Jurors on Wednesday listened to federal prosecutors describe Joseph Bongiovanni as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who protected a drug trafficking organization and the operator of a strip club from the scrutiny of law enforcement.
And then jurors heard from Bongiovanni’s defense that prosecutors based their case on unreliable drug dealers with inconsistent stories and failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the now-retired DEA agent took bribes.
Starting Thursday, jurors will begin to weigh Bongiovanni’s fate.
Prosecution rests in retrial of ex-DEA agent Bongiovanni
Prosecutors painted Bongiovanni as a “compromised and highly corrupt DEA agent” who for more than a decade protected friends and their associates who he believed were connected to Italian organized crime.
He would insert himself into other agents’ and agencies’ investigations that targeted people he wanted to protect and then “kill” the cases, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told the jury during closing arguments in Bongiovanni’s bribery and corruption retrial.
It started happening about 2004 and continued into 2016, Tripi told jurors. It included a 2012 case investigated by the State Police in which a man who Bongiovanni had known since his teens was arrested with 200 pounds of marijuana. In the end, according to prosecutors, there never was a federal prosecution and the state case died after Bongiovanni got involved.
“He’s a serial killer of cases,” Tripi said.
Defense attorney Robert Singer offered a different view: He told the jury federal investigators “put blinders on” once they were presented with allegations against Bongiovanni.
Prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any money paid as a bribe ever made it into Bongiovanni’s pocket, Singer told the jury.
Bongiovanni, 60, faces 11 charges at his retrial, which began Aug. 5, covering alleged corruption to protect members of a drug-trafficking organization run by Ronald Serio, as well as Peter Gerace Jr., owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club.
Prosecutors charge that Bongiovanni received at least $250,000 in bribes to give Serio’s organization information about confidential informants and investigations, as well as to create “sham” investigations of his own meant to provide cover to those he was protecting.
Bongiovanni’s first trial earlier this year ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict on 12 counts, including bribery. They did convict him on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of lying to federal agents about a case file he kept in his home after he retired.
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Jurors at the first trial acquitted Bongiovanni of deleting data from his DEA-issued cellphone.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo gave attorneys on each side up to four hours on Wednesday to make their closing statements.
Tripi delivered 3½ hours of arguments before jurors got their lunch break shortly before 1 p.m. Defense attorney Robert Singer began his closing statement shortly after 2 p.m. Once Singer finished, Tripi would have about 30 minutes left for rebuttal.
Bongiovanni’s attorneys began presenting their case on Monday, after prosecutors rested. Just like the first trial, Bongiovanni did not take the witness stand.
Prosecutors contended Bongiovanni took the bribe money because he was under financial pressure, including because of child support payments and a child’s medical bills.
Singer called the characterization his client was under “dire financial stress” unfounded. He showed the jury photos of the inside and outside of Bongiovanni’s Tonawanda home, which Singer described in his presentation to the jury as “not ritzy.”
Fancy watches Bongiovanni was purported to have had weren’t, in fact, luxury watches – one was a fake Rolex and the others may have had a total value of $600 or $700, Singer said.
Prosecutors contended Bongiovanni received hard-to-trace cash bribes, used cash to pay for necessities and to furnish his lifestyle. He also often complained about some financial obligations, complaints prosecutors said diminished during the time period they alleged he took payoffs.
The charges Bongiovanni faces include bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; obstruction of justice, related to reportedly false entries in DEA memos and reports about his dealings with Gerace; and making false statements to a U.S. agency for denying he initiated contact with Gerace or witnessed Gerace use narcotics.
Bongiovanni’s career included recognition of his work, according to his family, including:
- Award for outstanding contributions and dedication to the DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program between May 1999 and June 2001 in the Orlando, Fla., district.
- Award for exceptional performance from the DEA for dedication to duty and outstanding contributions in September 2006.
- Special awards of honor from the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association in recognition of outstanding accomplishment in the field of narcotics enforcement in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Prosecutors called 62 witnesses over 27 days of testimony, fewer than the 70 witnesses called during 21 days at Bongiovanni’s first trial.
News Staff Reporter Patrick Lakamp contributed to this story.
