John J. Duffy Jr. | |
---|---|
Born | John James Duffy Jr. February 3, 1933 |
Died | February 1, 2019 85) | (aged
Alma mater | Villanova University School of Law |
Occupation | Criminal defense attorney |
Spouses |
|
Children | 7 |
John J. Duffy Jr. (February 3, 1933 - February 1, 2019) was an American criminal defense trial attorney.
Duffy was born in West Philadelphia on February 3, 1933, and proceeding to graduate from La Salle University and Villanova University School of Law. [1] He served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
In 1960, Duffy began to practice law in West Chester.
Duffy played a role in the 1980 ABSCAM scandal, in which numerous elected officials were targeted in an FBI sting operation, with agents posing as Arab businessmen offering bribes. Duffy was the lead defense attorney for Louis C. Johanson, a member of the Philadelphia City Council who was sentenced to three years in prison. [2]
In 1981, Duffy defended one of the Maragos brothers who, along with four others, were accused of fixing the Pennsylvania lottery's daily number. The event was known as the Triple Six Fix, because the winning number was 6-6-6. All of the Maragos brothers avoided jail time by agreeing to testify against the accused mastermind of the scam, Nick Perry. [3]
In 1991 Duffy began a 10-year defense of Andrew Byrne, who was accused of killing his wife. Byrne's conviction was twice overturned, and in 2001 Duffy secured a plea bargain for his client. [4]
In 2009, Duffy was given the Osceola Wesley award by Chester County Drug Court his contributions to the "recovery of people gripped by addictive demons". [5]
Duffy died on February 1, 2019, at the age of 85 following several months of ill health. [6] [1]
Chester County, colloquially referred to as Chesco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region, located in the southeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 545,823(As of 2022), increasing by 7.1% from 498,886 in 2010. The county seat is the Borough of West Chester. The most populous of its 73 municipalities is Tredyffrin Township. The most populous boroughs are West Chester and Phoenixville. Coatesville is the only municipality in the County organized under the City form of government, a technical rather than demographic distinction. Chester County was one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. It was named for Chester, England.
Coatesville is a city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,350 at the 2020 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia. It developed along the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike beginning in the late 18th century. It spans U.S. Route 30, the "Main Line" highway that runs west of Philadelphia.
Abscam, sometimes written ABSCAM, was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress and others for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prominent business people, but later evolved into a public corruption investigation. The FBI was aided by the Justice Department and convicted con-man Mel Weinberg in videotaping politicians accepting bribes from a fictitious Arabian company in return for various political favors.
Wawa, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations originating in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and now located along the East Coast of the United States, operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Florida. Wawa is based in, primarily associated with, and mainly concentrated in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, though in recent years it has gradually expanded its store locations beyond the Philadelphia area. The company's corporate headquarters is located in the Wawa area of Chester Heights, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Philadelphia as the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, and is now located at the James Byrne Courthouse at 601 Market Street in Philadelphia. There are five Eastern District federal courtrooms in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Lancaster, Allentown, Reading, and Easton.
James William Gerlach is the former U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, serving from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Gerlach retired from Congress after completing his sixth term.
The 1980 Pennsylvania Lottery scandal, colloquially known as the Triple Six Fix, was a successful plot to rig The Daily Number, a three-digit game of the Pennsylvania Lottery. All of the balls in the three machines, except those numbered 4 and 6, were weighted, meaning that the drawing was almost sure to be a combination of those digits. The scheme was successful in that 666 was drawn on April 24, 1980; however, the unusual betting patterns alerted authorities to the crime. The chief conspirators were sent to prison, and most of the fraudulently acquired winnings were never paid out.
Michael Joseph "Ozzie" Myers is an American politician and convicted felon who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1976 to 1980. A member of the Democratic Party, Myers became involved in the Abscam scandal during his tenure in Congress and was expelled from the House after being caught taking bribes in a sting operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He spent three years in federal prison. In 2020, he was accused of stuffing ballot boxes in Philadelphia elections during the 2010s, and charged with election fraud. He pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison.
B. Reed Henderson High School is located partially in the borough of West Chester and partially in West Goshen Township in Pennsylvania. B. Reed Henderson is one of the three high schools in the West Chester Area School District.
Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr. was the leader of one of the most notorious gangs in the history of Pennsylvania, U.S. The gang started in the 1960s and was rounded up in 1978 after his son, Bruce Jr., testified against him. The 1986 film At Close Range is based loosely on Johnston's gang.
Louis Carl Johanson was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 3rd district from 1965 to 1966. He served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1968 to 1981. He was convicted for bribery and conspiracy during the Abscam sting operation and served three years in prison.
Chris Maragos is a former American football safety and special teamer. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He has also played for the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Western Michigan before transferring to Wisconsin.
Carol Aichele is an American politician and teacher. She previously served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from January 2011 to January 2015. A Republican, Aichele previously served on the Chester County Board of Commissioners.
George X. Schwartz was a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council for two decades.
Carolyn Comitta is an American politician, educator and financial officer. A Democrat, she is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the 19th district. Previously, Comitta was the first woman to serve as Mayor of West Chester, the seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and served two terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the 156th district.
Charles Joseph Margiotti was a nationally prominent Pennsylvania lawyer who twice served as state attorney general.
Dianne Taylor Herrin is an American politician and energy efficiency consultant. A Democrat, she was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the 156th district from 2021-2022. She previously served as Mayor of West Chester, the seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania.
William Miller McSwain is an American attorney and a former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a position he held from April 6, 2018 to January 22, 2021. He was nominated to the post by President Donald Trump. After leaving his position as U.S. Attorney, McSwain entered private practice at Duane Morris LLP. He then ran, unsuccessfully, for the Republican nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 after which he again returned to private practice.
Christina Marie "Chrissy" Houlahan is an American politician, engineer, and former United States Air Force officer. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the U.S. representative from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district. The district includes almost all of Chester County, a suburban county west of Philadelphia, as well as the southern portion of Berks County including the city of Reading. She was first elected in 2018, defeating Republican Greg McCauley in the midterms.