By Natalie Rodriguez

Law360 (April 2, 2020, 8:10 PM EDT) -- Retired U.S. District Judge Kevin T. Duffy, a "legend" in the Southern District of New York who presided over a number of notable terrorism and mobster cases, passed away Wednesday, reportedly from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Judge Duffy, who retired from the bench in 2016, oversaw cases involving both World Trade Center bombings, New York mobsters, and $98 billion worth of Iranian gold held by the New York Federal Reserve during the hostage crisis. The former judge died of COVID-19 in a Greenwich, Connecticut hospital, according to a New York Times report. He was 87.

"Judge Kevin Duffy was a giant in the legal community who devoted his life to serving our country. In his 44-year career on the bench, Judge Duffy presided over one critically important complex trial after another, demonstrating how the U.S. district courts are an engine for justice," Matthew Diller, dean of Judge Duffy's alma mater Fordham University School of Law, told Law360 on Thursday. 

"He was also a good friend, a devoted husband, father and grandfather," Diller added. "He was a key member of the Fordham Law community and will be deeply missed."

One of the most famous cases that Judge Duffy oversaw involved the prosecution of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of planning and overseeing the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.   

David Kelley, now co-leader of Dechert LLP's white collar and securities litigation practice, was the prosecutor on that case. He told Law360 on Thursday that while Duffy could be an imposing figure — and one known for sometimes taking unconventional paths in his jurisprudence — he always landed in the right place.

"He definitely could be a tough judge, but he was thoroughly and always committed to doing the right thing," Kelley said.

Kelley also recalled that Judge Duffy was never impersonal, despite his lofty reputation.

"He was highly regarded on a personal level, as he was on a professional level," said Kelley.

Over the course of his judicial career, Judge Duffy oversaw several complex and highly charged cases. One of his first major cases involved alleged New York mobster Carmine Tramunti and several others who were charged with leading a narcotics ring. Judge Duffy also oversaw a complex multidefendant trial involving several members of the Gambino crime family, and continued to steer the case through mistrial motions after Paul Castellano, the head of the family, was murdered in the middle of the proceedings.

After the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran, Judge Duffy played a principal role in a number of cases involving the freezing of Iranian assets. This included a high-stakes case involving $98 billion worth of gold held by the New York Federal Reserve.

Judge Duffy also oversaw other major terrorism cases, including a trial in the 1990s involving a plot to blow up 12 airliners.

As news of the retired judge's death spread through the legal community on Thursday, some took to social media to remember and mourn him.

"I served as a law clerk on the #SDNY the year before 9/11. Kevin Duffy was already a legend, the judge who spoke truth to al Qaeda terrorists," Brett McGurk, a lecturer on international security at Stanford University and former SDNY law clerk, wrote in a social media post.

Right before former President Richard Nixon appointed Duffy to the federal bench in 1972, he had been a regional administrator of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's New York office. Earlier in his career, he also had stints in private practice and as an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

 --Editing by Alanna Weissman.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.