Thomas Puccio

Thomas Phillip Puccio (September 12, 1944 – March 11, 2012) was an American trial attorney who served in the United States Department of Justice, including as an investigator and prosecutor in the Abscam case, before working as a criminal defense lawyer representing high-profile clients such as Claus von Bülow.

Early life Puccio was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, to Matthew and Jeanette Puccio. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory School before going on to Fordham University (graduating in 1966) and Fordham University School of Law (graduating in 1969).

Career After law school he joined the Brooklyn office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York 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, David G. Trager. In 1976, he became the head of the Organized Crime Strike Force for the Eastern District of New York.

Private practice In 1982, after 13 years as a Justice Department attorney, Puccio went into private practice, joining the Manhattan law firm of Booth, Lipton & Lipton. He joined Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in 1985, and then Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in 1987. He established his own firm in 1992.

Puccio defended Bronx Democratic leader Stanley M. Friedman 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. The same year, he represented John J. McLaughlin, former president of New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, charged with bribery and stealing $250,000 from Maytag heiress Ann L. Maytag. McLaughlin was found guilty of forgery and larceny but acquitted of more serious charges.

In the 2013 film American Hustle, which dramatized the Abscam sting operation, Alessandro Nivola played Anthony Amado, a fictionalized version of Puccio.