Feature
QUEENS ASSISTANT DA
posthumously honored with
prestigious Dewey Award
BY BILL PARRY
A long-time fixture at the Queens
district attorney’s office was hon-ored
posthumously by its leader
last week.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced that
the Thomas E. Dewey Medal was awarded to the late
Queens Assistant District Attorney James W. Evangelou,
who died suddenly in September after a brief illness.
The Thomas E. Dewey Medal is awarded each
year by the Association of the Bar of the City of
36 DECEMBER 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
New York to an outstanding assistant district at-torney
in each of the city’s five District Attorney
offices and in the Office of the City’s Special
Narcotics Prosecutor.
Bureau Chief Evangelou was posthumously be-stowed
this honor at a ceremony at the Association’s
headquarters on Dec. 4. The award presentation was
attended by many of his friends and colleagues and
was accepted on his behalf by Senior Executive As-sistant
District Attorney James C. Quinn.
“ADA Evangelou was our long-time chief of my
Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau,” Brown said. “He
was a hard-working, dedicated prosecutor. I am very
pleased this esteemed honor is being awarded to him.”
Evangelou joined the district attorney’s office in
1981 as part of the Special Victims Bureau, where
he tried major felonies and homicides. He was pro-moted
to Deputy Chief of the then-newly formed
Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau in 1992 and
eight years later he was promoted to Bureau Chief
where he trained scores of the office’s best assistants,
many of whom became homicide trial assistants and
managers in the office.
Brown said Evangelou was not only an experienced
prosecutor and a consummate professional, but he
was an all-around special person best known for his
humble and congenial nature and his dedication to
the office.
Evangelou’s contributions to the office, his un-wavering
passion for the law and his dedication to
achieving justice makes him more than worthy of this
honor, Brown added.
Among New York City prosecutors, Dewey is re-membered
as having ushered in the era in which District
Attorneys offices have been staffed by professional
prosecutors chosen on merit rather than through
political patronage. Dewey first came to the public’s
attention as a prosecutor in the 1930s, instituting
successful criminal proceedings against gangsters,
bootleggers and organized crime figures of the day.
By 1937, Dewey was elected District Attorney for
New York County, where he served one term before
resigning to run for governor. He would go on to serve
three terms as New York’s chief executive.
Photo courtesy of Queens DA's office
/www.qns.com
