Joel L. Violanti

Joel L. Violanti became Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of New York on February 18, 2025. In this role, Mr. Violanti serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer for WDNY, leading an office of approximately 120 federal prosecutors and staff, located in Buffalo and Rochester.

Mr. Violanti joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in February 1995, as an Assistant United States Attorney in the General Crimes Division, prosecuting a multitude of federal crimes involving wire fraud, immigration, mail fraud, bank fraud, international smuggling, and telemarketing offenses.

In June 2000, Mr. Violanti became the Project Exile Coordinator, a national initiative involving the prosecution of federal firearm offenses. Under this program, Mr. Violanti coordinated the adoption of state firearm arrests for federal prosecution. He was also responsible for coordinating and attending community outreach programs for Project Exile.

In July 2005, Mr. Violanti joined the Narcotics and Violent Crimes Division, prosecuting federal narcotics offenses involving multiple-kilogram drug conspiracies, and gang related RICO enterprises.

In January 2018, Mr. Violanti was named Senior Litigation Counsel. In that role, he was responsible for assisting Assistant United States Attorneys with their preparation and presentation of cases, as well as coordinating and conducting office-wide training.

In August 2023, Mr. Violanti was named Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Section, which involved the supervision of approximately 12 Criminal Assistant United States Attorneys who investigate and prosecute cases involving narcotic distribution, gang-related RICO enterprises, sex trafficking, and firearm related cases.

In January 2025, Mr. Violanti was named the First Assistant United States Attorney.

Highlights of Mr. Violanti’s career include serving as co-counsel on the U.S. v. Richard Wilbern and U.S. v. Ronald Epps cases. Richard Wilbern was convicted by a federal jury of the August 12, 2003, armed robbery of the Xerox Federal Credit Union in Rochester, which resulted in the death of Raymond Batzel, and was sentenced to serve life in prison. Ronald Epps was convicted following a federal jury trial of murdering his fiancée, Angela Moss, on August 27, 2009, in order to collect on the victim’s life insurance policy, which listed Epps as the sole beneficiary. He was sentenced to serve 60 years in prison. 

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Violanti was an Assistant District Attorney in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office from 1990-1995.

Mr. Violanti graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1986, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science August. He received his Juris Doctor in may 1989 from Thomas M. Cooley Law School Lansing, Michigan.