Famed San Francisco private investigator Jack Palladino has died after he became the victim of robbery attempt last week, police said.
The 76-year-old died following the attack late Thursday afternoon in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood where he reportedly lived.
Palladino was born on July 9, 1944. He gained widespread prominence in the early 1990s after he was hired by then presidential candidate Bill Clinton to challenge allegations of sexual misconduct aimed at denying Clinton the Democratic nomination.
Palladino also was involved in investigations related to the Patty Hearst kidnapping case in 1974, and Jonestown cult suicides in Guyana in 1978, according to a Wikipedia entry.
Two suspects have been arrested in the attempted robbery and police said Monday that they have opened a homicide investigation.
Police identified the suspects as 24-year-old Pittsburg resident Lawrence Thomas and 23-year-old San Francisco resident Tyjone Flournoy.
The attempted robbery occurred near the intersection of Page Street and Masonic Avenue. Officers responded to that location at 4:51 p.m. Thursday and found Palladino injured and lying in the street.
Police said witnesses told them that one of the suspects was struggling with Palladino over a camera in the passenger side of a vehicle. When the driver sped away, Palladino fell to the ground.
Thomas was taken into custody Friday in San Francisco while Flournoy was arrested in Reno, Nevada, on Saturday, according to police.