United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York

The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York (Manhattan) and Bronx, and the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases, including but not limited to those involving white collar crime, domestic terrorism, cybercrime, public corruption, organized crime, and civil rights disputes.

The Southern District has earned itself the moniker the "Sovereign District of New York". Its resources, culture, and accompanying FBI field office have given the SDNY a reputation for being exceptionally aggressive in its pursuit of criminals. Due to its jurisdiction over the New York City borough of Manhattan, the preeminent financial center of the United States of America, the office's incumbent is often nicknamed the "Sheriff of Wall Street".

, the United States attorney is Damian Williams.

Organization
The office is organized into two divisions handling civil and criminal matters. The Southern District of New York also has two offices: in Manhattan and White Plains. The office employs approximately 220 assistant U.S. attorneys.

List of U.S. attorneys
In 1814, the District of New York was divided into the Northern and the Southern District.

Notable assistants

 * Michael F. Armstrong, lawyer
 * Bob Arum, boxing promoter
 * Neil Barofsky, special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program
 * Bernard Bell, professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark
 * Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey
 * Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for President in 1944 and 1948
 * Eddie Eagan, former Olympic athlete
 * Louis Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * Patrick Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
 * Felix Frankfurter, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
 * John Marshall Harlan II, associate justice, Supreme Court of the United States
 * Elie Honig, lawyer and CNN Senior Legal Analyst
 * Arthur L. Liman, criminal defense attorney
 * Robert J. McGuire, former New York City Police Commissioner
 * Michael Mukasey, former United States Attorney General
 * Thomas Francis Murphy, federal prosecutor and judge in New York City; prosecutor in the two perjury trials of Alger Hiss
 * Mary Grace Quackenbos, first woman to hold this post in the United States
 * Charles Rangel, U.S. Representative from Harlem
 * Henry Dwight Sedgwick, lawyer and author
 * Franklin A. Thomas, former director of the Ford Foundation
 * Maya Wiley (born 1964), civil rights activist and lawyer, 2021 mayoral candidate for New York City

Television
The Showtime drama series Billions is loosely based on Preet Bharara's prosecution of SAC Capital and other hedge funds.

The ABC legal drama For the People depicts new defense attorneys and prosecutors working in the Southern District of New York.

The 2020 Netflix series Fear City: New York vs The Mafia documents the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York against the Five Families of the Italian American Mafia in the 1980s.