DARREN ALBANESE

In this role, Albanese oversees the overall frontline operations of the office. This includes the Criminal Court Division, which is made up of court operations, institutional assignments, arrest intake, and the handling of all misdemeanor and unindicted cases in the office. ADA Albanese is also in charge of the office’s professional development and training apparatus. This includes extensive training of new hires as well as continuing legal education for experienced attorneys in critical areas of the law such as Speedy Trial, Grand Jury Practice, and Trial Advocacy. Albanese also played a role in the Office’s advocacy for needed changes to recently enacted Bail and Discovery Reforms. Albanese represents the Office with stakeholders from both city and state agencies, including the NYPD, various mayoral agencies, as well as the District Attorney’s Association of the State of New York (DAASNY.)

Albanese joined RCDA in March 2017 as Deputy Bureau Chief in the Domestic Violence Bureau. In that role, Albanese was responsible for both the supervision of junior ADAs as well as managing a caseload, handling some of the most serious felony matters handled by the Bureau. In August 2019, Albanese was appointed as Bureau Chief of the Criminal Court Division, before eventually being appointed to his current role earlier this year.

Albanese started his career as a prosecutor in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office (KCDA) in 2006. During that time, Albanese prosecuted a wide array of crimes including felony assaults, shootings, stabbings, felony narcotics cases, and felony vehicular crimes. In 2012, as a Senior Trial Attorney, Albanese was appointed to the Sex Crimes Bureau, where he handled dozens of felony sex offenses. In total, Albanese has tried over thirty (30) felony cases, and has used that experience in the training he now coordinates for RCDA.

After leaving KCDA in March 2015, Albanese became the inaugural Executive Director at the Staten Island Family Justice Center (FJC), working for the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence. Staten Island was the last borough in NYC to receive an FJC, an invaluable resource which provides criminal justice, civil legal, and social services all under one roof, for victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, and sex trafficking. As Executive Director, Albanese oversaw all aspects of the Center, from program management, to center operations, to community engagement. Albanese remained entrenched in the criminal justice system, working with RCDA, the NYPD, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and other city and non-profit stakeholders to ensure that victims received wraparound services.

Albanese earned his B.A. in 2002 from Rutgers University, and his Juris Doctorate from the Quinnipiac University School of Law, where he graduated with honors with a Criminal Law & Advocacy Concentration and received Distinguished Academic Achievement awards in both Advanced Constitutional Law and Ethics & the Criminal Justice System. Albanese was president & Executive Director of the Law & Politics Society, and was a member of the Mock Trial Honor Society and Criminal Law Society.