Joel Violanti
Acting United States Attorney // Western District of New York
On February 18, 2025, Joel L. Violanti was appointed Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of New York (WDNY), where he serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer. He leads an office of approximately 120 federal prosecutors and staff across Buffalo and Rochester.
Mr. Violanti began his career with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in February 1995 as an Assistant United States Attorney in the General Crimes Division. There, he prosecuted a wide range of federal offenses, including wire fraud, immigration violations, mail fraud, bank fraud, international smuggling, and telemarketing crimes.
In June 2000, Mr. Violanti became the Project Exile Coordinator, overseeing a national initiative focused on prosecuting federal firearm offenses. He played a key role in coordinating the adoption of state firearm arrests for federal prosecution and led community outreach efforts for the project.
In July 2005, he joined the Narcotics and Violent Crimes Division, where he focused on prosecuting large-scale drug conspiracies and gang-related RICO cases.
In January 2018, Mr. Violanti was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel, where he supported Assistant U.S. Attorneys in case preparation and presentation while coordinating office-wide training efforts.
In August 2023, he became Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Section, supervising about 12 Criminal Assistant U.S. Attorneys investigating and prosecuting cases involving drug distribution, gang-related RICO offenses, sex trafficking, and firearms crimes.
In January 2025, Mr. Violanti was appointed First Assistant United States Attorney.
Throughout his career, Mr. Violanti has been involved in high-profile cases, including serving as co-counsel in U.S. v. Richard Wilbern and U.S. v. Ronald Epps. In Wilbern’s case, he was convicted for the armed robbery and murder of Raymond Batzel at the Xerox Federal Credit Union in Rochester in 2003, and sentenced to life in prison. Epps was convicted for the murder of his fiancée, Angela Moss, in 2009 to collect her life insurance, and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Violanti was an Assistant District Attorney in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office from 1990 to 1995.
Mr. Violanti earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1986, and his Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, in May 1989.
Dates of Service: 2026 – Present
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