27. Joseph Mondello

When it comes to Nassau Republican royalty, Joseph Mondello is the crowned king. His ability to pull the levers of power and get the GOP machine into high gear is a thing of beauty—if you’re not on the losing end, as so many hapless Democrats have found the hard way when Mondello crushed their hubris flatter than roadkill on Hempstead Turnpike. Mondello’s own political career has taken him to Albany, where he reigned as state senator and state Republican chairman before returning to Nassau, where his party’s hold on the county executive office and the legislature can sometimes seem, to the uninitiated, as inherited. Sure, Democrats come and go, but Mondello remains. He has been the undisputed party boss for more than three decades, dispensing favors, dispatching foes, and defending the status quo as he sees fit. When he’s not reigning supreme, he serves of counsel to the Garden City law firm of Berkman, Henoch, Peterson and Peddy. This Hofstra grad is also an honorary chief of the Levittown Fire Department, which makes sense, because when it comes to climbing the ladder of success, he’s at the top rung.