By Steve Neavling
George Piro, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, is retiring with plans to become a martial arts pro.
Beginning next week, Piro will train as a Brazilian ju-jitsu fighter, with a fight scheduled later this year in Las Vegas, he told 7News in a wide-ranging interview.
Piro said the pinnacle of his career was landing the top job at the Miami Field Office.
“That was a dream come true,” he said. “My best day was when I was selected to be head of the office.”
The lowest point off is career was finding out that two of his special agents had been killed while serving a warrant in a child exploitation case.
“My worst day was on Feb. 2 at 6:18 a.m, when my phone rang that day,” Piro said. “The FBI had lost two incredible special agents, Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger.”
Piro is known for interrogating Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2004.
“The idea was to allow him to come to the conclusion that I was a very powerful very high-ranking member of the government,” Piro said.
In truth, he had been on the jobs for less than five years.
“For example, when I walked into the detention area, where Saddam was being held, the MPs cleared the path, they showed a lot of deference to me,” Piro said. “If I said something they would run.”
His plan worked, and Hussein opened up that the country’s weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed.
