Matthew Bogdanos
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| Matthew Bogdanos | |
|---|---|
 Colonel Bogdanos speaking at the Don Bosco Prep High School Commencement in 2006 |
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| Nickname | "pit bull"[1] |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1980-1988, 2001-2005 (active) 1988-2001, 2005-present (reserves) |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars | Operation Desert Storm Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Awards | Bronze Star National Humanities Medal |
| Other work | Assistant D.A., author, boxer |
Colonel Matthew Bogdanos is an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan (since 1988), author, and a colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. In 2003, while on active duty in Marine Corps, he led the investigation into the looting of Iraq's National Museum, and was subsequently awarded the National Humanities Medal for his efforts. He had previously gained national attention for the 2001 case against Puff Daddy (Sean Combs) on weapons and bribery charges for a 1999 nightclub shootout.[1][2]
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[edit] Biography
Bogdanos is native New Yorker, who attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School and waited tables in his family’s Greek restaurant while growing up in lower Manhattan.[3]
[edit] Education
Bogdanos was graduated cum laude, receiving a Phi Beta Kappa award, with honors in Classics, from Bucknell University in 1980. He also holds a Recognition of Achievement in International Law from the Parker School of International Law in 1982, a law degree and a master’s degree in Classics from Columbia University in 1984,[3]and a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in 2004.
[edit] Marine Corps and legal career
Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1980, Bogdanos later attended, and was graduated with honors as a Judge Advocate from the Naval Justice School in 1984. He was then stationed in North Carolina, promoted to Captain, and appointed a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Released from active duty in 1988, he joined the New York County District Attorney’s Office under Robert M. Morgenthau, rising to Senior Trial Counsel in 1996. New York tabloids call him “pit bull" for his relentless prosecution of hundreds of criminals such as the 15-year-old “Baby-Faced Butchers” for their 1997 grisly Central Park murder and rappers Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Jamal “Shyne” Barrows for their highly publicized 1999 shootout in Club New York. Barrows was convicted of first degree assault and reckless endangerment but Combs was acquitted of all charges.
Remaining in the Marine Reserves between 1988 and 2001, he was recalled for Operation Desert Storm, and in 1996, then-Major Bogdanos led a Joint Task Force-6 counter-narcotics operation on the Mexican border. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1998, he thereafter served on military exercises and operations in South Korea, Lithuania, Guyana, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kosovo.
Recalled to active duty in the Marines after being forced to evacuate his apartment near the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he joined a multi-agency, special-forces task force in Afghanistan, received a Bronze Star for his actions in obtaining intelligence on Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, and was promoted to Colonel. He then served in the Horn of Africa and on multiple tours in Iraq as the head of that same multi-agency task force, searching for evidence of terrorist networks and terrorist financing.[1]
During his first tour in Iraq in 2003, and acting on his own initiative as deputy director of the Joint Interagency Coordination Group, he led the investigation into the April 2003 looting of the National Museum of Iraq.[4][5] As of early 2007, almost 6000 stolen antiquities had been recovered in eight countries. Exposing the link between the trafficking in stolen antiquities and terrorist financing, he has delivered speeches in more than 125 cities in a dozen countries throughout the world in venues ranging from universities and museums to law-enforcement agencies, Interpol, and members of both houses of the British Parliament. He urges a more active role for international organizations, private foundations, governments, and the art community in combating what he calls the global criminal enterprise that is pillaging the world’s cultural heritage.
Upon his return from Iraq, he was assigned to the National Defense University to assist in developing the U.S. government’s first executive-branch-wide, operational-level interagency training program. Released back into the Marine Reserves in October 2005, he returned to the District Attorney’s Office, was promoted to Senior Investigative Counsel, and continues the hunt for stolen antiquities.
[edit] Boxing career
Bogdanos boxes for the New York City Police Department’s Widows and Children’s Fund (with an amateur record of 23-3) and was included in a book covering the two dozen “great opening and closing arguments of the last 100 years.” In addition to numerous military decorations, he is the recipient of the 2004 Public Service Award from the Hellenic Lawyers of America, the 2006 Distinguished Leadership Award from the Washington DC Historical Society, a 2007 Proclamation from the City of New York, and a 2005 National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush for his work recovering Iraq’s treasures. All royalties from his 2005 book, Thieves of Baghdad, go to the Iraq Museum.
[edit] Publications
- "Joint Interagency Coordination Groups: The First Step" (PDF) (March 2005). Joint Force Quarterly.
- "Casualties of War: Truth and the Iraq Museum" (April 2005). American Journal of Archaeology. doi:.
- Thieves of Baghdad is his first-hand account of his journey to recover Iraq’s lost treasures. His royalties from the sale of the book go to the Iraq Museum.
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- Bogdanos, Matthew (2005). Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine’s Passion for Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Recover the World’s Greatest Stolen Treasures. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 1582346453.
- "The Terrorist in the Art Gallery (Op-Ed)", New York Times, December 10, 2005.
- "Interagency Operations: The Marine Specialty of this Century" (March 2006). Marine Corps Gazette.
- "Fighting for Iraq’s Culture (Op-Ed)", New York Times, March 6, 2007.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Matthew Bogdanos. Authors. Bloomsbury. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- Renée Montagne. National Public Radio interview. Chasing Down History and the 'Thieves of Baghdad.
- Bruce Cole. Interview by the Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Treasure Hunting in Baghdad - A Conversation with Matthew Bogdanos.
- CBC News World interview. Bogdanos vows return of artifacts. Video interview.
- Hobson, Katherine. US News & World Report. P.S. Do you have the Ark?.
- "Starred Review: Thieves of Baghdad" (April 2003). Publishers Weekly. Book review with short author profile.
- Kennicott, Philip. "Book World: Thieves of Baghdad", Washington Post, January 22, 2006.
- Rose, Mark (January/February 2004). "Conversations: Building Trust in Iraq". Archaeology 57 (1). “A Manhattan D.A. recalls his investigation of the Baghdad museum looting”
- Zavis, Alexandra (Associated Press). "Profile: Matthew Bogdanos", Guardian Unlimited, May 12, 2003. "An eclectic colonel who once prosecuted P Diddy - and lost - is now hunting down Iraq's lost antiquities"
[edit] External links
- Matthew Bogdanos. Interview with Jeffrey Brown. Recovering History. NewsHour. PBS. October 1, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- Gugliotta, Guy. "Looted Iraqi Relics Slow To Surface:Some Famous Pieces Unlikely to Reappear", Washington Post, November 8, 2005, p. Page A01. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- Matthew Bogdanos. Interview. Chasing Down History and the 'Thieves of Baghdad'. Morning Edition. December 9, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- Swain, Jon. "Reopening of looted museum signals a calmer Baghdad", The Sunday Times, November 25, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
