The Districts: Stories of Crime and Justice from the Federal Courts

“Told in the kind of pointillist detail that can only come from years of hanging around the courthouse and doing old-school shoe-leather reporting.” —Patrick Radden Keefe, author of The Rosenbergs, Rudy Giuliani, Bernie Madoff, James Comey, John Gotti, Preet Bharara, and El Chapo are just a few of the figures to have appeared before the courts in the Southern and Eastern District of New York—the two federal courts tasked with maintaining order in New York City. These two epicenters of power in our justice system have become proving grounds for ambitious prosecutors who turn their service in government into power, position, and, in some cases, celebrity. These attorneys don’t hope for victory in court; they expect it. In , Johnny Dwyer takes us not just into the courtrooms but also into the lives of the judges and defendants, prosecutors and defense counsels, and winners and losers who people the courts. An unprecedented look at New York City’s federal court system that exposes the incentives driving how America chooses to punish crime—and what those choices reveal about our politics and our society— paints a revelatory picture of how our justice system, and the pursuit of justice, really works.