Originally Posted - February 27, 2007

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ALBANY---Two more top level appointments have been made by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Ellen Nachtigall Biben has been named as special deputy Attorney General for Public Integrity, where she will oversee landmark initiatives to fight government corruption and Joseph A. D'Amico will be the Department of Law's chief investigator, serving as the top law enforcement officer in the AG's office.

The Public Integrity Bureau will handle civil and criminal cases, pursuing perpetrators of fraud and bad conduct statewide and seeking to recover misspent taxpayer funds.

Ms. Biben's distinguished 11-year career as a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney's office has produced several long-term, comprehensive investigations into organized crime, money laundering, public corruption, tax evasion, and other forms of racketeering. Since 2001, she has specialized in such prosecutions, serving as Deputy Bureau Chief of the Rackets Bureau.

"Ellen Biben's proven experience finding and eliminating corruption in its various forms puts her at a great advantage to help restore integrity and trust in the state Capitol and beyond," Cuomo said Attorney.

For the Department of Law, Ms. Biben will manage Cuomo's public integrity initiatives, which include a thorough review of approximately 6,000 legislative budget member items, a multi-layered legality review of any further proposed items, and "Project Sunlight," a statewide Internet database where New Yorkers can examine links between elected officials, campaign donations, lobbyists, special interests, and/or state contracts.

Prior to her tenure at the New York County District Attorney's office, Ms. Biben was a litigation associate with Sullivan & Cromwell and a law clerk to the Hon. Alan H. Nevas of the United States District Court for Connecticut.

Ms. Biben received a B.A. from Wesleyan University, where she was captain of the varsity swim team and a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center, where she was executive editor of the Law Review.

Chief D'Amico has had a distinguished career at the New York City Police Department since 1981. He has served as captain, inspector, and, most recently, deputy chief. Chief D'Amico has commanded high-profile criminal investigations and has been the director of undercover and covert operations.

D'Amico currently serves as deputy chief of the New York City Police Department, where he is the commanding officer of the Real Time Crime Center. Prior to this position, he served as inspector and as commanding officer of Manhattan South Detective Operations, Queens North Detective Operations, and Internal Affairs Bureau, Group 41. He has also held the positions of Executive Officer, Detective Bureau of Manhattan, and Executive Officer, 43rd and 44th precincts.

Chief D'Amico received his Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York in 1992, and he graduated from the Police Management Institute at Columbia University's School of Business in 1996.
2-27-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette