Community Corner

Meet: Gary Raniolo, Candidate for Town Justice

The Yorktown Republican Committee endorsed Gary Raniolo for town justice last week.

Practicing attorney and Yorktown resident, Gary J. Raniolo, is looking to replace town justice Ilan Gilbert, registered Democrat who is up for reelection, in the November election. Last week, the Yorktown Republican Committee endorsed Raniolo as their candidate.

The Yorktown Justice Court has two presiding judges, Ilan Gilbert and Salvatore Lagonia. Each term is four years and court judges work on a fixed salary set at $28,935 per year. 

"The safety and security of our community has emerged as a major concern of Yorktown residents in the past year," Raniolo said. "As a long time resident, I want to dedicate my legal experience and knowledge of the community to provide a judicial environment of law and order, with integrity, experience and honesty,"

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Another area of concern to the community is the of cases waiting to be heard at the Yorktown Court. 

"Yorktown residents are entitled to reasonable access to our court," he said. "I am willing to devote whatever additional time is necessary to resolve this untenable situation."

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Back in January town board members began discussions about how to deal with the 5,000 traffic ticket backlog. The two Yorktown court judges were to putting in extra hours to deal with the backlog by the fall. Effective Jan. 2, the judges were required to add additional hours of vehicle and traffic court to their weekly sessions. In addition, they were to provide an all day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., sessions during the months ahead, judge Lagonia said. 

Raniolo has offices in Tarrytown and Yorktown, with a general practice concentrating on real estate, business formations, commercial transactions, business sales, criminal law, according to his biography. He is a former prosecutor having served under Westchester County District Attorney, Carl Vergari. During his tenure in the DA’s Office, he gained experience in criminal courts, prosecuting cases from arraignment through trial and sentencing.

He has also served the community as a youth baseball, basketball and soccer coach.

"Our young people are one of our town’s most treasured resources," he said. "As judge, I want to continue my efforts to develop a positive environment for their continued development."

Raniolo and his wife Georgeann have lived in Yorktown for 19 years. The couple has three children, Gary, Ashley and Heather, all of whom have attended Yorktown public schools. 

Raniolo is a graduate of Fordham University (BA ’79) and the University of Bridgeport School of Law (JD ’82).

Check back with Patch for more updates as we follow the election season.


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