Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. has dedicated his career to protecting our community through the fair and ethical pursuit of justice. His thirty-seven years of combined experience as a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and as a Judge in and around Westchester County for thirty years have uniquely prepared him to lead as Westchester County’s chief law enforcement officer. District Attorney Scarpino now oversees a staff of one hundred eighteen assistant district attorneys, thirty-four criminal investigators and eighty-five support staff personnel.
The grandson of Italian immigrants, District Attorney Scarpino was born and raised in the City of Mount Vernon where he attended public school. After graduating from Mount Vernon High School, he attended the University of Connecticut and then Syracuse University College of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor Degree.
After law school, District Attorney Scarpino returned to his hometown where he began his career in public service as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Mount Vernon. In 1977, he left local government and joined the FBI as a Special Agent investigating civil rights violations, bank robberies, kidnappings and extortion cases.
In 1984, at the age of thirty-two, District Attorney Scarpino was appointed Acting Mount Vernon City Court Judge earning him the distinction of youngest judge in the city’s history. He was elected to that seat a year later and soon went on to become Senior City Court Judge.
In 1988, District Attorney Scarpino was elected Westchester County Court Judge. During his first year on the bench, he was appointed to expand the Special Narcotics Part where he presided over some of the most serious criminal cases in Westchester County while working to keep drugs off our streets.
In 1993, District Attorney Scarpino was elected to the New York State Supreme Court for the Ninth Judicial District, which covers Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam and Orange Counties. During his tenure, he was assigned to the Special Matrimonial Part, Civil Part and Westchester County’s Mental Health Part before being elected Westchester County Surrogate in 2000, a post to which he was re-elected in 2010.
In 2015, District Attorney Scarpino stepped down to join the private law firm DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, leaving the bench for the first time in thirty years.
District Attorney Scarpino was an adjunct professor at the Pace University School of Law in White Plains and Iona College in New Rochelle where he shared both his experience and knowledge of criminal law, procedure and evidence with a new generation of students. He has served on the Office of Court Administration’s Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedures as well as serving as Co-Chair of the Ninth Judicial District’s Pro Bono Committee. This service to our community’s unrepresented was recognized by the Westchester Women’s Bar Association with a “Justice for All” award in 2007 and again in 2015 with the “Access to Justice” award from Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.
A lifelong resident of Westchester County, District Attorney Scarpino and his wife, Leigh, reside in Bedford where they raised their three now-grown daughters.
