Frederick Bernard Lacey

Title: District Court
Appointed by: Richard M. Nixon
Judicial Tenure: 1971 - 1986
Born: September 9, 1920
Birth Place: Newark, NJ
Died: April 1, 2017
Place of Death: Naples, FL

Judge Lacey was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1920 to Frederick Robert and Mary Agnes (Armstrong) Lacey. His father served as police chief for Newark. He received an A.B. from Rutgers University in 1941, and an LL.B. from Cornell Law School in 1948. He was a U.S. Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander from 1942 to 1946. He married Mary C. Stoneham on May 20, 1944.

Lacey was in private practice in New York City from 1948 to 1951; in Newark from 1951 to 1952; and again in New York City from 1952 to 1953. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney of the District of New Jersey from 1953 to 1955. In 1954, he led the case that sent the mobster Albert Anastasia to prison for income tax evasion. He returned to private practice in Newark from 1955 to 1969.

In 1969, Lacey was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey by President Richard Nixon. He served until 1971, leading a series of corruption prosecutions against high-profile figures in politics and organized crime, including against Newark Mayor Hugh Joseph Addonizio.

On October 7, 1970, Lacey was nominated by President Nixon to a new judgeship on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey created by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 13, 1970, and received his commission on January 26, 1971. He served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 1979 to 1985. Judge Lacey retired from the federal bench in 1986.

After his retirement, Lacey worked for the firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Lieby and MacRae. He was appointed a special judicial master overseeing the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In 1992, he was appointed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate whether the Government mishandled a fraud case involving Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. In 2006, he was appointed to be a federal monitor in an investigation of Bristol-Myers Squibb, centering on the distribution of the drug Plavix.