About Me
HI, I’m Tom Morrissey…
When my military service was completed I returned home and formed a band called “The Echoes” and within one year we had a top ten record called "Baby Blue" followed by another hit called "Blue Birds Over The Mountain". I joined the Ohio Express and toured the country performing hits like "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "Down At LuLu's". I wrote songs for Ray Charles and have songwriter credits for “Georgia Time”. During that time I began practicing martial arts and became a tournament fighter. I hold Brown Belts in Judo and Jujitsu and I am a First Degree Black Belt in Goju Ryu and Chang Du Quan Karate. I am a Twenty Year student of Shing Yi Chuan Grand Master Kenny Gong and I am still teaching martial arts on a weekly basis.
I Grew up in the Red Hook Section of Brooklyn, NY before eventually finding my home out west in Arizona. I joined the US Army's 4th Armored Division (Germany) where I was forward observer for an 81 millimeter mortar team. This was during the VietNam War Era.
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After a successful career as recording artist, I left the music business to become a Deputy US Marshal. I quickly became involved in Witness Security (WitSec) and spent four years protecting federal witnesses; supreme court justices and foreign heads of state at the United Nations General Assembly. My next assignment was fugitive apprehension where for eight years. I worked major case DEA fugitives in California, Florida, The Caribbean, Mexico and Asia.
Ultimately, I was promoted to Chief Deputy US Marshal in the federal district of Nebraska and was quickly promoted to the larger federal district of Arizona. I led that district from a poor performing status to, within two years, a top performing large district. I supervised offices in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and Prescott with a staff of over two hundred. There was an average number of 850 prisoners in jails all over Arizona. Protection of federal judges and the US Attorney's office came under my oversight. Another of my responsibilities was the Witness Security (Witsec) unit in Arizona.
After completing an over twenty year career in the US Marshals Service I was asked by the governor to serve in the Arizona Department of Economic Security where I became the chief of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) for eleven years. During my time in that position I returned thirty percent of my operating budget and raised production twenty percent while upgrading the safety of my investigators and securing the DES Offices throughout the state. I developed a system called "Workplace Violence Prevention" which dramatically lowered incidences of violence for DES employees serving the public. Several other state agencies adopted the program.
Next up I was elected Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party as a write-in candidate with only a three day campaign. I oversaw a historic "moment" in the AZ GOP because we retired a substantial amount of debt, won every state-wide race, delivered the state to Governor Romney and welcomed the Latino community into the state party.
In my down time I have co-written a book with action star and law enforcement advocate, Steven Seagal that made the top seller list on Amazon called "The Way Of The Shadow Wolves" that is loosely based on his experiences and my experiences in the Marshals Service.
In 2018, I was elected Mayor of the Town of Payson, Arizona and served two terms. In that capacity I worked with Senator Sinema on a grant of forty million dollars to treat the forests surrounding Payson and the CC Cragen Water System. I was able to get equipment from the governor's office for the Payson Police Department. During the pandemic I kept businesses open, did not enforce the mask mandate and was on KMOG radio for three months every morning updating the community on the most current circumstances regarding the impact of COVID.
During my term as mayor of Payson it became more and more apparent that the landscape of this country was shifting dramatically. This caused me concern and the longer this went on, the more I felt I still needed to do my part to protect the country. I arrived at the best way to do that was by becoming the sheriff of Gila County.
