2. Thomas Spota

Although Suffolk’s relatively new district attorney may have been a little embarrassed by having 10 indictments of medical fraud thrown out recently, it’s one small setback in a string of dramatic victories. Last year, he tackled both medical and auto- motive insurance fraud and “massage” parlors, and is investigating corruption in Riverhead and Brookhaven. By impaneling a Suffolk grand jury on pedophile priests and making public its report, his power even reached into Nassau County.