Department overview | |
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Formed | September 24, 1789Judiciary Act of 1789 | by the
Jurisdiction | Southern District of New York |
Headquarters | Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
Department executive |
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Parent Department | United States Department of Justice |
Website | justice |
Map | |
The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York (Manhattan) and Bronx, and the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases, including but not limited to those involving white collar crime, domestic terrorism, cybercrime, public corruption, organized crime, and civil rights disputes.
The Southern District has earned itself the moniker the "Sovereign District of New York".[1][2] Its resources, culture, and accompanying FBI field office have given the SDNY a reputation for being exceptionally aggressive in its pursuit of criminals.[3][4] Due to its jurisdiction over the New York City borough of Manhattan, the preeminent financial center of the United States of America, the office's incumbent is often nicknamed the "Sheriff of Wall Street".[5]
As of October 10, 2021[update], the United States attorney is Damian Williams.[6]
The office is organized into two divisions handling civil and criminal matters. The Southern District of New York also has two offices: in Manhattan and White Plains. The office employs approximately 220 assistant U.S. attorneys.[7]
In 1814, the District of New York was divided into the Northern and the Southern District.[8]
Term | U.S. Attorney | Party | Appointed by | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | April 1815 – July 1819 |
Jonathan Fisk | Democratic-Republican | James Madison | ||
2 | July 1819 – February 1828 |
Robert L. Tillotson | Democratic-Republican | James Monroe | ||
3 | February 1828 – April 1829 |
John Duer | Democratic-Republican | John Quincy Adams | ||
4 | April 1829 – April 1834 |
James A. Hamilton | Democratic | Andrew Jackson | ||
5 | April 1834 – December 10, 1838 |
William M. Price | Democratic | |||
6 | December 1838 – March 1841 |
Benjamin F. Butler | Democratic | Martin Van Buren | ||
7 | March 1841 – March 1845 |
Ogden Hoffman | Whig | William Henry Harrison | ||
8 | March 1845 – September 1848 |
Benjamin F. Butler | Democratic | James Polk | ||
9 | September 1848 – December 1848 |
Charles McVean | Democratic | |||
10 | January 1849 – April 1849 |
Lorenzo B. Shepard | Democratic | |||
11 | April 1849 – March 1853 |
Jonathan Prescott Hall | Whig | Zachary Taylor | ||
12 | April 1853 – June 1854 |
Charles O'Conor | Democratic | Franklin Pierce | ||
13 | July 1854 – January 1858 |
John McKeon | Democratic | |||
14 | January 1858 – December 1859 |
Theodore Sedgwick | Democratic | James Buchanan | ||
15 | December 1859 – March 1861 |
James I. Roosevelt | Democratic | |||
16 | April 1861 – April 1865 |
Edward Delafield Smith | Republican | Abraham Lincoln | ||
17 | April 1865 – April 12, 1866 |
Daniel S. Dickinson | Democratic | |||
18 | April 1866 – April 25, 1869 |
Samuel G. Courtney | Democratic | Andrew Johnson | ||
19 | April 25, 1869 – July 20, 1870 |
Edwards Pierrepont | Republican | Ulysses S. Grant | ||
20 | July 20, 1870 – December 31, 1872 |
Noah Davis | Republican | |||
21 | December 31, 1872 – January 24, 1877 |
George Bliss Jr. | Republican | |||
22 | January 24, 1877 – March 12, 1883 |
Stewart L. Woodford | Republican | |||
23 | March 12, 1883 – July 6, 1885 |
Elihu Root | Republican | Chester A. Arthur | ||
24 | July 6, 1885 – March 1, 1886 |
William Dorsheimer | Democratic | Grover Cleveland | ||
25 | March 1, 1886 – September 16, 1889 |
Stephen A. Walker | Democratic | |||
26 | September 16, 1889 – February 1, 1894 |
Edward Mitchell | Republican | Benjamin Harrison | ||
February 1, 1894 – July 23, 1894 |
Henry C. Platt[a] | Democratic | Grover Cleveland | |||
27 | July 23, 1894 – January 1898 |
Wallace Macfarlane | Democratic | |||
28 | January 1898 – January 1906 |
Henry Lawrence Burnett | Republican | William McKinley | ||
29 | January 1906 – April 8, 1909 |
Henry L. Stimson | Republican | Theodore Roosevelt | ||
30 | April 8, 1909 – May 7, 1913 |
Henry A. Wise | Republican | William Howard Taft | ||
31 | May 7, 1913 – April 1917 |
Hudson Snowden Marshall | Democratic | Woodrow Wilson | ||
32 | April 1917 – June 1921 |
Francis Gordon Caffey | Democratic | |||
33 | June 1921 – March 2, 1925 |
William Hayward | Republican | Warren Harding | ||
34 | March 2, 1925 – April 6, 1927 |
Emory Buckner | Republican | Calvin Coolidge | ||
35 | April 6, 1927 – September 29, 1930 |
Charles H. Tuttle | Republican | |||
September 29, 1930 – January 1931 |
Robert E. Manley[b] | Republican | Herbert Hoover | |||
36 | January 1931 – November 21, 1933 |
George Z. Medalie | Republican | |||
November 22, 1933 – December 26, 1933 |
Thomas E. Dewey[c] | Republican | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |||
37 | December 26, 1933 – May 16, 1935 |
Martin Thomas Conboy Jr. | Democratic | |||
May 16, 1935 – November 20, 1935 |
Francis W. H. Adams[d] | Democratic | ||||
38 | November 20, 1935 – December 1938 |
Lamar Hardy | Democratic | |||
December 1938 – March 1939 |
Gregory Francis Noonan[e] | Democratic | ||||
39 | March 1939 – March 1941 |
John T. Cahill | Democratic | |||
40 | March 1941[f] – June 10, 1943 |
Mathias F. Correa | Democratic | |||
June 10, 1943 – August 2, 1943 |
Howard F. Corcoran[g] | Democratic | ||||
41 | August 2, 1943 – October 9, 1944 |
James B. M. McNally | Democratic | |||
42 | October 9, 1944[h] – October 1949 |
John F. X. McGohey | Democratic | |||
43 | October 1949[i] – September 18, 1951 |
Irving Saypol | Democratic | Harry S. Truman | ||
44 | September 18, 1951 – April 1, 1953 |
Myles J. Lane | Democratic | |||
45 | April 1, 1953 – July 11, 1955 |
J. Edward Lumbard | Republican[9] | Dwight D. Eisenhower | ||
July 11, 1955 – September 1, 1955 |
Lloyd F. MacMahon[j] | Republican | ||||
46 | September 1, 1955 – July 9, 1958 |
Paul W. Williams | Republican | |||
July 9, 1958 – 1959 |
Arthur H. Christy[k] | Republican | ||||
47 | 1959 – January 31, 1961 |
Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr. | Republican | |||
January 31, 1961 – April 18, 1961 |
Morton S. Robson[l] | Republican | John F. Kennedy | |||
48[m] | April 18, 1961 – January 16, 1970 |
Robert Morgenthau | Democratic | |||
49 | January 16, 1970 – June 4, 1973 |
Whitney North Seymour Jr. | Republican | Richard Nixon | ||
50 | June 4, 1973 – October 31, 1975 |
Paul J. Curran | Republican | |||
October 31, 1975 – March 1, 1976 |
Thomas J. Cahill[n] | Republican | Gerald Ford | |||
51 | March 1, 1976 – March 2, 1980 |
Robert B. Fiske | Republican | |||
March 3, 1980 – May 21, 1980 |
William M. Tendy[o] | Republican | Jimmy Carter | |||
52 | May 22, 1980 – June 3, 1983 |
John S. Martin Jr. | Democratic | |||
53 | June 3, 1983 – January 1, 1989 |
Rudy Giuliani | Republican | Ronald Reagan | ||
January 1, 1989 – October 16, 1989 |
Benito Romano[p] | Republican | George H. W. Bush | |||
54 | October 16, 1989 – May 31, 1993 |
Otto G. Obermaier | Republican | |||
55 | June 1, 1993 – January 7, 2002 |
Mary Jo White | Unaffiliated[10] | Bill Clinton | ||
56 | January 7, 2002 – December 15, 2003 |
James Comey | Republican[11] | George W. Bush | ||
December 15, 2003 – September 6, 2005 |
David N. Kelley[q] | Democratic | ||||
57 | September 6, 2005 – December 1, 2008 |
Michael J. Garcia | Republican | |||
December 1, 2008 – August 13, 2009 |
Lev Dassin[r] | Unaffiliated | ||||
58 | August 13, 2009 – March 11, 2017 |
Preet Bharara | Democratic | Barack Obama | ||
March 11, 2017 – January 5, 2018 |
Joon Kim[s] | [data missing] | Donald Trump | |||
January 5, 2018 – June 20, 2020 |
Geoffrey Berman[t] | Republican | ||||
June 20, 2020 – October 10, 2021 |
Audrey Strauss[u] | Democratic | ||||
59 | October 10, 2021 – present |
Damian Williams | Democratic | Joe Biden |
The Showtime drama series Billions is loosely based on Preet Bharara's prosecution of SAC Capital and other hedge funds.[18]
The ABC legal drama For the People depicts new defense attorneys and prosecutors working in the Southern District of New York.
The 2020 Netflix series Fear City: New York vs The Mafia documents the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York against the Five Families of the Italian American Mafia in the 1980s.
In past presidential transitions, the storied office, long known to be so independent of Washington that some people referred to it as the Sovereign District of New York, has in large measure moved forward unaffected by politics.
Finally, in some multijurisdictional cases there have been turf battles rather than cooperation. For example, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York ... Press accounts have noted the perception that the 'Sovereign District of New York' ... doesn't necessar[il]y play well with others.
This was sometimes referred to—mockingly, but enviously, too—as the Sovereign District of New York. It was in many ways a separate fiefdom from the rest of the Bureau, creating its own rules and procedures. The agent in charge of the office, unlike all but one other agent in charge, held the rank of an assistant director of the entire FBI.
The Bush administration has left the answer largely in the hands of White, a registered independent, whose office, because of its legendary independence and tenacity, is known as the 'sovereign district'.