# New York County District Attorney

The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal law violations in Manhattan are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York). The current district attorney is Alvin Bragg. He was elected in 2021 to succeed Cyrus Vance Jr.
District attorneys are legally permitted to delegate the prosecution of petty crimes or offenses. Prosecutors do not normally handle New York City Criminal Court summons court cases, and the Manhattan district attorney has a memorandum of understanding with the New York City Police Department allowing their legal bureau to selectively prosecute them.

## History

In the legislative act of February 12, 1796, New York State was divided into seven districts, each with an Assistant Attorney General, except New York County where Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman prosecuted personally until 1801.
From 1801 to 1813, New York County was part of the First District, which included the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, Richmond, and Suffolk. At that time, Queens included current-day Nassau County and Westchester included the Bronx. In 1813, Westchester County was apportioned to a new district with Rockland and Putnam counties, and in 1815, New York County became the Twelfth District—the only one at the time that was a single county. In 1818, each county in the state became its own district.
From 1874 to 1895, New York County included the West Bronx, and from 1895 to 1913 it included all of what is now Bronx County, governing the same area as does the present Borough of the Bronx. On January 1, 1914, the Bronx became a separate county with its own district attorney.
Until 1822, the district attorney was appointed by the Council of Appointment, and held the office "during the Council's pleasure", meaning that there was no defined term of office. Under the provisions of the New York State Constitution of 1821, the district attorney was appointed to a three-year term by the County Court, and under the provisions of the Constitution of 1846, the office became elective by popular ballot. The term was three years, beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31. In case of a vacancy, an acting district attorney was appointed by the Court of General Sessions until the Governor of New York filled the vacancy with an interim appointment until an election was held for the remainder of the term.
The Consolidation Charter of 1896 extended the term by a year of the incumbent John R. Fellows, who had been elected in 1893 to a three-year term (1894–1896). Since the city election of 1897, the district attorney's term has coincided with the mayor's term and has been four years long. In case of a vacancy, the governor can make an interim appointment until a special election is held for the remainder of the term.
* The office operates out of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse at 1 Hogan Place (100 Centre Street)
* The district attorney also operates out of the Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building on 80 Centre Street (141 Worth Street).

## List of district attorneys

| No. | District Attorney | Dates in office | Party | Notes |
| 1 | Richard Riker | August 19, 1801 – February 13, 1810 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 2 | Cadwallader D. Colden | February 13, 1810 – February 19, 1811 | Federalist | |
| 3 | Richard Riker | February 19, 1811 – March 5, 1813 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 4 | Barent Gardenier | March 5, 1813 – March 31, 1815 | Federalist | |
| 5 | John Rodman | March 31, 1815 – January 28, 1817 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 6 | Hugh Maxwell | January 28, 1817 – June 11, 1818 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 7 | Pierre C. Van Wyck | June 11, 1818 – February 13, 1821 | Dem.-Rep. | |
| 8 | Hugh Maxwell | February 13, 1821 – May 1829 | Dem.-Rep. | last to be appointed by the Council of Appointment re-appointed by the Court of General Sessions to two three-year terms |
| 9 | Ogden Hoffman | May 1829 – May 22, 1835 | Democratic | appointed to two three-year terms |
| 10 | Thomas Phoenix | May 22, 1835 – June 4, 1838 | ? | appointed to a three-year term |
| 11 | James R. Whiting | June 4, 1838 – June 10, 1844 | Democratic | appointed to two three-year terms |
| 12 | Matthew C. Paterson | June 10, 1844 – January 26, 1846 | ? | appointed to a three-year term died in office |
| 13 | John McKeon | February 6, 1846 – January 1, 1851 | Democratic | last to be appointed by the Court of General Sessions and first to be elected by popular ballot (at the judicial state election of May 1847 to a term of three and a half years) |
| 14 | N. Bowditch Blunt | January 1, 1851 – July 17, 1854 | Whig | elected to two three-year terms died in office |
| – | Lorenzo B. Shepard | July 25, 1854 – January 1, 1855 (interim) | Democratic | appointed by Governor Horatio Seymour declined to be nominated to run for election |
| 15 | A. Oakey Hall | January 1, 1855 – January 1, 1858 | Whig | elected to a three-year term did not run for re-election |
| 16 | Peter B. Sweeny | January 1, 1858 – October 3, 1858 | Democratic | elected to a three-year term resigned because of ill health |
| – | Joseph Blunt | October 5, 1858 – January 1, 1859 (interim) | Republican | appointed by Governor John A. King |
| 17 | Nelson J. Waterbury | January 1, 1859 – January 1, 1862 | Democratic | elected to a three-year term lost election to Hall |
| 18 | A. Oakey Hall | January 1, 1862 – January 1, 1871 | Republican (1861) Democratic (1864, 1867) | second tenure, elected to three three-year terms resigned to take office as Mayor of New York City |
| 19 | Samuel B. Garvin | January 5, 1869 – January 1, 1870 (acting) January 1, 1870 – January 1, 1873 | Democratic | appointed by Governor John T. Hoffman elected to a three-year term did not run for re-election |
| 20 | Benjamin K. Phelps | January 1, 1873 – December 30, 1880 | Republican | elected to three three-year terms died in office |
| – | Daniel G. Rollins | January 3, 1881 – January 10, 1881 (acting) January 10, 1881 – January 1, 1882 (interim) | Republican | appointed acting district attorney by the Court of General Sessions, then appointed interim district attorney for the remainder of Phelps' term by Governor Alonzo B. Cornell did not run for re-election (ran for Surrogate instead, and won) |
| 21 | John McKeon | January 1, 1882 – November 22, 1883 | Democratic | second tenure, elected to a three-year term died in office |
| – | John Vincent | November 22, 1883 – November 30, 1883 (acting) | Democratic | appointed by the Court of General Sessions to act until the governor's appointment of a successor |
| – | Wheeler Hazard Peckham | November 30, 1883 – December 9, 1883 (interim) | Democratic | appointed by Governor Grover Cleveland, then resigned due to ill health |
| – | Peter B. Olney | December 10, 1883 – January 1, 1885 (interim) | Democratic | appointed by Governor Cleveland did not run for election |
| 22 | Randolph B. Martine | January 1, 1885 – January 1, 1888 | Democratic | elected to a three-year term did not run for re-election, became a judge in the Court of General Sessions |
| 23 | John R. Fellows | January 1, 1888 – January 1, 1891 | Democratic | elected to a three-year term did not run for re-election (ran for Congress instead, and won) |
| 24 | De Lancey Nicoll | January 1, 1891 – January 1, 1894 | Democratic | elected to a three-year term did not seek renomination |
| 25 | John R. Fellows | January 1, 1894 – December 7, 1896 | Democratic | second tenure, elected to a three-year term that was extended by one year so that the district attorney, the mayor, and other city officers would be elected in the same year died in office shortly before the extra year began |
| – | Vernon M. Davis | December 7, 1896 – December 19, 1896 (acting) | Democratic | appointed by the Court of General Sessions to act until the appointment of a successor by the Governor |
| – | William M. K. Olcott | December 19, 1896 – January 1, 1898 (interim) | Republican | appointed by Governor Levi P. Morton |
| 26 | Asa Bird Gardiner | January 1, 1898 – December 22, 1900 | Democratic | elected a four-year term removed from office by Governor Theodore Roosevelt for corruption |
| – | Eugene A. Philbin | December 22, 1900 – January 1, 1902 (interim) | Democratic | appointed by Governor Roosevelt |
| – | George W. Schurman | January 1, 1902 (acting) | Republican | appointed by Mayor Low until Jerome was sworn in |
| 27 | William T. Jerome | January 2, 1902 – January 1, 1910 | Fusion/Ind. | elected on a Fusion ticket nominated by Anti-Tammany Democrats, Republicans and Citizens Union re-elected in 1905 as an Independent, was also nominated by the Republican Party too late to appear on the ballot not re-nominated for re-election |
| 28 | Charles Seymour Whitman | January 1, 1910 – January 1, 1915 | Republican | elected to two four-year terms resigned to take office as Governor of New York |
| – | Charles A. Perkins | January 1, 1915 – January 1, 1916 (interim) | Republican | appointed by Whitman, who was his predecessor district attorney and became governor defeated by Swann in a special election |
| 29 | Edward Swann | January 1, 1916 – January 1, 1922 | Democratic | elected to the remainder of Whitman's second term re-elected to a four-year term did not seek re-nomination |
| 30 | Joab H. Banton | January 1, 1922 – January 1, 1930 | Democratic | elected to two four-year terms did not seek renomination |
| 31 | Thomas C. T. Crain | January 1, 1930 – January 1, 1934 | Democratic | elected to a four-year term did not run for re-election |
| 32 | William C. Dodge | January 1, 1934 – January 1, 1938 | Democratic | elected to a four-year term not nominated for re-election by Tammany Hall |
| 33 | Thomas E. Dewey | January 1, 1938 – January 1, 1942 | Republican, American Labor, City Fusion | elected to a four-year term did not run for re-election |
| 34 | Frank Hogan | January 1, 1942 – August 10, 1973 | Democratic | Initially elected on the Democratic, Republican, American Labor, Fusion, and United City tickets elected to eight terms tendered his resignation on December 26, 1973 after being re-elected the prior month, and technically remained in office until Kuh was sworn in |
| – | Alfred J. Scotti | August 10, 1973 – February 13, 1974 (acting) | Democratic | acting district attorney from the time Hogan was hospitalized until Kuh was sworn in |
| – | Richard Kuh | February 13, 1974 – January 1, 1975 (interim) | Democratic | appointed by Governor Malcolm Wilson for the remainder of the year defeated by Morgenthau in both the Democratic primary and a special general election running as a Republican for the remainder of Hogan's term |
| 35 | Robert Morgenthau | January 1, 1975 – January 1, 2010 | Democratic | defeated Kuh in both the Democratic primary and in a special election for the remainder of Hogan's ninth term re-elected to eight four-year terms |
| 36 | Cyrus Vance Jr. | January 1, 2010 – January 1, 2022 | Democratic | elected to three four-year terms retired |
| 37 | Alvin Bragg | January 1, 2022 – incumbent | Democratic | elected to a four-year term in 2021 |

## In popular culture
### Films

* Legal Eagles (1986)

### Television series

* The D.A.'s Man, which ran for a single season on NBC in 1959, starred John Compton as Shannon, an undercover investigator for the Manhattan DA's office. Produced by Jack Webb, the series fictionalized the career of real-life Manhattan DA's Investigator Harold Danforth, whose autobiography, also titled The D.A.'s Man, written in collaboration with veteran, Pulitzer Prize-winning police reporter James D. Horan, had won an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Fact Crime Book.
* For the People starred William Shatner as an idealistic young deputy district attorney in the Manhattan DA's Office, Howard da Silva as his supervisor, and Lonny Chapman as his investigator.
* Hawk, which ran for a half-season in 1966, starred Burt Reynolds as Lt. John Hawk, a detective assigned to NYPD's Manhattan DA's Squad.
* Cagney & Lacey was revived in 1994 for a series of irregularly scheduled two-hour TV-movies. In the interim between these films and the original series, Cagney had been promoted to lieutenant and placed in command of the NYPD's Manhattan DA's Squad. Lacey, having retired some years earlier was persuaded to return to police work as a criminal investigator for the Manhattan DA's Bureau of Investigation, allowing the two partners to work together again. There were four movies in the revived series between 1994 and 1996.
* Blue Bloods: Depicts the prosecution of criminal suspects by lawyers of the New York County District Attorney's office through the character assistant district attorney Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan), who started out the series as a Trial Division Assistant District Attorney before being promoted to Deputy Bureau Chief in toward the end of Season 3 and then to Trial Division Bureau Chief at the start of Season 9. Since Season 5, Erin has worked closely with D.A. Investigator Anthony Abetemarco (Steven R. Schirripa).
* Law & Order: The long-running television series Law & Order and its spin-offs depict the prosecution of criminal suspects by lawyers of the New York County District Attorney's office. In the original pilot episode "Everybody's Favorite Bagman", shot in 1988, Roy Thinnes was cast as District Attorney Alfred Wentworth. Subsequent district attorneys depicted in the franchise are Adam Schiff (1990–2000), Nora Lewin (2000–2002), Arthur Branch (2002–2007), Jack McCoy (2008–2011, 2018–2024), and Nicholas Baxter (2024–present). Law & Order ceased production in 2010, but McCoy (though not seen) was still occasionally mentioned as being the Manhattan district attorney in the spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in several episodes through 2011. A reference to "the new DA" in a 2013 episode indicated that McCoy had moved on from the position presumably sometime in 2012; his replacement was unnamed. However, McCoy became the district attorney again as of 2018, showing up in an SVU episode and later during the 21st season of Law & Order that started in 2022.