Edward Francis Harrington

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American judge (1933–2025)

For other people named Edward Harrington, see Edward Harrington (disambiguation) .

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Edward Francis Harrington (September 16, 1933 – March 7, 2025) was an American lawyer who served as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts .

Background

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Harrington was born in Fall River, Massachusetts , on September 16, 1933. He graduated from Sacred Heart Grammar School in 1947, and then from B.M.C. Durfee High School in 1951 with high honors. His grandfather, Edward F. Harrington was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives .

Harrington graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from College of the Holy Cross in 1955 and with a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1960. At Holy Cross, Harrington was a member of the Naval ROTC. At Boston College Law School, he was on the Dean's List and a member of the Law Review. He became a member of the Massachusetts Bar in 1960.

He served on active duty in the United States Navy from 1955 to 1957 on destroyer escorts as the gunnery officer, and was a Lieutenant Junior Grade. He was in the United States Navy Reserve from 1957 to 1972. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice Paul C. Reardon of the Massachusetts Superior Court from 1960 to 1961.

Harrington married Ellen Mary Erisman of Greenfield, Massachusetts , on July 27, 1957. They had six children and 23 grandchildren. He died in Providence, Rhode Island , on March 7, 2025, at the age of 91.

Career

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Harrington was a trial attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. , from 1961 to 1965. While at the Department of Justice, Harrington was a member of the special prosecution group conducting the nationwide probe of racketeering in the Teamsters Union. As one of the fifteen members of Robert F. Kennedy 's so-called "Hoffa Squad", he investigated illegalities in James Hoffa 's Teamsters Union . During the so-called "long hot summer of 1964," Harrington was a member of a select team of attorneys dispatched to the State of Mississippi by Attorney General Robert Kennedy to protect the civil rights workers who were conducting "freedom schools" in voter registration there. During this assignment, he was involved in the grand jury investigation of the murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi during that summer.

He was an assistant United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1965 to 1969. In that capacity, he participated in the successful prosecution and appeal of Raymond L. S. Patriarca , the alleged boss of the New England organized crime family, in 1968 for interstate racketeering. The chief government witness in the Patriarca case, Joseph Barboza , was one of the first organized crime figures to break the "code of silence." The security procedures used to protect accomplice witness Barboza formed the basis for the Witness Protection Program , which was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1970.

In 1969, Harrington became the Deputy Attorney In Charge of the newly created U.S. Department of Justice's Strike Force against Organized Crime for the New England area and was the Attorney In Charge from 1970 to 1973. During this period, major gangland accomplice witnesses, such as Vincent C. Teresa and John J. Kelley , were developed. Their testimony resulted in the convictions of numerous significant underworld figures. Teresa was the chief witness in 1971 before the Permanent Senate Subcommittee investigating organized criminal securities fraud in the Wall Street brokerage houses. The "Strike Force" installed the first court-authorized wiretap in the District of Massachusetts in 1970.

From 1973 to 1977, Harrington was in private practice in Boston , Massachusetts.

In , he was a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for Attorney General of Massachusetts . He was defeated by Francis X. Bellotti in the primary election, where he finished third in a six-person race.

In August 1977, Harrington was appointed by President Carter as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. During his term, the United States Attorney 's Office successfully prosecuted members of the Boston School Committee and initiated grand jury investigations into corruption in Boston City Hall , resulting in the conviction of several municipal political figures. The Office also assisted the Ward Commission , which had been established by the State Legislature , in its probe of corruption in the awarding of state construction contracts and its reform of the awarding process. The Office's investigation resulted in the conviction of a member of the State Senate . See, In Re United States, Petitioner 666Fed.2d690 (1st Cir. 1981), a Petition for a Writ

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