On August 6, 1935, Eunice Carter was appointed the first black female assistant district attorney in the city's history. She developed a strategy to convict mob boss Lucky Luciano of racketeering in prostitution and convinced special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, then a young lawyer, to lead the fight against him. Luciano was convicted and served ten years before being deported. His biographer, Tim Newark, described the case as, "a land-mark in legal history as it was the first against a major organized crime figure for anything other than tax evasion."
Dewey received enormous acclaim for his successful prosecution, which he later used to propel himself into politics. But it was Carter's strategy and perseverance that really won the case.
Photo: Herb Breuer for the NY Daily News via Getty Images















