Help!

I've got what I consider a crabgrass infestation in my front lawn. I
live in the Long Island, NY and am new to the area (originally from
South Florida) so I am still a little unfamiliar with how plant life
works up here.

When the snow finally melted this I could tell the previous owner had
crabgrass issues as clumps of dead stalks were everywhere. However I
began the Scott's program for lawns beginning with the fertlizer with
pre-emergent crab grass stuff. Up until July it seemed to work fine,
but over the last few weeks these things are spreading like weeds
(joke). There are some areas of the lawn the are almost exclusively
crabgrass. I spent the entire weekend pulling them out of the ground
(with as much of the root as possible), but after two 30 gallon bags
of this stuff out of the ground, it seems like I haven't put much of a
dent in the project.

My question: Is there anything I can to do get rid of them this year
and what can I do to better prepare for next year? In Florida, the
best method to get rid of crabgrass and goosegrass was to yank them
out, as I'm trying to do now. The roots on the crabgrass up here seem
to be tougher than down south, and I have blisters in my fingers from
battling them all weekend.

Crabgrass seems to be a problem up here and I've always taken great
pride in my lawns (down in S. Fla it was St. Augustine grass) and I
can't stand not having a near-perfect lawn.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.