Nicholas Scoppetta, who served in top city government posts spanning six decades and four mayors, has died.
Scoppetta, 83, served as the city’s fire commissioner just months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
He had the formidable task of rebuilding an agency that lost 343 firefighters. Scoppetta previously was commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Earlier, he headed the Department of Investigation under both Mayors John Lindsay and Abe Beame.
A talented prosecutor and lawyer, Scoppetta also served as counsel to the Commission to Investigate Police Corruption, also known as the Knapp Commission, in 1971.
Scoppetta persuaded NYPD Detective Robert Leuci to cooperate in the probe and the case was famously featured in the book and movie “Prince of the City.”
Scoppetta’s career in law enforcement included serving as assistant US attorney in Manhattan and as deputy counsel in the Watergate investigation of President Richard Nixon.
Scoppetta started public service as an investigator for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and later became a prosecutor under Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan.