I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

But I will bear true faith and allegiance to the sea that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

So help me God, so help me God.

So help me God.

Welcome to the oath. I'm Chuck Rosenberg and I am honored to be your host for a series of fascinating conversations with people from the world of public service.

Today, my guest is Pat Fitzgerald.

The son of parents who immigrated to the United States from Ireland, Pat was a legendary federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where his work focused on organized crime and on terrorism.

On the oath, Pat discusses efforts to dismantle the mafia and some of the earliest and most important work in the country, aimed at international terrorism and al-Qaeda.

Pat and I talk about the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the incredible investigative work of the FBI in the U.S. Attorney's Office that led to the 1998 indictment of Assama bin Laden.

Pat also served as the United States Attorney in Chicago and explores that city's struggle with violent criminal gangs and with public corruption.

Pat Fitzgerald, welcome to the oath.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

I'm glad you're here. I know you grew up in Brooklyn, family of four children, mom and dad. Tell me a little bit about them if you don't mind.

It was your classic immigrant family.

So my father immigrated from Ireland at 31. He went to school up to the sixth grade and then worked on the farm in County Clare, Ireland until he was 31 and immigrated over to the U.S. and became a citizen eventually.

What made him come over at 31? Looking for work in the future that he wouldn't have back in Ireland.

And then on my mother's side, I'm actually both first and second generation, oddly.

My grandfather came over and immigrated to Cleveland, married my grandmother in Cleveland. She came from Ireland as well. He fought in World War I for the fighting Irish, left for dead in the battlefield but survived.

And then remarkably, after the war decided to return to Ireland, he and my grandmother were probably the only two passengers going the other way in 1921 or so.

So he went back to Ireland where my mother was born. So she was actually a dual citizen growing up in a farm in Ireland. Similarly, she left at 17. She only got to go to sixth grade as well.

And she came over here and the one thing I think she was determined to do when she got here was to make sure her kids got an opportunity for an education.

So what kind of work did your parents do?

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