For six weeks, prosecutors called witness after witness – 70 in all – during a high-profile trial seeking to convict former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Bongiovanni of accepting bribes, shielding drug traffickers and lying to investigators.
“He chose loyalty to criminal friends,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said during his closing argument Tuesday. “He chose greed, motivated by intense financial pressure, over integrity.”
But all the while through the federal trial, Bongiovanni’s defense lawyers tried to poke holes in the case – mainly with questions, but sometimes by suggesting nefarious motives from others falsely testifying against the federal agent.
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“Mr. Bongiovanni did his job,” defense attorney Robert Singer said in his closing argument. “He did it faithfully.”
Singer scoffed at the government’s notion that Bongiovanni accepted cash bribes and then just deposited the money into his bank accounts.
Bongiovanni’s credit card statements show he charged for furniture, groceries, fuel and other daily items.
If Bongiovanni got paid “the cash the government is trying to sell you on in this trial,” why not spend that cash for groceries, Singer asked.
Only jurors, who will begin deliberating Wednesday, will determine how realistic Bongiovanni’s hopes for an acquittal are. His fate now rests with them.
The 15 charges against Bongiovanni relate to how he allegedly protected members of the Ron Serio drug-trafficking organization from arrest, and other counts involve Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club near the airport, who himself is expected to face trial later this year on charges that include bribery, drug trafficking and sex trafficking. Bongiovanni is accused of accepting at least $250,000 in bribes from Serio, whose organization included Michael Masecchia, who, according to prosecutors, Bongiovanni thought was associated with Italian organized crime.
Here’s a breakdown of the charges and how his defense lawyers rebut them:
Conspiring with Masecchia
Charge: Conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
Potential prison term: 5 years
Crux of charge: From 2008 until 2019, Bongiovanni used his position as a DEA special agent to shield the Serio organization from investigations, including marijuana trafficker Michael Masecchia, who he believed to be connected to Italian organized crime.
Key witness: Ron Serio
Testimony: “Mike came to me and said for $2,000 a month Joseph Bongiovanni would give us a heads up if we were being investigated or who might be informants.”
Defense rebuttal: Louis Selva, a member of Serio’s organization and criminally exposed after Serio’s arrest, had nothing to offer prosecutors to get leniency. So he concocted Bongiovanni’s involvement. “He saw only one option: keep up the lie, keep up the ruse,” Singer said.
FBI agents carry out boxes of evidence after a day of testimony in the bribery and corruption trial of former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni. (Photo by Patrick Lakamp/Buffalo News)
Conspiring with Gerace
Charge: Conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
Potential prison term: 5 years
Crux of charge: From 2005 until 2019, Bongiovanni protected Gerace and his business, Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club, from federal narcotics investigations and sought to dissuade other law enforcement agencies from investigating him.
Key witness: Thomas Herbst, former FBI special agent
Testimony: Herbst testified he did not pursue an investigation into Gerace because after meeting with Bongiovanni and Gerace, he believed Gerace was Bongionvanni’s confidential source. “He might not have specifically told me he was the source. What else would he be? He didn’t have to tell me.”
Defense rebuttal: Prosecutors have not proven Bongiovanni took cash bribes from Gerace, or even agreed to take bribes, so there is no conspiracy. Herbst did not take notes or write a report about his meeting with Gerace and Bongiovanni. “The FBI just dropped the ball,” Singer said.
The marijuana
Charge: Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
Potential prison term: 10 years to life
Crux of charge: By providing information to Serio and Masecchia, Bongiovanni became part of their drug conspiracy.
Key witness: John Robinson, former low-level dealer for Serio
Testimony: Robinson testified he was told by Serio’s wife not to worry after police raided another dealer’s home. “She said not to get too worked up. ‘Don’t worry, Ron has Joe Bong.’”
Defense rebuttal: Any supposed conspiracy depends on an agreement to take bribes, and defense lawyers say Selva concocted Bongiovanni’s involvement. Serio wasn’t paying bribes to Bongiovanni, but was tricked into giving money to Masecchia. So Bongiovanni was not part of a conspiracy to distribute drugs.
Ronald Serio, a marijuana and cocaine trafficker who said he paid bribes to onetime DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni, leaves federal court on March 12, 2024, after testifying.
Alleged bribes from Serio
Charge: Public official accepting a bribe
Potential prison term: 15 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni was paid at least $250,000 by Serio to provide information about federal investigations, identify informants and mislead other members of law enforcement to keep them from investigating Serio’s drug-trafficking organization.
Key witness: Lou Selva, a member of Serio’s organization
Testimony: Selva said he met Bongiovanni at a Hertel Avenue bar and negotiated monthly payments to Bongiovanni from Serio. “He said, ‘OK, I’ll do what I can,’” Selva recounted Bongiovanni saying. Bongiovanni offered to “keep a watchful eye” for any DEA investigations into their operation.
Defense rebuttal: Nobody testified to putting money into Bongiovanni’s hands. Masecchia did not testify. Defense says Selva and Masecchia duped Serio into making payments he thought were bribes for Bongiovanni but instead went to Selva and Masecchia. Serio never met Bongiovanni.
Alleged bribes from Gerace
Charge: Public official accepting a bribe
Potential prison term: 15 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni was paid an undetermined amount by Gerace to help him and his Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club avoid federal narcotics investigations and induce the FBI to abandon an investigation.
Key witness: Katrina Nigro
Key testimony: The ex-wife of Gerace testified she twice gave Bongiovanni envelopes “thick” with cash at Pharaoh’s and said Gerace gave him a birthday card containing $5,000. “I never got a gift like that.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni was never caught on a wire, a tape or a camera accepting bribes. There were no marked funds handed over. Nigro acknowledged she did not see what was inside the two envelopes she handed Bongiovanni. Even if the envelopes contained cash, she didn’t know the reason Gerace gave them to Bongiovanni.
Drugs at Pharaoh’s
Charge: Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
Potential prison term: 10 years to life
Crux of charge: By shielding Gerace from investigation, Bongiovanni helped Pharaoh’s become a drug-involved premises where cocaine, marijuana and other drugs were used and distributed.
Key witness: Protected Witness 4 (name withheld)
Testimony: The former dancer told jurors there were “girls using ... customers using, employees using.”
Defense rebuttal: Former exotic dancers and patrons testified about drug use at Pharaoh’s, but no evidence shows Bongiovanni was aware of it. Nobody testified to seeing Bongiovanni use drugs at the club or associate with people who did so. A few testified to seeing Bongiovanni at the club only a few times.
Deactivating an informant
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni prepared a false DEA report on Nov. 4, 2014, that said a confidential informant who offered to infiltrate the Serio drug-trafficking organization was no longer viable and could not provide credible information to further the Serio investigation. Prosecutors allege Bongiovanni feigned an investigation into Serio and handled the informant in a way that shielded Serio from investigation.
Key witness: Informant (name withheld)
Testimony: The informant said Bongiovanni, his handler at the DEA, didn’t use him to investigate Serio. “I could have gotten to anybody in the Serio organization. They didn’t ask me to call him or anything.”
Defense rebuttal: The informant’s attempts to make controlled buys from a Serio-connected dealer failed. The informant was also using drugs, so wasn’t a reliable source Bongiovanni could trust. When the informant’s friend died of an overdose, he told the DEA he knew where the fentanyl came from. The informant made several successful controlled buys of fentanyl from Peter Militello, who was eventually prosecuted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was then closed out as a DEA source.
Closing an investigation
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: On Jan. 28, 2015, Bongiovanni made a false statement in a DEA report as he closed the Serio investigation, writing that one of the targets in the investigation had pleaded guilty in New York State court and was sentenced to 36 months probation.
Key witness: Brian Burns, FBI special agent
Testimony: “That is not consistent with his criminal history,” Burns said of the target mentioned by Bongiovanni. “I reviewed the criminal history. There’s a notation of an arrest, and there was no indication of any conviction or any resolution to that case.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni did not write a false statement in the report.
Friendship with Gerace
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni in a Nov. 12, 2018, internal DEA memo said his past contact with Gerace consisted of minimal in-person or random telephonic communications based on the fact they were childhood friends.
Key witness: David Carpenter, a Department of Justice investigator
Testimony: Carpenter reviewed Bongiovanni texts inviting Gerace to a St. Patrick’s Day party at his home and asking about traveling to a Bills game in Miami. “Have you ever initiated contact with Peter Gerace? That was the question I asked. He denied ever initiating contact.”
Defense rebuttal: Carpenter’s questioning was vague. Carpenter did not define a time frame for initiating contact. Was it for the last two weeks? Two years? It wasn’t clear to Bongiovanni. The first time in 2016 that Bongiovanni initiated contact was in June.
Contacting Gerace
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni submitted a Dec. 10, 2018, internal DEA memo that included a false and misleading statement: “I have and will report all contact with [the defendant Gerace] to a DEA supervisor like I have in the past.” The government discovered year after year of text messages between Gerace and Bongiovanni from 2015 to 2019, but no reports detailed the extent of those messages.
Key witness: Dale Kasperczak, retired DEA supervisor
Testimony: “He told me he knew Gerace from neighborhood days but didn’t say he was personal friends.”
Defense rebuttal: Defense has not denied the two were in touch. Often, Gerace’s calls went unreturned. Singer said Bongiovanni did not file a false memo.
Accusing another agent
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni submitted a Jan. 28, 2019, internal DEA memo in which he falsely portrayed DEA Special Agent Anthony Casullo as the agent with the relationship with Gerace, because Casullo’s brother-in-law is friends with Gerace.
Key witness: Anthony Casullo
Testimony: He advised his brother-in-law not to take a job at Pharaoh’s. “I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea. He asked me why. I told him because Peter’s a criminal.”
Defense rebuttal: Singer said the memo is not false.
Deleting DEA cellphone data
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: When he retired, Bongiovanni deleted the contents of his DEA-issued cellphone intending to impede the federal investigation into his relationships with people involved in drug-trafficking activities.
Key witness: Eileen Lesh, retired DEA employee who served as agency’s alternate property custodian
Testimony: When an agent turned in a cellphone upon retiring or leaving the agency, “a majority of time it was cleared before they turned it in.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni was simply following common practice when he deleted contents of his DEA cellphone. Nobody told him not to do so. He was under investigation by the Department of Justice when he retired, and investigators could have taken the cellphone before he retired without needing a warrant if they wanted to examine it. The fact investigators did not end up seeing the contents of his cellphone was because of agency’s ineptness – not an act of criminality.
Taking home the DEA file
Charge: Obstruction of justice
Potential prison term: 20 years
Crux of charge: Bongiovanni stored a working file of a DEA case at his home.
Key witness: Christopher Clark, Niagara Falls narcotics detective and DEA task force officer
Testimony: A file for a case Clark investigated – without Bongiovanni’s help – was found in Bongiovanni’s basement. “It’s my investigation. I don’t know why it it would be at his house in his basement. It makes no sense.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni knew he was under investigation when he retired and did not trust his bosses or colleagues, so he took home the file because it provided information about cases he worked on. If he wanted to destroy the file, he would have burned it. Bongiovanni wanted it to protect himself.
Calling about overdose
Charge: False statements to an agency of the U.S.
Potential prison term: 8 years
Crux of charge: Among three alleged lies in this count, Bongiovanni falsely denied Gerace called him while a Pharaoh’s employee was actively overdosing at the club.
Key witness: Anthony Casullo, DEA agent
Testimony: Bongiovanni received a phone call from Gerace, and Bongiovanni recounted to Casullo what he told Gerace. “That guy called me when a stripper overdosed in his club and I told him to get her out of there.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni denies this happened. He and Casullo did not get along. And no other agent came forward with similar information against Bongiovanni.
Curtis Ryan, a supervisory criminal investigator for Homeland Security Investigations, leaves the federal courthouse in Buffalo after testifying in the Joseph Bongiovanni bribery and corruption trial.
Denies close relationship with Gerace
Charge: False statements to an agency of the U.S.
Potential prison term: 8 years
Crux of charge: Among nine alleged lies in this count, Bongiovanni denied he was in a close relationship with Gerace.
Key witness: Curtis Ryan, Homeland Security Investigations special agent
Testimony: Ryan testified about text messages from Bongiovanni to Gerace, including this one from December 2017: “We have been friends for 25 years but all good.”
Defense rebuttal: Bongiovanni never denied he has known Gerace since they were youngsters. But Gerace did not attend Bongiovanni’s wedding, and he once texted asking where Bongiovanni lived, showing the two were not that close.
Patrick Lakamp can be reached at plakamp@buffnews.com
