[3] Edwards grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and was raised Catholic by his mother, Virginia, who had converted to Roman Catholicism.
He and his siblings (a brother, James and a sister, Cheryl) moved with their mother to East Paterson (now Elmwood Park, New Jersey).
As Attorney General, Edwards sought to increase the size of the Department of Law and Public Safety; initiated a new anti-drug program; instituted a task force to combat organized crime; planned a virtual overhaul of the Division of Motor Vehicles; and confronted problems such as insurance fraud and state land use planning.
[2] The New Jersey Attorney General's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms created a Task Force, named "Operation Iceman", to apprehend murderer Richard Kuklinski.
[5] Edwards ran for Governor of New Jersey in 1989, losing to Jim Courter in the Republican primary.