The mob and the deputy chief of staff - Harold Ickes, Jr
Washington Monthly, July-August, 1994 by William G. McGowan
snip
allegations surfaced: that Ickes knew about mob infiltration of a labor union he represented as a lawyer in New York, and that he had lied to a federal grand jury in connection with a stock transfer deal involving then-Mayor David Dinkins.
Ickes has "the experience of political damage control," noted George Stephanopolous. "That is his ball game."
citing Ickes' reputation for vindictiveness and his formidable powers as deputy chief of staff--were not surprised that he had put himself in a position where he could be charged with obstruction of justice.
examination of his record as a New York labor lawyer and a leading Democrat suggests a proclivity for stonewalling and a dread of full disclosure that could be dangerous for the Clintons. The trail Ickes left in New York weaves through the same territory of half-truths, dodges, unsavory associations, and seedy appearances that Whitewater does.
Ickes is of the old school, with one of the most extensive vocabularies of expletives in politics and a taste for confrontation. During Herman Badillo's 1973 bid for the New York mayoralty, for example, Ickes got into a brawl with a fellow campaign aide and bit the leg of a third aide who tried to break it up
Ickes stayed in touch with the Clintons through the seventies, frequently having dinner with them and his former girlfriend Susan Thomases (another politically influential New York lawyer) when the Clintons came to New York.
http://tinyurl.com/ztr2s