N.Y. Jud. Law § 780

§ 780. Sheriff liable for taking insufficient sureties. After the\nreturn of an execution, issued upon a judgment, rendered in an action\nupon the undertaking, an action, to recover the amount of the judgment,\nmay be maintained against the sheriff, where it appears that, at the\ntime when the undertaking was given, the sureties were insufficient, and\nthe sheriff had reasonable grounds to doubt their sufficiency. Such an\naction may be maintained by the plaintiff, in whose favor the judgment\nwas recovered. If the people were plaintiffs, the action must be\nprosecuted by the attorney-general or the district attorney; and any\nmoney collected therein must be disposed of, as prescribed in the last\nsection.\n