Buffalo, NY. — A retired Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who betrayed his badge by protecting organized crime figures and drug traffickers was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced.
Joseph Bongiovanni, 61, of Tonawanda, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, four counts of obstruction of justice, and making false statements to law enforcement.
According to prosecutors, Bongiovanni served as a DEA special agent from 1998 until his retirement in 2019, spending most of his career assigned to the Buffalo Resident Office. Over more than a decade, he used his position to protect friends, associates, and individuals he believed were connected to Italian Organized Crime in Buffalo…