Page 9 - 2022 OAD First Monday Journal

2022 MILTON S. GOULD AWARD FOR

OUTSTANDING ORAL ADVOCACY

ANTHONY L. RICCO

Anthony L. Ricco, a past President of the New York Criminal Bar Association, specializes in state and
federal criminal defense litigation, particularly capital defense litigation. Over the past 28 years, Mr.
Ricco has represented over 60 defendants in federal death penalty prosecutions throughout our country
and has tried two federal capital cases to life verdicts. Mr. Ricco is a member of the Federal Death
Penalty Resource Counsel Project and has served on the faculty of the Bryan R. Schechmeister Death
Penalty College at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, an instructor at the Capital Case Defense
Seminar, hosted by the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the California Public Defenders
Association, and an Adjunct Professor teaching trial advocacy at the Fordham University School of Law.
Mr. Ricco lectures frequently on the topic of defending capital murder cases.

Throughout his career, Mr. Ricco has received many professional recognitions and honors, including
his induction as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers; a recipient of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award; the
New York State Bar Association Outstanding Criminal Defense Attorney Award; the Metropolitan Black
Bar Association Attorney of the Year Award and the Hon. Thurgood S. Marshall Award for Outstanding
Criminal Practitioner by the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Mr. Ricco is a son of Harlem, born and raised on 8th Avenue. Mr. Ricco was awarded a Malcolm X
scholarship, attended and graduated from Adelphi University in 1978, and later Northeastern University
School of Law in 1981. In recognition of his lifetime commitment the Harlem community honored him at
the 2019 Harlem Honors Awards Ceremony.

Mr. Ricco has been married to the love of life, his bride of 36 years, Ayanna D. Ricco. Together they raised
their children in Harlem, where they continue to reside.

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