The Other New York Mafia

No one has ever made a movie about this “family,” but make no mistake about it. It exists, and there are pictures to prove it.

27REUNIONJPY-articleLarge

These are the prosecutors of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The agency, the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, was celebrating its 225th birthday, so naturally its alumni had decided to hold a party.

One thing soon became apparent: This was no ordinary reunion.

A great many former AUSAs go on to positions of significant power. A great many become judges. And the few who fell to earth, failing to reach the exalted achievements of their brethren, go to remind the others that they were once part of the tribe.

She ran into David N. Kelley, who had helped convict Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the terrorist who led the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Then there was Judge Denny Chin, who sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison, and once worked in the office’s civil division. Then came Mary Jo White, the only woman to serve as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor and who was now the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Among the guests were Robert M. Morgenthau, who served as United States attorney in the 1960s before becoming Manhattan’s longtime district attorney; Michael B. Mukasey, a former United States attorney general; Deirdre M. Daly, the United States attorney for Connecticut; and about 20 current federal judges. There was also a former judge, Barbara S. Jones, one of the gala’s organizers, who has been named to hear the appeal by Ray Rice, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens, of the National Football League’s decision to suspend him over his domestic abuse case.

This barely scratches the surface of who was there, what they did and what they do now. How they intersect and interconnect, and what distinguishes them from, well, everyone else.  It’s one hell of a club.

Not too long ago, I appeared before a judge on a matter that challenged a ruling by another judge.  These are always sticky affairs, given that judges show each other deference, and I anticipated the usual issues. What I was surprised to hear from the judge presiding was his advising that both he and the judge who was the subject of the action were friends from their office reunions. Both had been federal prosecutors, though in different decades. Still, they were part of the club, and that was enough to bind them together.

There is nothing inherently wrong with former prosecutors having their own club, dressing up in finery and sharing stories of how many people who were not members of the club they put behind bars.  But there is something unseemly about all of this.

From what I’m told by friends who break the rule of Omerta, it’s not that they do favors for one another. Much as that’s a fantasy some like to promote, to suggest they can perform magic because of their connections, it’s not the case. But the benefit they do enjoy is a certain tolerance of each other, a tacit presumption of credibility. They will give each other the benefit of the doubt. They lend each other a helping hand, provided the hand doesn’t grasp too much.

While I assume that most prosecutors’ offices have similar reunions, similar clubs, what distinguishes SDNY is how many of its members are in positions of great authority, in the executive and judicial branches.  There is probably no other group, save perhaps Skull & Bones, that has its fingers on the steering wheel of America as much as this one.

It looks like a very nice party.  I can’t help but wonder what they talked about, but I’m fairly confident that it wasn’t concerns over police misconduct, wrongful convictions or the sad state of jobs for young lawyers.

 

 

10 thoughts on “The Other New York Mafia

  1. Dan

    For anyone concerned about the revolving door between government and the private sector, I’d say that this is the prime example. I’m not saying they’re not a lovely bunch of wonderful people, just that when you get down to it, most of them spend their non-government days representing the interests of Wall Street.

  2. Cristian

    Try as I did, I could not spot a single person of color in that lovely portrait. Maybe they’re in the overflow room?

    1. SHG Post author

      I wondered whether anyone would notice that. It’s not there aren’t, or haven’t, been any persons of color in the office. But not many. I wouldn’t leap to the conclusion of any particular prejudice within the office, however, and might consider the universe from which the office draws as being a root cause of the situation.

      1. TJR

        That was the first thing I noticed. As a non-white attorney it has often been one of the first things that stands out when I walk into a courthouse (all those portraits of judges past hanging on the wall, staring down at me with a seemingly suspicious expression). Ah, well.

  3. Dan Hull

    I liked this story. Even with a primarily commercial defense-side law practice, I’ve tried crimInal cases (usually when other lawyers ask me to) in district courts, and in investigations and client-related proceedings I’ll run into AUSAs. I also knew 2 AUSAs who practiced privately (one in part trained by me) and then went to the US Attorney’s Office later. Almost all AUSAs are smart to begin with. These are plum jobs. The Southern District especially is a great training ground and has its share of SCOTUS clerks, one of which I knew in college and kept in touch with when we both moved to DC at same time. But so far he and just 2 other AUSAs I’ve seen up close are exceptions to the following rule, which I still can’t understand: Once a person becomes an AUSA, something terrible, cataclysmic and unholy happens to them and they get god-like complexes which allows them to rationalize any breaking of the rules. Not much is sacred. Brady violations are merely starters for these most of these folks . As you may know, I have a deep and maybe irrational dislike of almost all cops. Cops lie talking in their sleep. With cops it’s like getting mad at rocks or plants. Pointless to get too upset. But ASUAs? They know better. It’s a strange given the brains, trial skills and home court advantage these folks already have.

    1. SHG Post author

      I asked the AUSA’s about you, and they told me how much they appreciated your coming in to give them sensitivity training as undergrads at Dartmouth.

  4. william doriss

    I’m stunned, simpley speaking at SJ! The picture not only speaks a
    thousand words but shows a thousand AUSAs. Stunning, simpley,..
    stunning in its simplicity. Kudos to the photog who was apparently
    shutter-bug ready for a momentous occasional gathering in N.Y. jurisprudential
    history.
    Good Grief, I wonder how many yachts and golf clubs they possess
    amongst them? Enough for a very large tag/estate sale! No
    doubt. The judicial branch of the Empire State is alive and well.
    And now the Federal Reserve Bank–another
    but not unrelated topic–invented by New York’s own Alexander
    Hamilton. Did they release their “recommendations” today?
    Let me guess: Zero interest rates from now to Eternity. (We free-
    thinkers and fee-associaters are not allowed to digress materially.)
    P.S., Zero interest rates and zero tolerance are two side of the same
    coin, in the Empire State, that is. Mandatory minimums are part of
    the sandwich, trust it. This movie will end badly, IMO.

Comments are closed.