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.