John E. Sprizzo

John Emilio Sprizzo (December 23, 1934 – December 16, 2008) was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Sprizzo was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father was a milkman and his mother cut patterns for dresses. He attended St. John's University in Queens, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956 and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws from St. John's University School of Law in 1959.

He was an attorney in the Organized Crime Section of the Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice from 1959 to 1963. Sprizzo was an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the Southern District of New York from 1963 to 1968, rising to Chief appellate attorney in 1965 and Assistant chief of the Criminal Division in 1966. He taught at the Fordham University School of Law from 1968 to 1972. In 1970, he went into private practice at the New York firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, where he helped establish the firm's litigation department.

Sprizzo had served on the Knapp Commission in 1971, responsible for investigating corruption in the New York City Police Department. In 1973 and 1974, he had been a defense counsel to John N. Mitchell, the former United States Attorney General, successfully defending him against conspiracy and perjury charges related to Mitchell's alleged involvement in the Watergate scandal.