Voters To Choose Suffolk County's New District Attorney

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two men are vying to replace Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota.

Tim Sini, a Democrat, currently holds the position of Suffolk County police commissioner.

He said he wants to be the new district attorney "to make a bigger difference."

"It's the district attorney who decides who's charged with crimes and what crimes they're charged with," Sini said.

If Sini wins, he said, "I'll restore integrity to the leadership of the district attorney's office, eradicate MS-13 and other violent street gangs from our communities and aggressively address the opioid epidemic."

His opponent is Republican attorney Ray Perini, who once ran the DA's Narcotics Division.

Perini said he knows how to battle the opioid epidemic in the county.

"The wiretaps to running all the cooperators to trying all the major cases and we did a 40,000 pound trawler up from Colombia, locked-up six Colombians on the trawler and 11 organized crime figures waiting on the beach to take possession," Perini said.

Perini says he would also go after MS-13.

"You have to go after them by saturating the area where they hang out, where they live," Perini said.

Spota said he will retire after being indicted last month on charges that he allegedly helped cover up the beating of a handcuffed prisoner by a police chief.