Dominick L. DiCarlo

Dominick Leonard DiCarlo (1928–1999) was a member of the New York State Assembly, 1965–81; Ronald Reagan's first Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, 1981–84; and a United States federal judge, 1984-1999. His son Robert DiCarlo served as a New York State Senator from 1993-1997.

Biography

Dominick L. DiCarlo was born in Brooklyn on March 11, 1928 and raised in the Bay Ridge neighborhood. He was educated at St. John's College, receiving a B.A. in 1950. He then attended the St. John's University School of Law, graduating with an LL.B. in 1953. He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1954. He completed his education at the New York University School of Law, receiving an LL.M. in 1957.

A practicing attorney since 1954, in 1959 he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. In this capacity, in 1960 he became Chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. He left the United States Department of Justice in 1962. From 1962 to 1965, he was counsel to the minority leader of the New York City Council.

In 1965, DiCarlo was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican. He would serve in the New York State Assembly until 1981. In 1969-70, he was vice chairman of the New York Joint Legislative Committee on Crime; from 1971 to 1974, he chaired the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Codes and was an ex officio member of the New York Law Revision Commission and the Judicial Conference of the State of New York; and in 1972-73, he was vice chairman of the Select Committee on Correctional Institutions and Programs which was appointed in the wake of the Attica Prison riot. In 1973, he was the only Republican in the New York State Assembly who voted against the Rockefeller drug laws. From 1975 to 1978, he was deputy minority leader of the New York State Assembly.

In July 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced his intention to nominate DiCarlo as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters. Following Senate confirmation, DiCarlo held this office from September 25, 1981 until July 13, 1984. He spent much of his time in office trying to persuade foreign leaders to supplant fields of opium poppies with other crops.

On May 25, 1984, President Reagan nominated DiCarlo to replace Bernard Newman as a judge on the United States Court of International Trade; he was confirmed by the Senate and received his commission on June 11. President George H. W. Bush promoted DiCarlo to chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade, a position he held until October 31, 1996, at which time he assumed senior status.

DiCarlo died on April 27, 1999 after suffering a heart attack while exercising in the gym at the James L. Watson Court of International Trade Building. He was 71 years old.

The Annual DiCarlo Lecture in International Law at John Marshall Law School is named in his honor.

References

• DiCarlo, Robert J.
• President Reagan's Nomination of DiCarlo as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters
• Nick Ravo, "Judge Dominick L. DiCarlo, 71, Narcotics Fighter Under Reagan", New York Times, Apr. 30, 1999

• Dominick L. DiCarlo at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.