Crime-Busting DA Bureau Chief Robert Ferrari Dies at 57; Remembered by Colleagues, Family

Longtime DA bureau chief Robert Ferrari, who tried or supervised hundreds of cases involving murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, and other serious crimes, passed away of a heart attack on Feb. 9 at his home on the East Side of Manhattan.

”Rob’s death is a tragic loss that will have a profound impact on the entire office,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who broke the news to stunned staffers in an email on Feb. 10. “Among so many other great qualities, he was kind, thoughtful, funny, and patient.

”I saw these qualities on full display just this weekend in ECAB [Early Case Assessment Bureau] where Rob was teaching and mentoring and administering justice—in other words, just being Rob,” Bragg said.

”We will deeply miss him,” Bragg said. “I extend my condolences to all of you.”

Ferrari married Nanci Ferrari in 1996 and they raised four boys, Matthew, Kevin, Brian and Peter, in the same apartment where Robert grew up. He had a vast network of friends in Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, and East Midtown Plaza. He and Nanci were married for 25 years before divorcing but remained close even after they split. All six family members always celebrated their boys’ birthdays together, Nanci Ferrari said and he took great pride in his sons.

”He devoted his life to public service and the community where he was born,” said Niki Blumberg, who started at the DA’s office the same day as Ferrari, Sept. 8, 1998. “He always put the needs of others before himself,” she said. “He was truly one of a kind and will remain in our hearts forever.”

Shanda Strain, another longtime colleague, coordinated the naming of a park bench in the Collect Pond Park across from the Manhattan Supreme Court House in lower Manhattan in his honor. “There is a gaping hole in our hearts and in our office and in all of our lives,” Strain said. “He was one of the smartest people I’ve ever had the privilege to know,” she said, “but he was also a friend who always made me laugh because his wit was entirely on a different level.”

”He was one of a kind because of his compassion, intelligence, sense of humor, integrity, and ability to relate to everyone,” agreed Blumberg. “He was the greatest friend you could ever ask for and an unparalleled leader,” she said. He was promoted to deputy bureau in 2007 and elevated to one of the six bureau chiefs in Feb. 2016, supervising about 75 people including other prosecutors and staffers.

Blumberg said that his kindness and patience showed through whether it was mentoring up-and-coming lawyers in the district attorney’s office or consoling the families of murder victims or victims of sexual assault.

In his 26-year career, he had prosecuted or supervised other prosecutors on some of the most notorious crimes in Manhattan.

“He was one of the only bureau chiefs who still prosecuted cases after he was promoted,” noted another colleague, Rick Costello.

Sources said one of his last big case as lead prosecutor involved the double homicide conviction of a defendant nabbed for killing two people and seriously injuring a third during a candlelight vigil at the Jefferson Houses. He also successfully prosecuted a serial sex offender who in a two-week span broke into apartments and raped two women in the East Village. He also obtained a conviction against a suspect who attacked, stabbed, and strangled his girlfriend in the Inwood section of northern Manhattan as she walked from a laundromat back to her apartment, accompanied by her son.

Ferrari was one of five siblings, the third child and first son of Robert V. Ferrari, who predeceased him, and Patricia Ferrari.

His surviving siblings and their spouses are Lisa Ferrari (Kannan Sundaram) Christina Ferrari (Dan Varrichione), Rachel Ferrari (Anthony Scarzafava), and Michael Ferrari (Karin Riedl).

A wake is slated for Provenzano Lanza Funeral Home, 43 Second Ave. on Feb. 20 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. at Epiphany Roman Catholic Church, 375 Second Ave.

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