More often the sophisticated devices used by criminal operations are computers, said Charles Testagrossa, head of the rackets bureau in the prosecutor's office.

Michael Vecchione, the chief of the district attorney's rackets bureau, has placed himself in a difficult position, should there be state charges.

Ms. Biben has worked in the Manhattan district attorney's office for more than 10 years, and as deputy chief of the rackets bureau since 2001.

In the 1970's he was the chief of the rackets bureau in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and, from 1980 to 1982, the city's Fire Commissioner.

He rose to deputy chief of the rackets bureau, earning a reputation as a discerning administrator and a skillful trial lawyer.

"Here you have a rackets bureau that doesn't know a thing about organized crime," Mr. Kossler said.

Working in the rackets bureau, Spitzer led an undercover investigation into the mob's domination of garment trucking in Manhattan.

He spent six years as a prosecutor, rapidly rising to become head of the rackets bureau.

Mrs. Kraus is an assistant district attorney in homicide, and her husband is the deputy chief of the rackets bureau.

From 1970 to 1975, he worked in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, for a while as head of the rackets bureau.