Bruce Cutler (born April 29, 1948) is an American criminal defense lawyer best known for having defended John Gotti, and for media appearances as a legal commentator.

Life and career

Cutler's father, Murray Cutler, was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

detective who later became a criminal defense attorney. While being interviewed on the radio program ''Conversations With Allan Wolper'' on WBGO 88.3 FM, Cutler said that he was inspired by his father's pro-labor, pro-union loyalties to a FDR-style Social Democratic position. Growing up in Flatbush, he graduated from

Poly Prep Country Day School Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an independent, co-educational day school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper School (9th to 12th grades) are loc ...

. Formerly a Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney, Cutler gained notoriety in the 1980s when he won three acquittals for Gambino Crime Family boss John Gotti (including one where at least one juror accepted a bribe in return for voting to find Gotti not guilty). When Gotti was indicted in 1990 for the 1985 murder of

Paul Castellano Constantino Paul Castellano (; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), was an American crime boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family. Castellano was killed in an unsanctioned hit on December 16, 1985. Early life Cast ...

and several other crimes, presiding judge I. Leo Glasser disqualified Cutler and two associates from representing Gotti. Citing evidence from wiretaps at Gotti's Ravenite club, prosecutors contended that Cutler and his colleagues may have known about criminal activity. Since the

attorney–client privilege Attorney–client privilege or lawyer–client privilege is the name given to the common law concept of legal professional privilege in the United States. Attorney–client privilege is " client's right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any ...

does not apply in these circumstances, prosecutors argued that Cutler was "part of the evidence" and thus liable to be called as a witness. They also argued that Cutler had represented other potential witnesses and thus had a conflict of interest. Glasser sided with the prosecutors, contending that Cutler was the "in-house counsel" for the Gambino family. Cutler appeared in the Robert De Niro and

Ed Burns Edward P. Burns (born January 29, 1946) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and producer. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. For HBO, they have collaborated on ''The Corner,'' ''The Wire,'' ''Generation Kill'', ''The P ...

film, ''

15 Minutes ''15 Minutes'' is a 2001 American satirical buddy cop action thriller film directed and written by John Herzfeld and starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns. Its story revolves around a homicide detective (De Niro) and a fire marshal (Burns) w ...

'', playing himself. He also appeared on Court TV, with attorney Ed Hayes, discussing criminal cases and current events on ''Cutler and Hayes'', and on the

CW network CW may stand for: Science and technology * centiwatt (cW), one hundredth of a watt * Cω, a programming language * CW complex, a type of topological space * Carrier wave, in radio communications * CodeWarrior, an integrated development environm ...

has his own TV show, ''Jury Duty''. He also made two guest star appearances in the episodes "Drawing Dead" and "Open Secrets" of the 4th season of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

show '' Blue Bloods''. He is godfather to Hayes' daughter, Avery. Cutler is estranged from his family including his brother, sister, and his son. Cutler was the lead defense attorney for

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

Lawyers Bruce Cutler and Ed Hayes Star in Mafia Cops - The Biggest Mob Trial in Years
/ref> until August 27, 2007, when he announced that he was leaving Spector's defense due to "a difference of opinion between Mr. Spector and me on strategy."

References

External links

Bruce Cutler, Attorney at Law
* CW networ
''Jury Duty''
site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutler, Bruce 1948 births Living people New York (state) lawyers Hamilton College (New York) alumni Brooklyn Law School alumni Criminal defense lawyers People from Flatbush, Brooklyn Poly Prep alumni