Patrick Fitzgerald tries to kill TRIPLE CROSS

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 22:01:04 -0700

For the past 20 months, Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Atty. in Chicago and Special Counsel in the CIA leak case has attempted to kill TRIPLE CROSS in its hardcover and paperback editions. In a series of four letters sent from October 16th, 2007 to as recently as June 2nd, 2009 Fitzgerald threatened to sue author Peter Lance and his publisher HarperCollins (HCP) for libel. Out of an abundance of caution and considering that the threat was coming from perhaps the most powerful Federal prosecutor in the country, Lance and HCP re-vetted the entire book. Standing behind Lance and calling TRIPLE CROSS "an important work of investigative journalism," HCP will publish a new updated edition with 26 additional pages on June 16th, 2009, marked with a press conference at The National Press Club in Washington. All of Fitzgerald's three letters and HCP's initial response rejecting his claim can be downloaded HERE. A press release, citing the major finding in Lance's groundbreaking book can be downloaded HERE. See coverage of the Fitzgerald censorship story in NEW YORK MAGAZINE and NEWSWEEK

Newsweek A Prosecutor Gets Personal

Sat, 6 Jun 2009 22:43:05 -0700

By Michael Isikoff: Patrick Fitzgerald may be the most feared prosecutor in the country, but even as he's racked up headlines for big-name convictions (Scooter Libby) and indictments (Rod Blagojevich), the hard-charging U.S. attorney from Chicago has been waging a private crusade: trying to kill a book he believes maligns his reputation. In the past year and a half, Fitzgerald has written four letters to HarperCollins—owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.—demanding it "cease publication" and "withdraw" copies of Triple Cross, a 2006 book by ex–TV newsman Peter Lance that criticizes Fitzgerald's handling of terror cases in New York in the 1990s. Fitzgerald raised the temperature even more last week, aiming to halt a paperback version. "To put it plain and simple," he wrote in a June 2 letter obtained by NEWSWEEK, "if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued." For more of the story CLICK or CLICK

New York Magazine Prosecutor as Book Publicist

Sat, 6 Jun 2009 22:22:51 -0700

By Boris Kachka. Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for Illinois’s Northern District, doesn’t pull his punches. Charming, tough, and named one of People’s “sexiest men alive” in 2005, he took down Governor Rod Blagojevich (as well as his predecessor) and got the Times’ Judith Miller imprisoned during the investigation that ended with Scooter Libby’s conviction. Now he’s threatening to take another journalist to court, for defamation and libel. And this time, it’s personal. He’s acting as a private citizen defending his public name. The book in question is Peter Lance’s Triple Cross, which was published in November 2006 by Regan Books, a division of HarperCollins. For the rest of the article CLICK. or CLICK

New TRIPLE CROSS hits stores June 16th.

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 12:40:10 -0700

After a delay of 20 months, a new, updated edition of TRIPLE CROSS will hit bookstores on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009, launched with a press conference at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The press conference will take place at 9:30 a.m. at: 529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20045. To pre-order copies now go to: Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com.

Peter Lance on Coast to Coast AM

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:13:15 -0700

Peter Lance was interviewed for three hours on Monday, April 13th by George Noory on Coast to Coast AM. Highlights of the three hour broadcast can be accessed here: CLICK. For the full program available to subscribers: CLICK.