By Steve Neavling
Jurors are expected to begin deliberations today in a corruption trial involving a now-retired DEA agent who is accused of accepting cash bribes to protect drug traffickers.
Joseph Bongiovanni, 59, was charged with 11 counts in a federal case that alleges he took more than $250,000 in bribes from the Buffalo Mafia to sabotage drug probes and to protect a strip club owned by a childhood friend that prosecutors said was used for drugs and sex trafficking.
Bongiovanni faces up to life in prison.
On Tuesday, prosecutors wrapped up their case, telling jurors that testimony from dozens of witnesses demonstrated that Bongiovanni took cash bribes, the Associated Press reports.
“He chose loyalty to criminal friends over duty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told the jury.
Bongiovanni countered that prosecutors failed to prove their case.
The indictment alleged Bongiovanni shared inside DEA information with his friends and associates who dealt large quantities of cocaine and marijuana. Prosecutors say he lied to the DEA, hid information from the agency and dissuaded colleagues from investigating the drug traffickers.
