Thomas Phillip Puccio (September 12, 1944 – March 11, 2012) was an American trial attorney who served in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

, including as an investigator and prosecutor in the

Abscam Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation initi ...

case, before working as a

criminal defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

representing high-profile clients such as

Claus von Bülow Claus von Bülow (born Claus Cecil Borberg; 11 August 1926 – 25 May 2019) was a Danish-born British lawyer, consultant and socialite. In 1982, he was convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bülow (born Martha Sharp C ...

Early life

Puccio was born in 1944 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, to Matthew and Jeanette Puccio. He attended

Brooklyn Preparatory School Brooklyn Preparatory School, commonly referred to as Brooklyn Prep, was a highly selective Jesuit preparatory school founded by the Society of Jesus in 1908. The school educated generations of young men from throughout New York City and Long Isla ...

before going on to

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

(graduating in 1966) and

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 ...

(graduating in 1969).

Career

After law school he joined the Brooklyn office of the

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 ...

as an assistant prosecutor. He became the office's chief of criminal division in 1973 and two years later became executive assistant to the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

, David G. Trager. In 1976, he became the head of the

Organized Crime Strike Force The United States Organized Crime Strike Force was created in the late 1960s for the purpose of finding and prosecuting illegal racketeering. It was formed in a congressional effort led by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Specifically, the Strike Forces ...

for the Eastern District of New York.

Abscam

Puccio supervised the two-year

undercover investigation, along with Assistant Director Neil J. Welch, who headed the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

's New York division. In 1980 and 1981, he was the chief prosecutor in four of the eight trials resulting from the investigation. He secured the convictions of several elected officials, including U.S. Senator

Harrison A. Williams Harrison Arlington "Pete" Williams Jr. (December 10, 1919November 17, 2001) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a Democrat who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives (1953–1957) and the United States Sena ...

, U.S. Rep. Michael J. Myers, and

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

mayor

Angelo Errichetti Angelo Joseph Errichetti (September 29, 1928 – May 16, 2013) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and in the New Jersey Senate before being indicted during Abscam. Early life Angelo Joseph Err ...

Private practice

In 1982, after 13 years as a

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

attorney, Puccio went into private practice, joining the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

law firm of Booth, Lipton & Lipton. He joined

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP (known as Stroock) is an American law firm based in New York City, with offices also in Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington, DC. Stroock provides transactional and litigation guidance to multinational corporations, ...

in 1985, and then

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Milbank LLP (commonly known as Milbank) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. It also has offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, and Beijing. Hi ...

in 1987. He established his own firm in 1992. In 1985, Puccio secured the acquittal of the British-Danish socialite

after von Bülow was tried a second time on charges of attempting to murder his wife Martha by means of insulin injections. The second trial was held after a 1982 conviction was successfully appealed by

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

professor

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...

. Puccio defended Bronx Democratic leader

Stanley M. Friedman Stanley Melvin Friedman (born March 18, 1936) is a former head of the Bronx County Democratic Committee (better known as the Bronx Democratic party), a former Deputy Mayor of New York City, and later hotelier. Early life Friedman was born in th ...

in 1986 on corruption charges. Friedman was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in a racketeering trial prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

. The same year, he represented John J. McLaughlin, former president of

New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation NYC Health + Hospitals, officially the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City as a public benefit corporation. , HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the Uni ...

, charged with bribery and stealing $250,000 from

Maytag The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006. Company history The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessman Frederick Maytag. In 1925, ...

heiress Ann L. Maytag. McLaughlin was found guilty of forgery and larceny but acquitted of more serious charges. In 1997, Puccio defended Alex Kelly, who was charged with committing two rapes in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...

, ten years earlier. Kelly was convicted for one of the rapes and sentenced to 16 years in prison. In the second trial, Kelly pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...

, with a sentence of 10 years running concurrently with the sentence in the first trial.

Death

Puccio died of leukemia in 2012 at the age of 67.

In popular culture

The 1981 film ''

Prince of the City ''Prince of the City'' is a 1981 American neo-noir crime drama film directed and co-written by Sidney Lumet. The film follows Daniel Ciello, an officer of the New York Police Department who chooses, for idealistic reasons, to expose corruption ...

'' features a character loosely based on Puccio: Assistant U.S. Attorney George Polito, played by

James Tolkan James Stewart Tolkan (born June 20, 1931) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Strickland in ''Back to the Future'' (1985) and ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), and as Marshall Strickland in '' Back to the Future Part ...

. In the 2013 film ''

American Hustle ''American Hustle'' is a 2013 American historical black comedy crime film directed by David O. Russell. It was written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell, inspired by the FBI Abscam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It stars Christia ...

'', which dramatized the Abscam

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role a ...

Alessandro Nivola Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...

played Anthony Amado, a fictionalized version of Puccio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puccio, Thomas 1944 births 2012 deaths Lawyers from Brooklyn Fordham University alumni Fordham University School of Law alumni Abscam United States Department of Justice lawyers Criminal defense lawyers 20th-century American lawyers American people of Italian descent People associated with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Brooklyn Preparatory School alumni