World Trade Center site
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both which were en route to Los Angeles, and intentionally crashed them into the two main towers of the World Trade Center. The towers collapsed within two hours of the collisions. 2,606 people, including 2,192 civilians, 71 law enforcement officers, and 343 firefighters, who were in the towers and in the surrounding area died in the attacks, as well as 147 civilians and the 10 hijackers aboard the two airliners. After the collapse of the World Trade Center, hospital workers and law enforcement officers began referring to the World Trade Center site as "Ground Zero".
David N. Kelley
David N. Kelley (born December 1, 1959) is an American attorney and a former United States Attorney and Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). He was also a co-chair of the United States Justice Department’s nationwide investigation into the September 11 attacks.
Kelley, who served as chief of the organized crime and terrorism unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the SDNY, is noted for leading the investigations of the 2000 millennium attack plots and the October 2000 attack on the USS "Cole" in Yemen, and for prosecuting Ramzi Yousef for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was named Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia acting as co-lead prosecutor of John Walker Lindh. Kelley is also noted for obtaining convictions of WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers in his prosecution for accounting fraud and Martha Stewart in the ImClone stock trading case.
Kelley was raised in East Hampton, NY, and has lived in the New York metropolitan area for most of his life. He earned his undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary and law degree in 1986 from New York Law School. Kelley was a policeman and a fireman while attending law school. After leaving the U.S. Attorney's office in 2005, Kelley joined Wall Street law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel as a partner in its litigation and corporate investigations practice. He is currently a partner and co-leader in the White Collar and Securities Litigation practice group at Dechert.