Frank Paul Geraci Jr. (born July 14, 1951) is a
senior
Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to:
* Senior (name), a surname ...
United States district judge of the
United States District Court for the Western District of New York.
Early life and education
Geraci was born in 1951 in
Rochester, New York. He received his
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from the
University of Dayton. He received his
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
in 1977 from the
University of Dayton Law School.
Career
From 1978 to 1983, he served as a special assistant district attorney in the
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe:
* Monroe County, Alabama
*Monroe County, Arkansas
* Monroe County, Florida
* Monroe County, Georgia
*Monroe County, Illinois
*Monroe County, Indian ...
District Attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
's Office. From 1983 to 1987, he served as an
assistant United States attorney
An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
in the Western District of New York.
Among the cases that Geraci handled while at the U.S. Attorney's Office was the prosecution of a group of self-styled
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
who engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to help imprisoned
Philadelphia organized crime figure Stephen Vento and another man escape from the
federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Geraci was a
partner at the law firm of Geraci & Feldman from 1987 to 1992. From 1992 to 1998, he was a judge of the Rochester City Court, presiding over
civil cases, criminal
misdemeanor
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
s and
pre-trial felony matters. From 1999 to 2012, he served as a judge on the Monroe County Court in Rochester, New York, where he primarily handled criminal felonies.
Federal judicial service
On May 14, 2012, President
Barack Obama nominated Geraci to be a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, to the seat vacated by Judge
David G. Larimer
David George Larimer (born March 3, 1944) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.
Education and career
Born in Rochester, New York, Larimer received a Bachelor of Arts ...
, who assumed senior status in 2009.
His nomination was approved by the
Senate Judiciary Committee on July 19, 2012. On December 13, 2012, the
United States Senate confirmed Geraci by a
voice vote. He received his commission on January 2, 2013. He served as Chief Judge from 2015 to 2021.
On February 22, 2023, he announced his intent to assume
senior status on April 1, 2023.
Notable cases
In 2021, Geraci denied a petition for
compassionate release from imprisoned
Rochester organized crime figure Dominic Taddeo, convicted of
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
and the slaying of three people in
mob wars in 1982 and 1983. Geraci determined that Taddeo did not merit compassionate release.
[Gary Craig]
Notorious Rochester mob hit man is seeking COVID-related release from prison
''Democrat & Chronicle'' (February 17, 2021).
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Geraci, Frank P. Jr.
1951 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
American people of Italian descent
Assistant United States Attorneys
Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York
Lawyers from Rochester, New York
New York (state) state court judges
New York Supreme Court Justices
United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama
University of Dayton alumni