Friends of Ours reports:
A Feb 27, 1961 FBI memo states that according to one informant "the consensus of opinion among persons connected with law enforcement that appointee's [D'Alesandro's] son acquitted of rape because of brilliant fashion case handled by defense attorney." Franklin Roosevelt D'Alesandro was represented by Joseph Sherbow who managed to sever his client from the other defendants and ensured his trial went first so any convictions against the others would not prejudice him. Apparently D'Alesandro believed that his son was guilty of the charge, and prior to trial urged him to plead guilty and "take his medicine."Just a reminder the next time Nancy Pelosi says all women should be believed....
The corruption charges and his son's rape trial all had become more than Mayor D'Alesandro could bear, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. D'Alesandro was admitted to the Bon Secours Hospital in Maryland where he rested from March 10 through July 12, 1954. During this period according to an FBI memo "the Balitimore City Police Department had two men assigned to protect the appointee [D'Alesandro] and also had two men guarding his home" at 245 Albemarle Street for unknown reasons and "a local paper carried a picture of him in his hospital room seated in front of a television set, dressed in a dressing gown."