linked the burglars to Nixon's reelection campaign.
By chance, Richard Nixon, the man Gerstein had helped to bring down, was brought to Miami Heart Institute the same night, for a sprained ankle.