Thomas Vincent Quinn (March 16, 1903 – March 1, 1982) was an American jurist and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He served as an assistant

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and was elected to one term in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. He left Congress to become the

Queens County District Attorney The District Attorney of Queens County is the elected district attorney for Queens County in New York State, coterminous with the New York City borough of Queens. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws. ...

and was defeated for re-election after being indicted on Federal corruption charges. He was not convicted and was later appointed as a criminal court judge.

Early life and career

T. Vincent Quinn was born in

Long Island City, New York Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

on March 16, 1903. He attended schools in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, graduated from

William Cullen Bryant High School William Cullen Bryant High School, or William C. Bryant High School, and W.C. Bryant High School, or Bryant High School for short, is a secondary school in Queens, New York City, United States serving grades 9 through 12. Name It is named in hon ...

, and received his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...

in 1924. Quinn practiced in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Active in the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he served as Assistant

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 ...

of Queens County from September 1931 to August 1934. From 1934 to 1947 he was an Assistant

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in five New York counties: Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Nassau and Suffolk. The current U.S. Attorney is Breon ...

, and he twice served as Acting U.S. Attorney.

Political career

In July 1947 Quinn was appointed by President Harry Truman as an Assistant

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

for the Criminal Division and was confirmed in September. In the post, he worked on the post-war cases of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

propagandists

Iva Toguri D'Aquino Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino ( ja, 戸栗郁子アイバ; July 4, 1916 – September 26, 2006) was a Japanese-American disc jockey and radio personality who participated in English-language radio broadcasts transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied t ...

, better known as

Tokyo Rose Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to all female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The programs were broadcast in the South Pacific ...

and

Robert Henry Best Robert Henry Best (April 16, 1896 – December 16, 1952) was an American foreign correspondent who covered events in Europe for American media outlets during the Interwar period. Later he became a Nazi supporter and well known broadcaster of Na ...

. After 13 months at the Justice Department, Quinn resigned in August 1948 to run for Congress from

New York's 5th congressional district The 5th congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives, represented by Democrat Gregory Meeks. The district is located in Queens. A plurality of the district's population is Africa ...

. In the 1948 election, Quinn defeated freshman Republican Robert Tripp Ross. He defeated Ross in a rematch in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

; but ran successfully for Queens County’s District Attorney in 1951 and resigned from Congress in December.

Criminal Charges

In 1953, Quinn and his former law partners were indicted for allegedly enabling Quinn to accept legal fees for advising clients with business before the federal government while he was serving in Congress, and taking steps to conceal this activity. Despite the charges and the Queens Democratic Party’s refusal to endorse him, he ran for re-election as district attorney in 1955 with former state Senator

Frank D. O'Connor Frank D. O'Connor (December 20, 1909 – December 2, 1992) was an American lawyer and politician from New York (state), New York. Life O'Connor was born on December 20, 1909, in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Irish immigrants. He grew up in ...

challenging him in the Democratic primary. O’Connor prevailed by 1,452 votes after a recount. Quinn and his associates were acquitted on some charges in 1956. The judge ruled that prosecutors had presented no evidence that Quinn was aware the legal fees in question were from cases that took place during his time in Congress. In 1957, the remaining charges were dismissed.

Later career

In 1957, Quinn was appointed to the New York City Magistrates' Court. He served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

until 1962, when the court was merged with the

New York City Criminal Court The Criminal Court of the City of New York is a court of the Judiciary of New York (state), State Unified Court System in New York City that handles misdemeanors (generally, criminal law, crimes punishable by fine or imprisonment of up to one yea ...

. After the merger Quinn was a Judge on the criminal court until retiring in September 1972.

Personal life

In retirement Quinn resided in

Venice, Florida Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in Sou ...

, where he died on March 1, 1982.New York Times, Death Announcements, 1851-2003, entry for T. Vincent Quinn, March 3, 1982

References

External links

T. Vincent Quinn
a
''The Political Graveyard''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Thomas Vincent People from Long Island City, Queens Fordham University School of Law alumni United States Assistant Attorneys General for the Criminal Division United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York Truman administration personnel New York (state) state court judges New York (state) lawyers 1982 deaths 1903 births Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Queens County (New York) District Attorneys 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American judges