Events

A 50-year member of the State Bar of Texas, Terry received his undergraduate degree (BA-History) from Southern Methodist University and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.  A Vietnam veteran, he obtained a commission as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia and served three years in the US Army.

After his military duty, Terry began a long career in criminal prosecution at the city, county and federal level.  For almost thirty years, he served in the US Department of Justice Criminal Division as a frontline organized crime prosecutor in Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas; as a section supervisor of national criminal initiatives involving customs and immigration fraud, large scale industrial health and safety violations and major corruption violations by individuals in the private sector.  For six years, he was the Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section directing the investigation and prosecution of online child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children on a nationwide basis.  His duties included being a member of the Interpol Crimes Against Children committee; he promoted new and innovative legislation on child exploitation in countries throughout the world and assisted in training investigators and prosecutors about law enforcement and legal developments in the area of child exploitation.

It was an honor for Terry to be selected as the Resident Legal Advisor in Romania where he worked with the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor General to establish new programs to combat organized crime, corruption and transnational human trafficking.

Today’s presentation concerns two of the most important mafia cases in Los Angeles that had a tremendous impact on organized crime in the US.  Terry prosecuted the first RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), case in California, and certainly one of the first RICO trials in the US.  Secondly, he will discuss the prosecution of Joe Hauseer, the mafia’s insurance expert, who bribed union officials in LA to represent the unions in contracting for huge health-welfare and pension plans.  The mob then stole millions from these funds.   Hauser became an FBI informant and aided sting operations against corrupt union officials, political figures and the mafia.  This series of cases was the most extensive and expansive organized crime investigations ever conducted.  Terry has completed his second book, “The Los Angeles Experience”, which discusses these cases in detail.

Terry’s experience and knowledge brings passion and innovation to the mission of promoting the Rule of Law and criminal justice reform. His career in public service is a tremendous benefit to our efforts to give the best law enforcement system to our communities.