“Keeping our communities safe is more than a job—it’s a responsibility I hold sacred.”
District Attorney Brian Gallagher is a career prosecutor and former special Assistant U.S. Attorney who doesn’t back down from violent criminals. His top priorities are clear: eradicate gang activity, get illegal guns and drugs off our streets, and keep our community safe. Under his leadership, the DA’s Office is aggressive, unapologetic, and laser-focused on taking down the worst offenders through close coordination with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.
Gallagher was appointed First Assistant District Attorney in 2023, overseeing 20 prosecutors, 15 detectives, and more than 3,000 criminal prosecutions a year. In 2025, he took the helm as District Attorney and immediately set the tone: This office will be relentless in pursuing gang members, gun and drug traffickers, violent criminals, and anyone who endangers Lackawanna County’s citizens.
“Community safety is my top priority,” Gallagher said. “Law enforcement under my leadership will be aggressive and strategic. We’ll take the fight to the criminals, and we’ll be present in our neighborhoods, schools, and community groups to help stop crime before it starts.”
A veteran of both the state and federal courts, Gallagher has been putting criminals behind bars since 2012. From 2012 to 2022, he served in the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney, Deputy District Attorney, and was eventually named Chief of the Major Crimes Unit. He has prosecuted homicides, gun violence, arson-for-hire, vehicular homicides, and child sex crimes. Gallagher has personally led more than 35 death investigations and secured convictions in numerous high-stakes trials. As DA, he will lead from the front, trying many of the county’s major crimes trials himself.
From 2018 to 2021, Gallagher led the Drug Unit, later known as the Gun, Gang & Drug Unit, where he cracked down on major narcotics trafficking, gang-related shootings, and illegal firearms sales. He supervised the county’s Drug Task Force and directed hundreds of felony drug prosecutions. In one major takedown, Gallagher oversaw Operation Grabbing Straws, which resulted in the the seizure of more than 20 lethal firearms and the arrests of 26 defendants who were buying firearms legally and then funneling them into the hands of convicted felons.
From October 2018 through 2022, Gallagher served as a part-time Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, where he acted as the liaison between the District Attorney’s Office, various federal law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 2022, he was named Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, managing the most serious cases in the county — murder, aggravated assault, arson, and weapons violence. He left briefly to serve as a full-time Assistant U.S. Attorney, where he partnered with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and Homeland Security to take on high-level criminal cases. He secured federal convictions in cases involving drug deaths, illegal gun-trafficking, child pornography, and illegal immigration. He returned to the District Attorney’s Office in 2023, bringing his federal experience and connections back with him.
“We’re building a culture of coordination—local, state, and federal,” Gallagher said. “Criminals don’t operate in silos, and neither will we. If you break the law in Lackawanna County, we will find you, we will charge you, and we will put you behind bars.”
Throughout his career as a prosecutor, which has spanned virtually every type of crime handled by the District Attorney’s Office, Gallagher has been a fierce advocate for protecting the county’s most vulnerable residents, especially children and seniors. As District Attorney, he has consistently made it clear: Those who target the vulnerable in our communities will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Beyond the courtroom, Gallagher has helped shape the next generation of law enforcement and legal professionals. He has taught at the Lackawanna College Municipal Police Officers Academy and has served as a contract instructor at the National Fire Academy, where he trained arson investigators from around the country. His leadership has earned him the 2018 Prosecutor of the Year Award from the Lackawanna Drug Task Force, the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services Law Enforcement Award, the Scranton Police Detective Division Award for the Bonacci murder trials, and the Justice for Frankie Bonacci Award given by the Bonacci family.
A graduate of the University of Scranton and Western Michigan School of Law, Gallagher is deeply rooted in the community he serves. He is a member of St. Patrick’s Parish in West Scranton and serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Center of Scranton and the West Scranton Little League. He has also served on the Lackawanna County Re-Entry Task Force and Pretrial Services Task Force.
Gallagher credits his father, Terry Gallagher, a longtime District Magistrate, for inspiring his path in public service and remembers sitting in the courtroom as a young boy watching his dad hear cases.
“My father taught me to lead with integrity and to never forget who you’re fighting for,” he said. “The District Attorney’s Office is the people’s office. It’s a force for good — and under my watch, it will be a force to be reckoned with.”