Leon Cannizzaro’s announcement that he's not running for reelection heralds the end of an era at the district attorney’s office on South White Street that officially began 12 years ago. Critics argue it dates back much further, to the early 1970s, when Connick began a tenure marked by a no-holds-barred mindset, and a slew of convictions that would later fall due to misconduct by police or prosecutors.

Cannizzaro casts himself as a no-nonsense lawman who mended his office’s once-troubled relationship with the NOPD and contributed to a historically low homicide tally by locking up scores of murderers and gangsters.