Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney: Harlem’s staunch defender of civil rights

When Alvin Bragg took over as district attorney for Manhattan, one of five that make up the DA’s Office representing each neighborhood in New York, promised that his office would set aside some minor crimes — marijuana use, for example — to focus on deep issues. Said, done. Fifteen months after taking the oath On his table was the impeachment of Donald Trump and a series of insults from the Republican ranks, led by the former president, who use the color of his skin as a weapon.

At 49, Bragg is the first African-American to head the Manhattan District Attorney’s office — a seat he’s had only three predecessors hold — after a career built on civil rights defense. He was a lawyer who represented the family Eric Garner, a black man who was suffocated by the police in 2014. He also participated in investigations against a film producer and a sexual predator. Harvey Weinstein and supervised the case against Trump Foundation, which eventually went out of business. The former president and he are old acquaintances because he also questioned the accusation of a former politician’s confidant Steve Bannon for money laundering and fraud.

Born in Harlem, and with studies at the elite Trinity School in Manhattan and Harvard University, where he graduated in law, he is known for his work methodical and attentive to details. They say this progressive prosecutor only pushes a case when well-armed and prefers to keep a low profile.away from political entanglementsAlthough with the former president, it is impossible. Bragg, with an office of about five thousand lawyers, now faces the giants, but he doesn’t forget when he was the one they pointed to. Before he turned 21, he says, the police already pointed him out gun half a dozen times.