Citizen Cohn

Loathed by some, well respected by others, Roy Cohn was known as the toughest and most brilliant lawyer in America. And indeed, his power brokering, love of glamour, controversy, and notoriety made him, in the end, one of the most influential men in our society. From his role in the Rosenbergs' trial and as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Senate hearings through his extraordinary friendship with J. Edgar Hoover and his vendetta against Robert Kennedy, Cohn's reputation built. But his unique practice of law and power brokering was most notorious outside of the courtroom. His unprecedented track record and his sensational and shocking behavior drew the rich and the powerful to him to solve their problems. His clients ranged from media barons to members of organized crime, to the owners and clientele of Studio 54, to glittering society names--especially if they were divorcing--and a host of the mighty in business and politics. At the same time Cohn, himself the target of numerous indictments, was haunted by professional misconduct charges and finally disbarred shortly before his death. His private life was even more startling than the public one. Roy's name was constantly in gossip columns, hobnobbing with the glitterati; then there were his lovers, his denials of his homosexuality and AIDS, and finally his death from AIDS-related cancer in 1986.

Nicolas von Hoffman has created a remarkable and provocative biography. Interviewing family members, colleagues, clients, friends, and lovers, he gives us an extraordinary portrait of the man, his ideological passion, and the patterns of power and money that controlled his life. From hidden bank accounts, numerous incidents of political fixing, and surprising connections, to the clients who were bilked, the judges and politicians who made his singular practice of law possible, Citizen Cohn reveals the real Roy Cohn.