Thomas J. Spota III was the District Attorney of Suffolk County, New York, serving from 2002 to late 2017. During this period, Spota was inducted into the Long Island Press Power List Hall of Fame in 2009, having been named to the Power List at least five times. Spota resigned November 10, 2017, after he was indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice in the investigation of Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke. Spota was subsequently found guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison. Spota was disbarred on June 10th, 2020.
After passing the bar, Spota worked as an assistant prosecutor under Suffolk County District Attorney Patrick Henry, during the 1970s and early 1980s. He entered private law practice in Suffolk, representing clients including the Suffolk Detectives Association and other law enforcement unions.
In 2001 Republican-turned-Democrat Spota ran for District Attorney, and defeated three-time incumbent James M. Catterson Jr in November 2001, taking 58% of the vote. That year in Nassau County, Democrats also were victorious in many positions. He was reelected in 2005, and again in 2009 without any major-party opposition. Spota has been active in the fight against the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. In 2003, Spota indicted twelve Suffolk residents who used KaZaA, a file-sharing program to spread child pornography. Spota was called to testify before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 9, 2003 at a hearing concerning "Pornography, Technology, and Process: Problems and Solutions on Peer-to-Peer Networks." Spota recommended a new federal task force and said that legislation was needed to "attack the owners and the distributors of these programs, who are reaping enormous profits." From December 2010, his office oversaw the investigation of numerous homicides in Suffolk County, believed to have been perpetrated by a single unidentified person, known as the Long Island serial killer, or LISK. The remains of at least ten persons have been found on South Shore beaches, and are believed to be related. The open homicide investigation is still underway. Among the successful cases prosecuted by his office was the conviction in May 2017 of John Bittrolff, a Manorville carpenter charged with the homicides of prostitutes Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee, whose bodies were found on area South Shore beaches in 1993 and 1994, respectively.
Controversy
In May 2013 the FBI and the US Attorney's Office opened an investigation into alleged actions by James Burke, Chief of the Suffolk County Police Department: the alleged assault of a suspect in police custody, a subsequent cover-up, and coercion of witnesses. The former chief pleaded guilty to reduced charges in February 2016. The federal inquiry subsequently expanded beyond Burke to investigate a broader pattern of corruption in both the police department and the office of the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas J. Spota. In October 2017, Spota and an aide were indicted on charges of obstructing the investigation of James Burke for police brutality. Spota resigned from office on November 10, 2017. He was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and conspiracy charges in December 2019 and disbarred in June 2020
