About Judge Grasso (ret)
Judge George Grasso (ret) —
who began his NYPD career in 1979 as a 22 year old beat cop in Jamaica—was awarded a full scholarship to St. John’s University School of Law, graduating in 1984.
With a reputation for ingenuity, excellence, and integrity,
Grasso quickly climbed NYPD uniform and civilian ranks, becoming Special Prosecutor; Managing Attorney; Commanding Officer; Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters; and First Deputy Police Commissioner--the highest rank ever attained by an Italian American in the NYPD--which he held until he was elevated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to the New York City Criminal Court in 2010. Grasso was Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters for Queens Supreme Court, and was previously Supervising Judge for Bronx Criminal Court and Citywide Supervising Judge for Arraignments.
Shortly after becoming an attorney, Grasso was assigned to administratively prosecute the NYPD’s most serious misconduct cases, involving police officers accused of corruption and violation of their oath of office. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters/Chief Legal Counsel in 1997 and First Deputy Police Commissioner in 2002.
On the morning of 9/11/2001, then Deputy Police Commissioner Grasso responded to the scene of the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center and was designated the NYPD’s primary liaison with the FBI. In that capacity, he ensured a timely flow of crucial information between the NYPD, the FBI, and the Mayor.
As a criminal court judge, Grasso created the “CourtStat” system, which created an unprecedented reduction in arrest to arraignment times throughout the city. Grasso also conceived of Project Reset and implemented DAT-Y, which provided teenagers the opportunity to engage in programming focused on accountability and self-esteem, in return for having open criminal charges dismissed and sealed. In 2014, he was appointed as a co-chair on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Behavioral Health Task Force and played a leading role in developing and implementing New York City’s first Citywide Supervised Release Program.
In June of 2016, he was appointed as the Supervising Judge of Bronx Criminal Court. Under his leadership, trials and dispositions increased dramatically, while the backlog of cases over one year old decreased over 80%. In December of 2017, in partnership with the Bronx District Attorney, Grasso created the Overdose Avoidance and Recovery Court (OAR) to serve the needs of defendants at high risk of overdose and who agreed to treatment. Upon completion of the lifesaving treatment, open cases were dismissed and sealed. In February 2018, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore assigned Grasso to lead efforts to expand the OAR Court Citywide. In 2020, Grasso led successful efforts to maintain a viable and functioning Criminal Court during the global pandemic.
In August of 2021, Grasso was designated Administrative Judge, Queens County Supreme Court for Criminal Matters. On August 15, 2021, at the request of the Chief Judge, he was assigned to lead a Citywide Gun Initiative to expedite processing of Top Count Gun cases pending in New York City’s Criminal and Supreme Courts. By August of 2022, this plan had resulted in an overall reduction of well over 1,000 cases in the pending gun case inventories in these courts, notwithstanding over 2,400 new Top Count Gun cases entering the NYC Court System. Additionally, under his leadership, Queens Supreme Court went from infrequent jury trials to as many as ten per day. Grasso also took a lead role in creating a groundbreaking diversion part (QDP) to apply restorative justice principles to felony firearms possession cases for select cases involving defendants between the ages of 18 and 24 years old.
Grasso retired from the Queens Supreme Court on August 31, 2022. He is an avid runner who has completed the NYC Marathon eight times, most recently in 2021 with his younger son, Joseph. Grasso lives with his wife of 40 years, Regina, in the same Queens home in which they raised their two sons.