Ex-DEA Agent Convicted of Helping Shield Drug Traffickers

An ex-Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent was convicted this week for allegedly helping drug traffickers from getting caught.
The agent, who worked in Buffalo, New York, was found guilty of using his position to shield drug traffickers he believed were connected to organized crime.
On Thursday, jurors found 60-year-old Joseph Bongiovanni on seven different charges related to the alleged crime. Bongiovanni was initially hit with 11 total charges.
Prosecutors alleged that for over a decade, Bongiovanni provided inside information to friends and associates, protected criminals and exposed the identities of confidential informants. He was accused of accepting at least $250,000 in bribes, which prosecutors said he used to cover living expenses, travel and other luxury items.
The case has intensified scrutiny of the DEA’s oversight of its agents and follows a series of corruption scandals within the agency. Bongiovanni is one of at least 16 DEA agents federally charged since 2015, with many cases leading to prison sentences. Notably, two former DEA supervisors were imprisoned in a Miami bribery scandal for leaking intelligence to defense attorneys.
Bongiovanni was found guilty on four counts of obstruction of justice, along with one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and making false statements to law enforcement. However, the jury acquitted Bongiovanni of a bribery charge, as well as several additional fraud, conspiracy and obstruction charges.
Thursday’s verdict also comes after an April trial in which a jury convicted the former Buffalo agent of lying to federal authorities about a DEA file he kept at home but remained deadlocked on most of the other charges. In the retrial on the unresolved charges, which began on August 5, jurors listened to testimony from more than 60 witnesses.
Bongiovanni did not take the stand to testify in either of the two trials against him.
His case is tied to a broader sex-trafficking investigation involving Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club near Buffalo. Bongiovanni was childhood friends with the club’s owner, Peter Gerace Jr., who prosecutors allege has connections to the Buffalo Mafia and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Gerace, who faces multiple charges, including bribing Bongiovanni, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Bongiovanni is set to be sentenced on June 9.
Following the verdict, U.S. Attorney Trini Ross said, “We’re not disappointed at all in the outcome of this case, trial one or trial two.”
“What we set out to do was to show that Joseph Bongiovanni was a corrupt federal agent, and we did that,” Ross added.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.