BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jury selection began Monday with the federal court trial of former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni, more than four years after his arrest.
The former retired DEA Special Agent is being charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government by allegedly accepting bribes from drug dealers and others in exchange for tipping them off to investigations.
Bongiovanni was indicted along with Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club owner Peter Gerace Jr., who will be tried separately and who faces additional charges including sex trafficking.
“While law enforcement officers take an oath to protect and serve, the expectation is that they will protect and serve the law and the public and not those engaged in drug dealing, sex trafficking, and other crimes,” stated United States Attorney Kennedy. “As alleged in the indictment, defendant Bongiovanni aided defendant Gerace, and others, by using his badge to shield criminal activities—including not only crimes committed by defendant Gerace but crimes committed at his place of business—from law enforcement scrutiny.”
It was stated by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph M. Tripi and Brendan T. Cullinane who have been working on the case that between 2005 and August of 2019 Bongiovanni conspired with Peter Gerace, Michael Masecchia, and others, to defraud the Drug Enforcement Administration.
A pool of 200 Western New Yorkers has been summoned to serve as potential jurors for the trial that is expected to last anywhere from six to eight weeks and stretch past the Easter holiday.
The recent indictment is a result of an investigation done by Homeland Security Investigations. the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Erie County Sheriff's Office, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Hickston of the Department of Justice.
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