The “Crazy Diamond” (and other blazars).

During the first year of observations, AGILE detected several blazars at high significance: 3 C 279, 3C 454.3, PKS 1510-089, S5 0716+714, 3 C 273, MKN 421, and W Comae. We obtained long-term coverage of the Crazy Diamond 3 C 454.3, for more than 100 days at energies above 100 MeV. 3 C 273 was the first blazar detected simultaneously by the AGILE gamma-ray imaging detector and by its hard X-ray monitor. S5 0716+714, an intermediate BL Lac object, exhibited a very fast and intense gamma-ray transient event during an optical high-state phase, while MKN 421 and W Comae where detected during an AGILE target of opportunity (ToO) repointing. Thanks to the rapid dissemination of our alerts, we were able to obtain multi-wavelength ToO data from other observatories such as Spitzer, Swift, INTEGRAL, RXTE, Suzaku, MAGIC, VERITAS, as well as optical coverage by means of the WEBT Consortium and REM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]