Gil Garcetti

2025-02-21T16:11:53Z

86.1.2.62:

{{short description|American politician and attorney}}
{{More footnotes|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Gil Garcetti
|image = Gil Garcetti 2010.jpg
|alt =
|caption = Garcetti in 2010
|birth_name = Gilbert Salvador Iberri Garcetti
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|8|5|mf=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
|education = [[University of Southern California]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[UCLA School of Law|University of California, Los Angeles]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
|office = 40th [[Los Angeles County District Attorney|District Attorney of Los Angeles County]]
|term_start = December 7, 1992
|term_end = December 4, 2000
|predecessor = [[Ira Reiner]]
|successor = [[Steve Cooley]]
|party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse = Sukey Roth
|children = 2, including [[Eric Garcetti|Eric]]
|relatives =
}}

'''Gilbert Salvador Iberri Garcetti''' (born August 5, 1941) is an American politician and lawyer. He served as [[Los Angeles County]]'s 40th [[Los Angeles County District Attorney|district attorney]] for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. He is the father of former U.S. Ambassador to India and former Los Angeles Mayor [[Eric Garcetti]].

==Early life and education==
Garcetti was born in Los Angeles, the son of Salvador Garcetti and Juanita Iberri. His father was born in [[Parral, Chihuahua]], Mexico, and brought to the United States as a child after his own father, Massimo Garcetti, a judge and [[Italian immigration to Mexico|immigrant to Mexico]] from Italy, was hanged during the [[Mexican Revolution]]. Gil's mother was born in [[Arizona]], one of nineteen children born to a father whose parents were from [[Sonora]], Mexico, and a mother born in Arizona, to Mexican parents.<ref name=LatinoJewish>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-jan-02-la-me-garcetti-mayor-20130102-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Eric Garcetti invokes Latino-Jewish ancestry in mayor's race|first=Michael|last=Finnegan|date=January 2, 2013|access-date=May 23, 2013}}</ref>

In 1959 Garcetti graduated from George Washington High School in South Los Angeles. The school has since become [[Washington Preparatory High School]].

Garcetti received a [[bachelor's degree]] in management from the [[University of Southern California]] and a [[Juris Doctor]] from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]].

== Career ==
Before becoming [[Los Angeles County District Attorney]], Garcetti served within the office for over twenty years, from trial [[prosecutor]] to managerial positions and eventually becoming chief deputy district attorney for his predecessor, [[Ira Reiner]] (district attorney from 1984 to 1992). Reiner demoted Garcetti shortly after his 1988 re-election.<ref name="Ira">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-18-mn-676-story.html |title=Reiner, in Surprise Move, Drops Out of Race for D.A. |work=The Los Angeles Times |author=Sheryl Stolberg |date=September 18, 1992 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>

Garcetti challenged his former mentor in the 1992 election. The campaign featured both candidates saying their opponent was corrupt. Reiner said Garcetti was a "secretive" person and "(was) not to be trusted in a position of power."<ref name="Ira" /> Garcetti bested Reiner in the non-partisan June primary (where the top two candidates would advance should no candidate win an absolute majority), taking 34 percent to Reiner's 25, outpacing the incumbent by more than 100,000 votes.<ref name="elect1">{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-000-06021992.PDF |title=Official Election Returns June 2, 1992 Primary Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref> In September 1992, just two months before the general election, Reiner announced that he was suspending his campaign, saying he could not stomach the negative tactics he felt that were needed to win.<ref name="Ira" /> California law allowed candidates to be removed from the ballot only if they died more than 59 days before the election, so Reiner remained on the ballot.<ref name="Ira" /> Garcetti won the general election with more than 81 percent of the vote.<ref name="elect2">{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-000-11031992.PDF |title=Official Election Returns November 3, 1992 General Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref>

===Los Angeles District Attorney===
Entering the 1992 elections, [[Los Angeles County, California]] was still recovering from the aftermath of the [[1992 Los Angeles riots]]. His first term was dominated by his office's prosecution of the [[O. J. Simpson murder case]]. The long, costly [[criminal law|criminal trial]] ended with a "not guilty" verdict on October 3, 1995. Despite the setback, Garcetti won re-election in 1996, narrowly defeating challenger John Lynch.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/11/21/prosecutor-garcetti-apparently-re-elected/ | work=Chicago Tribune | title=Prosecutor Garcetti Apparently Re-elected | date=November 21, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-22-me-1764-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Alan | last=Abrahamson | title=Garcetti Is Named Winner Over Lynch | date=November 22, 1996}}</ref>

Garcetti focused both his terms working to solve a number of issues including [[domestic violence]], [[hate crimes]], [[Welfare (financial aid)|welfare]] [[fraud]] and combating LA's [[street gang]]s. In late 1999 the LAPD's [[Rampart scandal]] erupted with allegations of [[police brutality|extreme police misconduct]] from the city's [[LAPD Rampart Division|Rampart Division]] which likely contributed to Garcetti's defeat in the 2000 election.

Garcetti was challenged for re-election in 2000 by [[Steve Cooley]], a veteran of the L.A. County D.A.'s office. In a situation much like Garcetti's demotion in 1988 that led him to challenge Reiner in 1992, Cooley was demoted by Garcetti after Garcetti's 1996 re-election after Cooley supported Garcetti's opponent, John Lynch.<ref name=Cooley>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-08-mn-48881-story.html |title=Cooley Beats Garcetti by Wide Margin |work=The Los Angeles Times |author=Mitchell Landsberg and Twila Decker |date=November 8, 2000 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>

Garcetti came in second in a competitive three-person primary, taking 37 percent of the vote to Cooley's 39.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-09-me-7004-story.html |title=D.A.'s Race Shapes Up as a Bitter Fight to the Finish |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=March 8, 2000 |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref> In the two-person runoff, Garcetti lost overwhelmingly, losing by a margin of approximately 64 to 36 percent.<ref name=Cooley/>

==Other activities==
===Politics===
The 2000 election ended Garcetti's 32-year career with the LA County district attorney's office. In 2002, [[Los Angeles City Council]] president [[Alex Padilla]] appointed Garcetti to the Los Angeles city ethics commission for a five-year term. In the fall of 2002, Garcetti was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]] at [[Harvard University]]. He has been developing a foundation to help Latino and African-American students complete their high school education. He is currently a strong proponent of Proposition 34, an initiative that will replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Garcetti has argued that the death penalty is broken beyond repair, that it is "horrendously expensive" and that it carries the risk of executing an innocent person.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/garcetti |title=Gil Garcetti |publisher=SAFE California |access-date=2016-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/garcetti |archive-date=2012-06-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Photography===
After leaving the DA's office, Garcetti focused on [[art photography]], producing two collections on the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]]: ''Iron: Erecting the Walt Disney Concert Hall'' (Balcony Press 2002), focusing on the [[ironworker]]s who constructed the landmark, and ''Frozen Music'' (Balcony Press 2003), focusing on the finished building itself. Photos from these works were featured in an exhibit at the [[National Building Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], and at the [[Pasadena Museum of California Art]]. His most recent exhibition, ''Dance in Cuba: Photographs by Gil Garcetti'' (Balcony Press 2005), was featured at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Spring 2006.<ref>{{cite press release|first=Stacey|last=Abarbanel|title='Dance in Cuba: Photographs by Gil Garcetti' Opens at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History April 22|url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Dance-in-Cuba-Photographs-by-6866.aspx|publisher=[[University of California, Los Angeles]]|date=March 2, 2006|access-date=May 23, 2013}}</ref> ''Water is Key: A Better Future for Africa'' (Balcony Press 2007) was published via a grant from the [[Conrad N. Hilton Foundation]] to the [[Pacific Institute]] as a benefit to [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]]s supporting clean water projects in [[Africa]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Peter|last=Gleick|author-link=Peter Gleick|title=Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Water for Africa, and the Nobel Peace Prize|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2011/10/07/ellen-johnson-sirleaf-water-for-africa-and-the-nobel-peace-prize|work=[[Forbes]]|date=October 7, 2011|access-date=May 23, 2013}}</ref>

===''The Closer''===
Gil Garcetti was a consulting producer on the TNT series ''[[The Closer]]'' from its debut in 2005 and ''[[Major Crimes (TV series)|Major Crimes]]'' from its debut in 2012.

His son, [[Los Angeles City Council]]member, [[Eric Garcetti]], appeared as the fictional [[Mayor of Los Angeles]] Ramon Quintero, in two episodes each of both series, before becoming the real-life Mayor of Los Angeles in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1553568/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 |website=IMDb.com|title=Eric Garcetti|access-date=2016-03-07}}</ref> In his first appearance, father and son appeared together onscreen, with Gil playing the LAPD Chief of Police.

==Personal life==
Garcetti was married to Sukey Roth, who is of [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] descent.<ref name=LatinoJewish/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-10-07 |title=Jews and Latinos Seek Common Ground |url=https://forward.com/news/143986/jews-and-latinos-seek-common-ground/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref>

Gil and Sukey Garcetti have two children. Their son, [[Eric Garcetti|Eric]], was elected to the [[LA City Council]] three times (2001, 2005, 2009) and twice as mayor of Los Angeles (2013, 2017), <ref name=EricSwornIn>{{cite news|last=Nottingham|first=William|title=Eric Garcetti is sworn in as 42nd mayor of Los Angeles|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-eric-garcetti-is-sworn-in-20130630,0,5077366.story|access-date=July 1, 2013|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=June 30, 2013}}</ref> before becoming [[U.S. Ambassador to India]] in 2023. Their daughter, Dana Garcetti-Boldt, a former deputy district attorney in Garcetti's office,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-11-me-35985-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|first=Deborah|last=Belgum|title=D.A.'s Daughter Makes Own Way|date=February 11, 1997}}</ref> became an [[acupuncturist]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acupuncture.com/newsletters/m_dec08/attorney%20acupuncturist.htm |title=Deputy District Attorney Turned Acupuncturist - December 2008 |website=Acupuncture.com |access-date=2016-03-07 |archive-date=2019-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017123534/http://www.acupuncture.com/newsletters/m_dec08/attorney%20acupuncturist.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> She later returned to the law and is now serving as a Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/182134 | title=Dana Michelle Garcetti # 182134 - Attorney Licensee Search }}</ref>

Garcetti was portrayed by [[Bruce Greenwood]] in the 2016 miniseries ''[[The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story]]'' and by [[Mark Moses]] in the 2017 miniseries ''[[Law & Order True Crime|Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pedersen|first=Erik|title=Bruce Greenwood & Gbenga Akinnagbe Join FX's 'American Crime Story: O.J. Simpson'- Update|url=https://deadline.com/2015/05/bruce-greenwood-american-crime-story-o-j-simpson-gil-garcetti-1201430583/|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=May 20, 2015|access-date=October 23, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Stanhope|first=Kate|title='Law and Order True Crime' Taps 'Mad Men' Alum to Play Gil Garcetti (Exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/law-order-true-crime-casts-mark-moses-kate-beahan-1024894/|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=July 27, 2017|access-date=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

==Electoral history==
{{Election box begin no change|title=Los Angeles County District Attorney primary election, 1992<ref name=elect1/>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Gil Garcetti'''
|votes = '''488,985'''
|percentage = '''34.01'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Ira Reiner (incumbent)'''
|votes = '''367,984'''
|percentage = '''25.59'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Robert K. Tanenbaum
|votes = 272,841
|percentage = 18.97
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Sterling E. Morris
|votes = 198,125
|percentage = 13.78
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Howard Johnson
|votes = 109,742
|percentage = 7.63
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Los Angeles County District Attorney election, 1992<ref name=elect2/>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Gil Garcetti'''
|votes = '''2,061,218'''
|percentage = '''81.64'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Ira Reiner (incumbent)
|votes = 463,247
|percentage = 18.35
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Los Angeles County District Attorney primary election, 1996<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-000-03261996.PDF |title=Official Election Returns March 26, 1996 Primary Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Gil Garcetti (incumbent)'''
|votes = '''436,240'''
|percentage = '''37.35'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''John F. Lynch'''
|votes = '''251,590'''
|percentage = '''21.54'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Malcolm Jordan
|votes = 196,488
|percentage = 16.82
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Harold Greenberg
|votes = 172,591
|percentage = 14.78
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Sterling E. Morris
|votes = 83,220
|percentage = 7.12
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Steve S. Zand
|votes = 27,595
|percentage = 2.36
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Los Angeles County District Attorney election, 1996<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-000-11051996.PDF |title=Official Election Returns November 5, 1996 General Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Gil Garcetti (incumbent)'''
|votes = '''1,124,631'''
|percentage = '''50.1'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = John F. Lynch
|votes = 1,119,865
|percentage = 49.89
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change |title=Los Angeles County District Attorney primary election, 2000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-58-03072000.PDF |title=Official Election Returns March 7, 2000 Primary Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Steve Cooley'''
|votes = '''573,236'''
|percentage = '''38.31'''
}}{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Gil Garcetti (incumbent)'''
|votes = '''558,066'''
|percentage = '''37.3'''
}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Barry Groveman
|votes = 364,902
|percentage = 24.39
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Los Angeles County District Attorney election, 2000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps1.lavote.net/General/ARCHIVES/OFFICIAL_ELECTION_RETURNS/PDFS/OER-83-11072000.PDF |title=Official Election Returns November 7, 2000 General Election |work=Los Angeles County Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk |access-date=December 1, 2018}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = '''Steve Cooley'''
|votes = '''1,448,418'''
|percentage = '''63.77'''
}}{{Election box candidate no change
| party = Non-partisan
|candidate = Gil Garcetti (incumbent)
|votes = 822,846
|percentage = '''36.23'''
}}

{{Election box end}}

==See also==
* ''[[Garcetti v. Ceballos]]''
*''[[O.J.: Made in America]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Additional sources ==
* Robert Greene, [http://www.metnews.com/articles/garc081502.htm Former District Attorney Gil Garcetti Nominated to City Ethics Commission], ''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'', August 15, 2002; accessed May 19, 2006
* Benjamin Parke, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060617180036/http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/issues/00/02.10/news.county.html D.A. Gil Garcetti criticized for Belmont school failure, Rampart scandal], ''[[Daily Bruin]]'', February 10, 2000; accessed May 19, 2006
* Scott Simon, [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1956129 The Legacy of the O.J. Simpson Case], ''[[Weekend Edition]]'' ([[National Public Radio|NPR]]), June 12, 2004; accessed May 19, 2006
* Scott Simon, [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3911097 Garcetti Photos Capture Disney Hall, Ironworkers], ''[[Weekend Edition]]'' ([[National Public Radio|NPR]]), September 11, 2004; accessed May 19, 2006

==External links==
* [http://da.co.la.ca.us/history/garcetti.htm L.A. County District Attorney profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114151827/http://da.co.la.ca.us/history/garcetti.htm |date=2008-11-14 }}
* [http://www.wellsbringhope.org/gil Wells Bring Hope: Gil's Story]
* [http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/?p=1016 Sacks, Glenn (December 18, 2008). "Ex-LA County DA Gil Garcetti's Child Support Enforcement Victimized Thousands of Innocent Men" Fathers and Families.org]

{{S-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box|before=[[Ira Reiner]]|title=[[Los Angeles County District Attorney]]|years=1992–2000|after=[[Steve Cooley]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{O.J. Simpson murder trial}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcetti, Gil}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:American photographers]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:American politicians of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:California Democrats]]
[[Category:District attorneys in California]]
[[Category:Eric Garcetti]]
[[Category:Harvard Kennedy School people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:O. J. Simpson murder case]]
[[Category:UCLA School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Marshall School of Business alumni]]

wiki143 - User contributions [en]

Gil Garcetti