Former Suffolk Sheriff DeMarco approved as LI's federal marshal

Former Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco was approved by the U.S. Senate Thursday to be the United States Marshal for the Eastern District, according to Senate records and several sources.

DeMarco, a member of the Conservative Party, served three terms as county sheriff, but decided not to run for a fourth term in 2017 when he lost his party’s support after testifying for the government at the fraud trial of then-Suffolk County Conservative Party chairman Ed Walsh.

Walsh, who was also a lieutenant in the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department, was convicted of golfing, gambling and politicking while supposedly on duty.

The Eastern District includes Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

Federal marshals, storied in tales of the Old West, have varied roles in the Eastern District, including protecting the federal courthouses in Central Islip and Brooklyn, transporting prisoners, tracking down fugitives, running the witness security program, and seizing illegally acquired property.

DeMarco, who had run with the cross-endorsement of other political parties. was nominated to the four-year term as marshal by President Donald Trump with the support of Suffolk County Republican chairman John Jay LaValle, and Republican representatives Lee Zeldin and Peter King.

DeMarco came to the attention of Trump when he visited Brentwood in 2017 to underscore the fight against the MS-13 street gang.

Afterward, Trump tweeted twice about DeMarco’s comments on the visit on the cable show “Fox and Friends: “No doubt about it. For the past eight years, cops have been made to feel like they were the problem, and they’re really the solution, and President Donald Trump has stood behind them.”

Reached by telephone, DeMarco declined to comment.

By Robert E. Kessler

Robert.Kessler@newsday.com

Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.