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Nicholas Scoppetta papers

Call Number

MS 3017

Date

1974-2015, inclusive

Creator

Scoppetta, Nicholas, 1932-2016

Extent

10 Linear feet (10 record cartons and 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

Personal files of New York City public official and educator Nicholas Scoppetta (1932–2016), who served as Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York (1972–1977), Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice (1976–1978), Professor at New York University School of Law (1978–1982), President of the Board of Trustees, Children's Aid Society (1987–1993), Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services (1996-2001), and 31st Commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (2002–2009). Includes some photographs and memorabilia.

Biographical/Historical Note

Nicholas Scoppetta was born on 6 November 1932 in Manhattan to Italian immigrants Dominick and Margaret (Rubino) Scoppetta. Dominick was a struggling vegetable merchant and dock worker. In 1937 Margaret was arrested for forging a signature on a welfare check. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor petty larceny charge and was sentenced to 90 days' detention. Because of this the three youngest Scoppetta sons, including Nicholas, age five, were removed from the household and placed in foster care. The boys were reunited at Woodycrest, a Bronx orphanage run by the American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless. Nicholas returned to his parents at age twelve, and graduated from Seward Park High School in 1950. His later studies at City College were interrupted by the Korean War. After the Army he attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1958 with a degree in civil engineering.

Back in New York Scoppetta worked by day for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (the same agency that placed him in foster care) and attended Brooklyn Law School by night. He graduated in 1962 and was admitted to the New York State Bar that year. Shortly after, he was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in New York County by District Attorney Frank Hogan. He served in the Manhattan D.A.'s Office until 1969, when he became Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

In 1971 Mayor John Lindsay appointed Scoppetta Associate Counsel to the Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption (a.k.a. the Knapp Commission), which issued its report in 1972. On 1 December Lindsay named Scoppetta Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York, an appointment renewed by Lindsay's successor, Abraham Beame, in 1974.

On 1 August 1974 New York City Controller Harrison J. Goldin accused Scoppetta of "instructing" a civil servant to enter false information on the Controller's books to deceive auditors. Scoppetta was cleared of any wrongdoing by New York State Special Prosecutor Maurice H. Nadjari.

On 6 December 1976 Mayor Beame named Scoppetta to the newly created post of Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice, a post he held concurrently as Commissioner of Investigation until 5 January 1978, when he was relieved by incoming Mayor Ed Koch.

After leaving public service Scoppetta joined the faculty of New York University School of Law as Director of the Institute of Judicial Administration. As Professor of Law he taught a seminar, "The Administration of Criminal Justice," between 1979 and 1982.

In 1980 Scoppetta cofounded with Eric A. Seiff (a colleague from the Manhattan D.A.'s Office) the law firm of Scoppetta & Seiff (now called Seiff Kretz & Abercrombie), and practiced law there privately until his return to public service in 1996.

On 11 January 1996, in the wake of the murder of Elisa Izquierdo (1989-1995) by her mother and allegations that caseworkers at New York's Child Welfare Administration missed multiple opportunities to save her, Mayor Rudy Giuliani created the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) and appointed Scoppetta its first commissioner. Scoppetta held that position until 31 December 2001.

On 1 January 2002 Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Scoppetta as 31st Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department. As the first commissioner after 9/11, much of Scoppetta's time was spent attending memorial services for the 343 firefighters who died in the attacks, and developing methods to address—and avoid—future tragedies. He was succeeded by Salvatore Cassano on 1 January 2010.

Throughout his long and varied career child welfare remained at the heart of Scoppetta's activities. He served on the board of the Children's Aid Society for sixteen years (and as its president between 1987 and 1993). In 1996 he founded New Yorkers for Children, the non-profit partner to the ACS. To honor his dedication, the ACS Children's Center at 492 First Avenue, Manhattan, was renamed the Nicholas Scoppetta Children's Center in 2013.

In 1963 Scoppetta married Susan Kessell, a social worker, with whom he had two children, Andrea and Eric. He died on 24 March 2016 at age 83, in hospice at Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan, next to the Nicholas Scoppetta Children's Center.

[This biography is drawn from the obituaries for Nicholas Scoppetta in the New York Times (26 March 2016) and New York Daily News (25 March 2016) and from his Wikipedia entry.]

Arrangement

The collection is organized in four series with the following subdivisions:

Series I. Criminal Justice, 1974-2015 (bulk, 1978-1982)
Subseries I.A. Criminal Justice: General, 1974-2015
Subseries I.B. Criminal Justice: Teaching Material, 1978-1982
Subseries I.C. Criminal Justice: Printed Material, 1941-2000

Series II. Child Welfare, 1988-2014 (bulk, 1988-2008)
Subseries II.A. Child Welfare: General, 1988-2014
Subseries II.B. Child Welfare: Printed Material, 1982-2012
Subseries II.C. Child Welfare: Audiovisual, 1996-2002

Series III. FDNY, 2001-2015 (bulk, 2002-2009)
Subseries III.A. FDNY: General, 2001-2015
Subseries III.B. FDNY: Audiovisual, 2002-2009

Series IV. Memorabilia, 1970s-circa 2009 (bulk, 2002-2009)
Subseries IV.A. Memorabilia: Photographs and awards, 1970s-2001
Subseries IV.B. Memorabilia: Political and lapel pins, commemorative medals, etc., 1978-2009

Material is sorted chronologically throughout each series and subseries, except for those groups of folders that were originally housed in accordion files. These files (among the few that Scoppetta labeled with any consistency) come at the end of the "General" subdivisions (see the container lists for Subseries I.A, II.A, and III.A, below). Labels have been transcribed as found, with clarification added in brackets.

All audiovisual material (for which N-YHS lacks playback equipment) is housed in Boxes 9 and 10.

Scope and Contents

Nicholas Scoppetta kept these files from each of his significant career roles over the last forty-odd years of his working life: Commissioner of Investigation for the City of New York (1972–1977), Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice (1976–1978), Professor at New York University School of Law (1978–1982), Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services (1996-2001), and 31st Commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (2002–2009). Also present is material from his long association with the Children's Aid Society, and from New Yorkers for Children, the non-profit arm of the Administration for Children's Services he founded in 1996.

Note that these appear to be Scoppetta's personal files, not his official working documents (which are likely still housed with their respective agencies), and so provide spotty coverage of his myriad duties. The researcher interested in a specific activity or event in Scoppetta's career should consult the chronological arrangement of the series described below to determine where information is likely to be found.

Much of the collection is printed matter: press releases and digests, internal memos, e-mail printouts, funeral and dedicatory programs, annual reports, conference proceedings, course readings, and so on. A number of Scoppetta's speeches and addresses, in draft and finished form—some with manuscript emendations—are scattered throughout. There is very little correspondence.

The collection includes a large amount of audiovisual material—VHS tapes, audiocassettes, CDs and DVDs—most of it on the theme of child welfare (see Subseries II.C in the container list, below).

Memorabilia in the form of photographs (of Scoppetta with significant figures like Mayor Abraham Beame and First Lady Barbara Bush), awards (including one signed by Hillary Rodham Clinton as United States Senator from New York), political pins (e.g., "NICK SCOPPETTA FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL" from his unsuccessful 1978 bid for that office), and lapel pins (many with post-9/11 sentiments) rounds out the collection (see Series IV in the container list, below).

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers EXCEPT for Box 6, Folder 12, which is RESTRICTED until 2070 because it contains confidential material on the murder of Elisa Izquierdo.

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Nicholas Scoppetta Papers, MS 3017, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Susan Scoppetta, widow of Nicholas Scoppetta, 2016.

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:07 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Processed by archivist Joseph Ditta, April-May 2017.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024