S. Samuel DiFalco

Who was S. Samuel DiFalco?

S. Samuel DiFalco was a New York Supreme Court Justice and surrogate court judge.

Born in Italy, DiFalco was a Democrat who attempted a run for State Assembly in 1935. He became a justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1949, and was later elected to New York surrogate court. DiFalco was a member of Tammany Hall. In the 1967 constitutional convention, DiFalco successfully opposed an effort to abolish the surrogate court and merge its jurisdiction into the state supreme court. In May 1976, he was indicted along with Justice Irving H. Saypol on official misconduct charges in an alleged scheme to obtain appraisal and auction commission funds for Saypol's son; the charges were dismissed. In February 1978, DiFalco was again indicted, this time for criminal contempt in connection with stating to a grand jury that he could not remember having spoken to an assistant about arranging favorable rulings for his son's law firm. DiFalco died of a sudden heart attack at age 71 while dining with friends at the Columbus Club in Manhattan, before the case went to trial. He is interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY.