The Investigator: Fifty Years of Uncovering the Truth

by Terry Lenzner

The Los Angeles Times once called investigative lawyer Terry Lenzner “one of the most powerful and dreaded private investigators in the world.” In his fifty-year career, Lenzner has worked with politicians, celebrities, governments, and corporations worldwide; with a steadfast commitment to the truth, he has uncovered facts that have shaped policy and influenced major legal battles.

In this captivating memoir, Lenzner speaks about his varied career and high-profile cases for the first time. At the Justice Department in 1964, he investigated the murder of three civil rights workers—an infamous event that inspired the film Mississippi Burning . He led the national Legal Services Program for the poor, prosecuted organized crime in New York, defended peace activist Philip Berrigan, and represented CIA operative Sid Gottlieb. As a counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, Lenzner investigated Nixon’s dirty tricks and followed the money trail that led to the Watergate burglary and cover-up. He was the first person to deliver a congressional subpoena to a sitting U.S. president. He uncovered cost overruns of the Alaska oil pipeline, helped identify the Unabomber, investigated the circumstances of Princess Diana’s death, and cleared Hugo Chavez of false corruption charges. Lenzner also worked with President Clinton’s defense team during the impeachment hearings.

The Investigator is a riveting personal Lenzner astounds with anecdotes of scandal and intrigue, offers lessons in investigative methods, and provides an eye-opening look behind some of the most talked-about media stories and world events of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, True Crime, Politics, Law, Biography

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2013

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. For someone who came of age in the 1960's, it was very interesting to get a behind the scenes look at some of the lead media stories and top civil rights events and trials of that time. Easy to read, recommend it.

[Sanjeev · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is little new information in this book, that is not already public. But Terry Lenzner tells us what it was from inside the major investigations that he was involved in and how he turned from a Lawyer to an investigator.

In early 60's he starts out as a lawyer investigating Civil Rights abuses, particularly by the law enforcement in Mississippi. Then he goes on to tell us about work as assistant US Attorney for Morganthau, his firing from Nixon White House and ironical involvement in the Watergate investigation. He was also part of Phil Berrigan trial. First part of the book covers his career as a lawyer and the second as an investigator.

It was as an investigator that he shines and set up his international investigation company IGI and his involvement in Princess Diana car accident, Monica Lewinsky investigation, dealings with fanatical Kenneth Starr, uncovering Unabomber, Alaska pipeline cost over runs, David Copperfield truck hijacks in Russia, work on Ted Kennedy & Mitt Romney elections, working for tobacco company Brown & Williamson and Hollywood celebrities and so on.

Even though much of the stuff he writes about is already known, I found the book riveting.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. That's what this book was. If you like someone trying to uncover the truth about some pretty well know crimes during the last half century, you will like this book. He puts to bed some conspiracy theories. As a matter of fact, all conspiracy theories are put to rest. If they are not put to rest, then they are dismissed as inconsequential which still leaves the door open, at least some of the time, for there to have been more than meets the eye in these well known criminal investigations.

[Gwendolyn St.Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for those who enjoy more recent history. Discloses all the angles of the inside information of Nixon's fall from one of the investigators. Learned many matters I had no idea about, and that when he was removed from office it wasn't for reasons he was originally being investiaged.

[Greg Jolley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful, well researched story. (read for Research, but also enjoyed for it's interesting voice)

[John Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter told in a fairly uninteresting way.

[Stormi (StormReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always found books like The Investigator interesting, so I am glad I got the opportunity to read this book. I can’t say that I am a huge memoir or biography type of person but when it comes to investigative reporting, crimes, etc then I enjoy them.

The name Terry Lenzner doesn’t really ring a bell with me probably because I was never one to watch the news. A lot of the things he talked about in this book I wasn’t even born yet, but I have heard about them from history books, or TV segments on the History channel. I am sure that when most of those individuals who decide to go to law school have big dreams about what they will do, but some settle for what they can get. I am sure that almost all of them would have loved to have the career that Terry had, though there was ups and downs that went with it.

One of Terry’s first jobs was working on what is known and the “Mississippi Burning” case about the two white guys and one black guy who went missing and were eventually found dead. They have a lot of history channel segments on it as well as movies. From there his career gets even more interesting even though he has some ups and downs. From prosecuting organized crime to Watergate and more.

Terry is a really good story teller and keeps you very captivated in his career in investigating Washington D.C. He has had a lot to do with a lot of pivitol historic moments throughout his fifty years working as a lawyer. I learned a lot about a variety of historical news stories that I have read a little about but didn’t really know much about and some I haven’t ever heard off.

If you are a history buff and like reading about a lawyer who do a lot of investigating to get to the truth then you will probably enjoy reading this book.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good story. The beginning part for me was sad because he was investigating the civil rights movement in the 60's. He begins with one of the first murders of three workers. The sad part of the whole 60's thing was that the so called police in some of these areas were the problem. Then these investigators would bring cases to grand juries but they would not find enough evidence to bring charges. So many of these people got awat with murder and some were not brought to court until thr early part of the 2000's, when some other man was dying. This part of the story for me was worse than him investigating Watergate, or some of the other ones he talks about in the book. After a while the stories were not as interesting as the beginning but this could have just been me. There is a lot of detail and information about his life and the investigations he has done for the goverment and the private areas.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book's focus is on practices and attributes that constitute successful legal investigation and of the people who do the work. Reinforces what I knew intuitively. Author speaks from wide-ranging experience, first with governmental entities and then after establishing his own private firm. For private practice he initially hired newspaper reporters: "Reporters are agile and effective at getting information from people in an informal setting. In contrast, lawyers asking questions in depositions or in court are apt not to get as much." (p234). The book is a straight-forward account of his working life, beginning with probing 1964 civil rights violations in Mississippi and Alabama with the U.S. Department of Justice, as deputy counsel to U.S. Senate Watergate committee, and then to private investigations into Howard Hughes financial manipulations, Alaska pipeline hanky-panky and the Princess Diana death "conspiracy."

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am torn about how to rate/review this book. The first part of the book, about the civil rights movement and Watergate were spectacular. The rest of the book, while sometimes interesting, was... not so great.
Lenzner is kinda of all over the place at times. He digresses a lot. Anyway, what irritated me the most was how he framed the partisanship that has emerged in our government. Apparently, all fault lies with the GOP, and the Democrat party has never done anything to deserve criticism. I won't disagree with his assessments of the things the GOP has done that have been damaging. However, his lack of criticism about actions taken by the Democrat party is quite noticeable. From someone who claims to be unbiased, he wrote a pretty one-sided book.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fancies himself just a workaday guy trying to do the right thing. But I sense a partisan hack.

[Rick Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty good read with lots of good history from some significant investigations in U.S. public life.

[John Machata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off strong, tailed off into Inside the Beltwayisms.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! And need I say, TIMELY!