http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/NEWS03/711120347
Tom Zugibe has plans for Rockland District Attorney’s Office
By STEVE LIEBERMAN THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 12, 2007)
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Thomas Zugibe thought long and hard about running for Rockland district attorney.
The Haverstraw Democrat and son of the former Rockland medical examiner said he had been thinking about becoming Rockland’s top prosecutor since 1995, when the job first opened without an incumbent.
In the proceeding 12 years, he said, the timing wasn’t right. He had family obligations that made a long campaign difficult or financially impossible.
Zugibe, a former prosecutor, spent two decades building a law practice with Arthur Ferraro and working for nonprofit groups. He also served as West Haverstraw village justice for 18 years.
“I had the passion to be district attorney for many years,” Zugibe said Wednesday, still exhausted from election night celebrating and a nearly yearlong campaign.
This year, the political and personal stars became aligned. Three of his four children are in college and life was easier.
“We saw light at the end of the tunnel this time,” Zugibe said. “I’m 54. The opportunities were diminishing. I believe I can make a difference as district attorney.”
He said he felt Republican Michael Bongiorno also was vulnerable after 12 years in office.
He saw Bongiorno as an accomplished lawyer without scandal, but felt the office could do better, including reducing crime before it occurred. Zugibe also knew Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans across the county.
The race was hard fought, with Zugibe pressing his programs and criticism. Bongiorno stuck to promoting that his record led to record-low crime in Rockland, saying Zugibe distorted the facts.
Zugibe beat Bongiorno by 1,223 votes. A last-minute bloc vote from New Square – 1,978 for Zugibe and 23 for Bongiorno – helped put him over the top.
Zugibe takes office in January. He doesn’t come without some first-hand knowledge of the job.
He worked as a county prosecutor, handling violent crime and drug cases from 1981 to 1987, and leaving as an executive assistant to then-District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz. He came to the office after two years as a prosecutor or the state Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Office.
“He was a very competent attorney,” said Jerry O’Leary, a retired state trooper and District Attorney’s Office investigator. “He was a professional and fun to work with. He will do well.”
Wilbur Aldridge, a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People official from Haverstraw, said Zugibe has principles and sticks to them, like his father, Frederick Zugibe, the former medical examiner who groomed his son in the fine art of autopsy and forensic pathology.
Aldridge said he knows Zugibe’s wife, Peggy, a member of the North Rockland Board of Education.
“He comes from a very prominent and well-respected family, a very civic-minded family,” Aldridge said. “He speaks his mind.”
Aldridge said he was impressed with Zugibe’s views that crime prevention should play a major role for prosecutors, along with convicting the criminals.
“He spoke about more than one method of crime fighting,” Aldridge said.
Zugibe has big plans for the office, aiming to change the culture while being strong on prosecuting violent criminals.
He said he hopes to develop a closer working relationship with the police departments, improving communication on pleas and cases. He ran with the support of the Rockland Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association leadership.
A cornerstone of Zugibe’s office will be community prosecution, during which prosecutors will work in the community. The prosecutors will work with the police, clergy, civic leaders and those people on the cusp of crime.
A team will visit counties that have community prosecution programs and a pilot unit will be established in Rockland.
He said he also has plans to create a special-victims unit, comprising two prosecutors and a detective. The unit would work with the police and public.
Zugibe said the unit would work closely with crime victims, such as children, the elderly, and people with developmentally and mental disabilities. The unit would help victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape.
“Special victims unit operate in D.A. offices across the nation,” Zugibe said. “Even before I take office, I want this unit to be started.”
Zugibe said he would name a transition team to evaluate the staff and how the office operates. He said he didn’t know what attorneys would be asked to stay.
“It is premature to say, but I expect there would be changes,” Zugibe said.
He said he wants Ferraro, his law partner of 20 years, to become his second in command, calling him a premier trial attorney.
Ferraro, a defense lawyer and former Bronx prosecutor, said he was considering the offer.
Family remains a focus of Zugibe’s life. The campaign became a family affair – with his wife, brothers, sister, father and mother appearing with him and representing him across the county.
One brother died nearly a year ago. Zugibe said he still hasn’t gotten over the death of Fred Zugibe, the eldest of the six siblings.
Tom Zugibe said his brother, a cardiologist, examined him, but never examined himself.
“He encouraged me to run,” Zugibe said. “The campaign came on and I never really had a chance to grieve his death. Family is the most important thing in life for me.”
Karyl Caplan, the executive director of ARC, which helps people with disabilities, said Zugibe wears his heart on this sleeve. Zugibe has been an ARC board member for 20 years.
“Tom is a very genuine and caring person and he’s very family oriented,” Caplan said. “He’s precise in the way he explains things and he doesn’t shoot from the hip. He has a good sense of humor.”
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Thomas Zugibe
Born: Feb. 13, 1953
Personal: Married with four children
Career: Attorney
Political: West Haverstraw village justice, 1989-2007; elected Rockland district attorney in November.
Community: Served on the board of directors of ARC of Rockland since 1988; Rockland County Drug Court; Rockland Community Foundation and Hudson Valley Make-A-Wish Foundation; North Rockland Rotary Club; Italian-American Social Club; Just-for-Fun Recreational Baseball; Haverstraw Little League; Clarkstown Gridirons; North Rockland Soccer Association, and North Rockland Youth Hockey Association.
Education: Graduated from North Rockland High School in 1971; Manhattan College in 1975 and St. John’s University School of Law with a juris doctor degree in May 1979.
Work Experience: A special assistant general for Medicaid fraud control for two years before joining the Rockland District Attorney’s Office in 1981. He served as Rockland prosecutor for six years, leaving the office in 1987 as an executive assistant district attorney and having prosecuted drug and murder cases, among others.
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