Who

Mobsters, murderers, and molesters have all found a friend in defense attorney Joseph Tacopina.

Backstory

Tacopina was born and raised in Sheepshead Bay and wrestled as a Poly Prep high school student. He set his sights on a law career while at Skidmore—he says the true crime novel Fatal Vision inspired him—and after graduating from the University of Bridgeport's law school, he landed a gig assisting Bruce Cutler (a fellow Poly Prep alum) on the Gotti murder trial of 1992. Cutler was soon kicked off the case, and Tacopina headed off to become an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn. In 1995 he went into private practice, although he didn't do so with a long list of clients in hand. (He says he worked a night job checking coats at a hotel for a spell to pay the bills.) Tacopina's career took off when he got involved in the "Morgue Boys" trial, in which three Brooklyn cops were accused of stealing cash and drugs while on duty. Since then, Tacopina has represented a bunch of cops-gone-bad, including Thomas Wiese, who was accused in the assault on Abner Louima, and former police officer Anthony Vasquez, who shot an unarmed man named Patrick Dorismond during a scuffle.

Of note

Like any big shot defense lawyer, Tacopina is fond of the spotlight. In recent years, he's defended Foxy Brown (after she was charged with assaulting a nail salon employee), the family of the late Imette St. Guillen (the girl killed by the bouncer of a SoHo bar), Sopranos bit actor Lillo Brancato (accused of killing a Bronx cop), and Bernard Kerik (who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes when he was police commissioner). Other famous clients include Joran van der Sloot (of Natalie Holloway fame), Jared Paul Stern (the Page Six writer accused of extorting billionaire Ron Burkle), and two longtime employees of Michael Jackson who testified in the singer's child molestation case. Given his client roster, it's no surprise that Tacopina can be seen and heard regularly on cable news shows on Fox News, CNN, and Court TV.

Personal

His gift for gab has proved useful out of the courtroom. Tacopina made a move on his now-wife Tish MacDonald when she was engaged to another man. He pleaded for a 60-minute date, during which he broke into her Mazda to leave her a rose and love note. The self-described "Brooklyn tactic" initially put MacDonald off, she says, and yet just seven weeks after their first date, they were engaged. The couple lives in Westport, Conn. with five children, four dogs and a bird.

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