Francis J. Diskin, 57; Prosecuted Terrorist in Plot to Bomb LAX
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Francis Jerome Diskin, a veteran federal prosecutor who headed the government’s case against an Algerian terrorist convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport, died Tuesday, according to the Justice Department. He was 57.
He died after brain surgery to remove a tumor.
Diskin joined the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle in 1976. He went on to serve as chief of the criminal division, senior litigation counsel and supervisor of the drug unit.
He was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested on the eve of the millennium as he tried to enter the United States through Port Angeles, Wash., with a vehicle trunkload of explosives. Ressam was convicted in 2001 of explosives charges and conspiracy to commit international terrorism; he has since provided valuable testimony against other suspected terrorists.
In April 2001, U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft appointed Diskin interim U.S. attorney, a post he held until October 2001.
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