Joe Occhipinti
npdf1@aol.com

Joseph Occhipinti is a native New Yorker where his desire to be involved in community service led him to a career in law enforcement.  He graduated from Brooklyn College after attending night classes that earned him a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In January 1969, Joe joined the United States Army Reserves where he served as a Military Policeman in the 812 M.P. Company at Fort Hamilton, New York and was honorably discharged six years later.

In March 1972, Joe joined the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Customs Patrol Officer where he was assigned to investigate international drug trafficking and organized crime in the New York City tri-state area.  In less than five years, Joe compiled one of the highest felony arrest and contraband seizure records in Customs service history.

In 1974, Joe became the elected President of the Federal Agents’ Police Benevolent Association where, for eighteen years, he developed that fledgling association into one of the largest federal police organizations in the tri-state area. He was credited with the introduction and passage of a New York-New Jersey law that granted peace officer status to federal agents.

In 1976, Joe transferred to the Immigration & Naturalization Service and became one of the country’s foremost experts on ethnic organized crime and international smuggling. In 1979 he worked deep undercover, infiltrating a major Dominican drug cartel that led to one of the largest cocaine seizures in U.S. history.  In 1983, Joe became the youngest agent to be promoted to Chief of the New York City Anti-Smuggling Unit.  In 1990, Joe retired on disability that was attributed to his five year undercover work infiltrating a major drug cartel. 

In 1995, Joe became the founder of the National Police Defense Foundation (NPDF), an organization that has grown to be one of the largest police foundations in the United States while extending into twelve foreign countries. The NPDF membership exceeds 80,000 members and supporters worldwide.

The NPDF’s primary mission is to provide medical and legal support services to the law enforcement community. He have been instrumental in exposing numerous injustices against the law enforcement community, some having been profiled on “60 Minutes”, “Dateline NBC”, “ The Today Show”, America’s Most Wanted, CNN and the Fox News Network, to mention a few. 

The second, “Operation Kids”, is a multi-faceted child safety program that distributes free fingerprint kits to parents, posts periodic rewards for missing children and arranges life saving operations for critically ill children. Recently, Joe unveiled “Project Pedophile” that will reward any child with a $1,000 U.S. Saving Bond for information leading to the arrest and conviction on Federal charges of any pedophile operating on the Internet. Joe’s efforts toward “Operation Kids” was profiled on the CBS “Early Show” and endorsed by key elected officials, state legislatures and foreign Heads of State.

Joe Occhipinti is also a well-respected Italian-American civil rights leader that served on the Executive Boards of the “Congress of Italian American Organizations” and “Order Sons of Italy in America”. In 1993, he was the “Grand Marshall” in the Columbus Day Parade in Long Island and the 1999 “Man of the Year” for the TLC Columbia Association.

Over the past decade, Joe Occhipinti has been the recipient of numerous international, legislative and Police Association Awards for his many accomplishments with the NPDF. These distinguished awards were presented by the New York State Shields, Columbia Association, American Society for Public Administration, New York Detectives Crime Clinic, New York State Police Chiefs Benevolent Association, Ministers of Harlem, USA, among others. Additionally, he was recognized via Congressional Proclamation, by Members of United States Congress, the New Jersey and New York General Assemblies and Senate, Mayor of New York City, the Governments of Ecuador, Peru and Dominican Republic.  In May 2005, Joe Occhipinti was commissioned as an Honorary “Colonel Aide De Camp” by the Governor of Tennessee. Also, in December 2006, he received a special achievement award from the Governor of North Carolina.

Today, Joe Occhipinti is considered one of the most decorated federal agents in United States history, credited with three U.S. Attorney General Awards and 78 official commendations for meritorious service and valor. He serves on several executive boards and is a proud member of the New Jersey Policemen’s Benevolent Association, Fraternal Order of Police, New York State Shields, New York-New Jersey Detectives Crime Clinic, Illinois Police Chiefs Association, Orange County Shields, New York City Police Department Honor Legion and New York-New Jersey Asian Law Enforcement Advisory Committee.

Joe Occhipinti resides in New Jersey with his wife, Angela of 35 years and three daughters where he continues to volunteer as the Executive Director for the National Police Defense Foundation.