Life and Career
Martin was born in 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut. His father, Ralph Beneducci Martin-Trigona, was of Italian, Maltese, and English descent, and his mother, Helen Anthony (née Vasiliou), was Greek American. He received a B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1966, and a J.D. from that institution in 1969.
In 1973 the Illinois Supreme Court refused to grant Martin a license to practice law in the state due to such conduct as attempting to have a parking violation thrown out because it had been "entered by an insane judge" and for commenting that an attorney, who suffers from a mild case of cerebral palsy, was "shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot." The court also cited Martin's Selective Service record, which attributed to him a "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character." Martin holds that the remark was written out of spite by an evaluator with whom he had a dispute.
Martin then became involved in consumer advocacy and referred to himself as "the people's attorney general". He took credit for being the first to file suit under the civil component of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as the first to file antitrust actions against the Big Three television networks for anticompetitive practices in network affiliation agreements.
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