John Pritchard III, Tenacious Law Enforcement Leader, Dies at 75

John S. Pritchard III, a tenacious investigator whose law enforcement career spanned more than three decades and six agencies in New York, involving some of the most notorious crimes of that era, died Thursday in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He was 75.

The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Anne, said.

Pritchard began as a beat cop and eventually broke ground for black people in the top ranks of the New York City Police Department.

He also helped bring entrenched organized crime figures to justice as a federal agent and fought corruption among police officers and in government departments as inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and of Westchester County.

He was the acting chief of the Transit Police before it was absorbed into the New York City Police Department. He was also the police commissioner of Mount Vernon, New York, the Westchester city where he was raised.

“John had that rare combination of ‘street smarts’ (honed from years as an NYPD officer) and strategic thinking, which gave him the ability to work ‘outside the box’ and to innovate our investigative approach to exploit investigative advantages,” former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who had been Pritchard’s colleague in the bureau’s New York office, said in an email.

“And whatever the task or obstacle,” Freeh added, “John never wavered in his dedication to the rule of law, fairness (even to our organized crime subjects), and loyalty and mentoring to all of us privileged to serve with him.”

Pritchard was involved in the successful investigation of Vincent “the Chin” Gigante, the Mafia boss who feigned insanity by strolling through Greenwich Village in his bathrobe and slippers (“The most clever organized-crime figure I have seen,” Pritchard once said); an investigation of organized crime’s influence in professional boxing; the corruption case known as ABSCAM, which ensnared a U.S. senator and seven congressmen when undercover agents posing as Arab sheikhs offered them bribes; the investigation of Wedtech, the military contractor whose downfall also led to the conviction of a Bronx congressman and borough president; and the capture in 1981 of Wayne Williams, who was convicted in what became known as the Atlanta child murders.

“The only enemies John had were the people he put in jail,” Joseph A. Spinelli, New York state’s first inspector general and another former FBI colleague, said by email. “He was incisive, comprehensive, a tenacious investigator and had a tremendous antenna and ability to involve the community in police work.”

Those qualities served Pritchard well when Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly named him first deputy police commissioner in 1992, the department’s second-highest civilian position after commissioner. He was the first black person appointed to that post, which had a portfolio that included overseeing the Internal Affairs Bureau in an effort to restore public confidence after the arrest of six police officers on drug trafficking charges.

“I brought him home to the NYPD, and he was the perfect fit,” Kelly said. “He was a smart, sensitive guy who could go to any forum and represent the Police Department well.”

John Sidney Pritchard III was born on April 24, 1943, in Mount Vernon to John Pritchard Jr. and Amelia (Cooper) Pritchard.

He graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science. He was a New York City police officer and detective from 1965 to 1976, then joined the FBI’s New York office, where he served as a special agent, supervisory special agent and inspector’s aide in place until 1987.

Pritchard was the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s inspector general from 1988 to 1993 and first deputy police commissioner from 1993 to 1994 before joining the transit police force as deputy chief and acting chief. He served until 1995, and then was Mount Vernon’s commissioner of public safety until 1998 and Westchester County’s inspector general until 1999.

In addition to his wife of 26 years, Anne (Michaelson) Pritchard, he is survived by two children from his first marriage, Joseph and Payton, and six grandchildren. Another son, John IV, died about 25 years ago.