NEW YORK - Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced yesterday that he will not run for reelection this year, saying "enough is enough" after a five-decade career and 35 years as the top state prosecutor in the borough.
Morgenthau will turn 90 in July and noted that he will have worked 25 years beyond normal retirement age. "It took me a long time to realize I was getting older," he said at a news conference with his wife at his side.
Morgenthau has served as a prosecutor in New York City since the Kennedy administration, when he was appointed as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor. He became the Manhattan district attorney in 1974 and has been there ever since.
It is the busiest and most prominent district attorney's office in the nation. Morgenthau said nearly 3 1/2 million cases have come through his office in his 35 years.
During his tenure, Morgenthau has locked up murderous mobsters, corrupt CEOs, and thousands of other criminals while earning a national reputation. He hired young lawyers such as John F. Kennedy Jr., Eliot Spitzer, and Andrew Cuomo to work as assistant prosecutors.
"He is without doubt the finest and most accomplished district attorney in our nation's history, a devoted family man and a hero to our great city," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat.
In 2005, at age 86, Morgenthau was elected for the eighth time, turning back a challenge from Leslie Crocker Snyder, a popular former state judge. Crocker Snyder is seen as a favorite to win the post in the November election.
