BUFFALO, N.Y. — More than four years after his arrest the trial of former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni began in U.S. District Court in Buffalo on Thursday.
Bongiovanni is charged with accepting bribes from drug dealers in exchange for tipping them off to investigations and shielding them from prosecution.
Co-defendant Peter Gerace, owner of Pharaoh's Gentleman's Club, will be tried separately. However, his name and alleged association to the case is expected to be prominent during testimony.
The eighth-floor courtroom of Justice Lawrence J. Vilardo has capacity for 60 spectators, and every seat was taken for the start of this much anticipated trail, which is expected to last up to eight weeks and include testimony involving narcotics, strippers, motorcycle gangs, and the mafia.
Prosecutors, standing near eight carts of evidence wheeled in from the U.S. Attorney's Office, were first in their opening salvo — a more than two and a half hour opening statement for Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi.
Tripi described Bongiovanni as a "double agent" — a corrupt cop who sought to shield criminals he'd been friends with since childhood.
Tripi also said Bongiovanni had fallen on hard times financially when he allegedly started taking bribes, and accused the defendant of accepting a quarter million dollars in bribes over a roughly ten year period.
Tripi also opined that Bongiovanni had an affinity for the mafia, of which some of those he is accused of protecting are reputed members.
In their opening statement, Bongiovanni's lawyers described him as a loyal servant of the U.S. government, who for 20 years protected citizens from the scourge of drugs as a Drug Enforcement Agency agent. They noted to jurors that the chief witnesses against their client made deals for themselves, and described many others as liars, drug addicts, and people with grudges against the former DEA agent. They also reminded the jury that many of the witnesses have much to gain "by testifying in a way to meet the prosecution's narrative."
A trip wire
Prosecutors allege that Bongiovanni would shield drug dealers in part by opening files on them, so that if any other law enforcement agency were investigating them Bongiovanni — as the lead DEA agent with an open file on them, would be notified and gain access to intelligence gathered and even the names of informants, which he could then pass along to those he is accused of protecting.
"A built-in trip wire to protect his friends" was how Tripi described it.
Tripi also accused Bongiovanni of quashing some investigations outright.
Prosecutors say that Bongiovanni took bribes in particular to protect the "Masecchia-Serio Drug Trafficking Organization."
The deputy, the school teacher, and the businessman
The organization, said Tripi, began as a large scale marijuana growing operation in the Southern Tier before it expanded to New York City and eventually the West Coast of the United States in its reach, and then grew to trafficking cocaine and fentanyl.
It involved Louis Selva, an Erie County Sheriff's jail deputy, Michael Masecchia, a Buffalo Public School teacher, and Ronald Serio, a local businessman.
Selva, who served as best man at Bongiovanni's wedding and was one of his closest boyhood friends is alleged to have approached Bongiovanni about taking bribes. Masecchia, another childhood friend of Bongiovanni's with reputed ties to the mafia, was described by Tripi as "the muscle and money man" and allegedly arranged money drops for Bongiovanni. The money, according to prosecutors, was provided by Serio who lived in a luxurious Amherst home was described as "the financier" of the operation.
According to Tripi, Selva would get information from Bongiovanni, Serio would get money to Masecchia, and Masecchia would arrange for Bongiovanni to get the funds.
The government alleges the scheme was concocted in such a fashion to keep Bongiovanni from being directly tied to it or those involved.
The alleged scheme unwinds
In April, 2017 Serio's 9,000-square-foot mansion on Lebrun Road was raided. Police discovered a grow room and recovered large amounts of cash, drugs, and an an AR-15 style semi automatic rifle. Large quantities of cash and narcotics were also seized at another property owned by Serio on Grimsby Road in the town of Tonawanda.
The raid was conducted by the Erie County Sheriffs Office and and the FBI and did not involve the DEA, which prosecutors inferred left Bongiovanni unaware that it was about to go down and thus he was unable to warn Serio.
It also led to Bongiovanni being investigated.
According to prosecutors Serio, while being questioned, asked a sheriff's deputy, "do you know Joe Bongiovanni?" When asked by the deputy, "are you working for him (as an informant)?", Serio allegedly fell silent.
"They caught the big fish and the big fish was pissed off because he was supposed to be protected," Tripi told jurors.
Serio, Selva, and Masecchia began cooperating with authorities and are expected to testify against Bongiovanni.
"They will give you an inside look at how a drug trafficking organization recruited and bribed a DEA agent," Tripi said.
Names dropped
In the months and years leading up to this trial, it has been inferred that names of several prominent people could be mentioned.
Bongiovanni's association with Gerace, another long time friend, and Pharaoh's is expected to be mentioned prominently throughout the course of the trial. Several employees of the club are expected to testify.
Tripi described Pharaoh's as a bastion of "alcohol, women, and drug use" and said the VIP room at the club, where patrons could find dancers to provide sex acts, was frequented by "judges, lawyers, and important people in the community."
Unrelated to Pharaohs, Tripi dropped the first prominent name during his opening statement on Thursday.
It came when he mentioned that a bartender at Gabels, a once-popular tavern on Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo, was the focus of a drug investigation. That is when Tripi also said that former heavyweight boxer Joseph "Baby Joe" Mesi was also "under investigation for cocaine activity" for his association with with the bartender and others.
We would note that Mesi, who ran for political office after his boxing career was shortened by injury and who has remained a popular community ambassador for Buffalo, has never been been charged with any crimes.