Joe Ferriero

Joseph A. Ferriero (born June 25, 1957) is an American Democratic Party political leader from New Jersey and former chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization.

Ferriero, an attorney by profession, resides in Hackensack.

Ferriero was born on June 25, 1957, in Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, New Jersey, to Joseph and Lucille Ferriero.

His father was a factory worker.

In 1977, Ferriero ran for Borough Councilman, and was the top vote getter.

An incumbent Democrat Fred Lucas was defeated.

He won election to the Borough Council with Richard Moloney, the incumbent who placed first in the June primary.

Ferriero was the youngest elected Councilman in Dumont history.

Ferriero graduated from Hofstra with a Juris Doctor in 1982.

While in college, Ferriero was elected a county committeeman, representing District 6 of Dumont.

At the age of 18 years, Ferriero was the youngest county committeeman in Dumont's history.

Ferriero was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1982, and continued on with Galantucci & Patuto as an associate.

He would later be appointed to the bars of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1982), the District of Columbia (1988), the State of New York (1994) and the United States Supreme Court (1988).

Ferriero merged his law firm with Wolf & Samson becoming a partner of that firm.

Ferriero started his own law firm in 1984 building his practice to 14 employees.

In March 1985 at age 28 Ferriero ran as a Democrat for the State Assembly in the 39th Legislative District in a special election against Elizabeth "Lisa" Randall.

Ferriero was defeated by Randall.

In November 1985, Ferriero again ran unsuccessfully for the State Assembly in the 39th District.

Ferriero is the father of three teenaged children – Joseph age 17 (c. 1992) and twins Christopher and Sophia age 14 (c. 1995).

In 1996, Lucille succumbed to Lou Gehrig's disease.

Ferriero has three siblings: Rosemary, Carol (deceased) and Barbara.

From the time he was three years old, young Ferriero was the mascot of Hose Company #3, where his father served as a volunteer firefighter.

At the age of 16, Ferriero himself joined the Dumont Fire Patrol, eventually joining the Dumont Volunteer Fire Department after he turned 18 and worked his way up to the rank of captain.

Heleft Wolf & Sampson in 2002.

Ferriero's portfolio included complex personal injury litigation, medical malpractice litigation, professional negligence, municipal administrative law, commercial litigation, land use/zoning law, and employment and environmental law.

Ferriero is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Bar Association.

He has also been appointed to serve as a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.

As Bergen County Democratic Chairman, Ferriero is credited with revitalizing a political party that had not won a county wide election in over 14 years.

Prior to Ferriero's leadership the Republican Party had complete control of County Government.

Within only a few years Ferriero led the Democratic party to control of County Government and is credited with being the architect that led to the first Democrat being elected County Executive.

In September 2008, Ferriero and an associate, Dennis Oury, were indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Ferriero is also an avid runner, running the 2008 New York City Marathon in 4 hours, 30 minutes.

Ferriero's eldest son, Joseph, joined Ferriero for the final ten miles.

After high school, Ferriero attended Fordham University in The Bronx.

Ferriero graduated with a B.A. in Political Science, Economics and Public Administration.

Ferriero went on to attend Hofstra University School of Law in Hempstead, New York.

On October 22, 2009, he was found guilty on three of the eight counts against him.

On July 29, 2010 Ferriero's conviction was vacated by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, citing a recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court narrowing the scope of " honest services fraud".

Judge Chesler added "what Mr. Ferriero had been charged with is not considered a crime".

However, in 2013, a federal grand jury once again indicted Joe Ferriero again on charges of bribery, kickback and shakedown schemes, including a plot to extort $1.7 million from a prior developer of the New Jersey Meadowlands retail and entertainment project now known as American Dream Meadowlands.