Ex-DEA agent Bongiovanni guilty on 2 counts, but legal team 'overjoyed' as jury fails to reach verdict on most serious charges

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – A federal jury failed to reach a verdict on the most serious counts against former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Bongiovanni, whose high-profile corruption case spanned nearly two months.

Bongiovanni was found guilty Friday of two charges, including obstruction of justice and making false statements, and not guilty of a separate obstruction charge. But the jury failed to reach a verdict on 12 of the 15 counts against him, including the more serious charges of conspiracy, accepting bribes, and drug-related offenses.

Bongiovanni hugged his attorneys after the verdict was read. Jurors had deliberated for over a week, with the atmosphere between jurors becoming acrimonious at times.

Bongiovanni's attorney Robert Singer said outside the courthouse they are "overjoyed with the verdict." Prosecutors declined to speak with media while leaving court, and U.S. Attorney Trini Ross declined a request for comment.

The unresolved counts against Bongiovanni will be re-tried as soon as possible, perhaps as soon as mid- to late-May. Bongiovanni will not be detained until then, but will have to wear an ankle monitor.

The obstruction count Bongiovanni was found guilty of carries a maximum of 20 years in jail.

The former agent, 59, was charged with taking more than $250,000 in bribes from the Buffalo Mafia to derail drug investigations and to protect a strip club owned by a childhood friend that was described by prosecutors as a haven for drug use and sex trafficking.

“He chose loyalty to criminal friends over duty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said during a four-hour summation of the government's case.

Singer previously said prosecutors failed to prove the charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Singer disputed prosecutors’ allegations that Bongiovanni was driven by financial pressures wrought in part by a divorce.

“Mr. Bongiovanni did his job, he did it faithfully ... and he did it without deceit, without dishonesty,” Singer said.

Bongiovanni sat between his lawyers at the defense table during the proceedings in U.S. District Court. He did not testify at his trial.

Prosecutors contend that Bongiovanni pocketed more than $250,000 in cash-stuffed envelopes over a decade and threw his colleagues off in part by opening bogus case files. He retired when authorities finally exposed the alleged wrongdoing in 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report