Andres Torres ’08 (pictured with his boss Bridget Brennan), whose masterful investigative work and lawyering helped bring an international drug operation to its knees and shamed the Spanish Navy (a story chronicled in the Winter 2019 issue of BC Law Magazine), has been awarded the Thomas E. Dewey Medal by the New York City Bar.
As a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney assigned to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, Torres drew upon his Spanish fluency and experience as a former USAID worker in Colombia to become a pivotal figure in the multi-year operation. The case began to crack open when two men, later identified as Spanish sailors from the ship Juan-Sebastián Elcano, were spotted at a stakeout in the Bronx.
The Dewey Award, named for the famous 1930s prosecutor (and later New York governor) who went head-to-head with gangsters, bootleggers, and organized crime figures of the day, is presented annually “to outstanding assistant district attorneys” in New York. “I’m humbled and grateful to be selected,” said Torres. “It’s a true honor.”