Buffalo. A former DEA agent in Buffalo, New York, was found guilty of corruption Thursday after a second trial on accusations of using his position to protect drug traffickers he believed were connected to organized crime.
The jury found Joseph Bongiovanni, 60, guilty of seven of the 11 charges he faced.
Prosecutors said that for at least a decade, Bongiovanni protected childhood friends who became drug dealers and other suspects who had ties to organized crime by tipping them off about investigations and falsifying DEA reports. He was accused of receiving at least $250,000 in bribes that, according to prosecutors, he used to purchase basic necessities, as well as trips and other luxuries.
“This jury determined that he was a corrupt federal agent,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said at a news conference after the verdict, “and violated his oath and his duty to protect those he should have investigated and detained.”
The case sheds a negative light on the process of supervising DEA agents, amid a series of corruption scandals at the agency. Bongiovanni is one of at least 16 DEA agents who have been indicted on federal charges since 2015. Many of the cases led to prison sentences, including those of two former DEA supervisors sentenced in a Miami bribery scandal. related to the disclosure of intelligence information to defense attorneys.
Bongiovanni was found guilty of four counts of obstruction of justice, as well as one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and making false statements to police.
The jury acquitted him of one count of bribery, and of charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction.
Bongiovanni’s attorney, Robert Singer, said he would appeal.
Thursday’s verdict comes after a jury in April found the former Buffalo agent guilty of lying to federal authorities about a DEA file in his home, but was unable to reach a settlement on most of the charges. other charges.
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