Crimefighter exodus: Manhattan prosecutors flee DA office after Bragg takes helm

P൩rosecutors in soft-on-crime Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office are flooding the exits amid his “radical shift iಞn policy,” The Post has learned.

Bragg’s controversial “Day One” memo issued on Jan. 3 told assistant district attorneys to not seek prison sentences for many criminals and to downgrade some felonies to misdemeanors. His leadership has already created a firestorm that has led to an online petition calling for him to be removed.

“I know one [ADA] who was with the office over 20 years who left without a job,” sa🐭id a law🥀 enforcement source. “They didn’t want to work in this kind of office. They wanted to continue prosecuting the law.”

Ovꦚer the past two weeks, at least nine lawyers have quit🍰.

Among the departures is senior trial counsel Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, who  Harvey Weinstein, and won a 2016 conviction in the infamous 1979 murder of Etan Patz.

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Illuzzi-Orbon, a Republican, had been at the office since 19🌳88, taking only a brief leave in 2015 for an unsuccessful run for District Attorney in Staten Island.

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Friday was her last day, sourc♉es told The Post. She did not retur♍n a request for comment.

ไAlso gone is John Irwin, a one-time trial division chief.

Another veteran prosecutor lost her title and was told she would have to work for someone Bragg brought over from the♛ Legal Aid Society, a source said.

“He wants to get rid of all the senior peopl🎃e who prosecuted high-profile cases and replace them with young inexperienced people who think like him and don’t want to uphold the law,” saidꩲ a former prosecutor.

A source fami♚lia🦩r with the office said none of the departing lawyers had been fired.

Mark Bederow, who worked in the Manhattan DA’s office, said some turnover was to be expected with a new boss, but that Bragg’s arrival will “likely” l♔ead to more departures since “It appears to be such a cultura🎀l and radical shift in policy.”

“I would anticipate that many people within the office who have been there for years, who perhaps do not share the same philosophy as the incoming DA, will most likely leave,” he said. “I would expect that the incoming classes of DAs in the next couple of years will entirely share the policies of ꦚMr. Bragg.”

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Bederow said the turnover would lead to “transf♉ormation in the Manhattan DA’s office unlike anything✅ anyone has seen for decades.”

Madeline Brame, the mother of murder victim Hason Correa, said she was worried about what Bragg’s policies — which include not seeking prison sentences of more than 20 years in most cases — would mean for the upcoming trail of her son’s accused killers. Correa, a 35-year-old Army vet, was stabbed to death in Harlem in 2018.

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Brame said the prosecutor in the case left last year and she recently reached out to her replacement because she was feeling “Tortured, tormented, stressed out and frustrated notဣ knowing now are these people only going to (get) 20 years for killing my boy.”

“He had no answers for me. None,” she said.

Under DA Cyrus Vance Jr., 99 lawyers leꦜft last year, up from 83 in 2020. It is unknown how many of༒ those retired.

“Alvin Bragg has brought together an exceptional group of highly experienced professionals, including leaders who have worked in this office, led other offices, and bring real life experiences to help reimagine DANY to deliver safety and justice for all,” said Richard Fife, senior advisor to Bragg.

Additional reporting by Dean Balsamini