In her first public comment since Friday's partial verdict in the high-profile Joseph Bongiovanni trial, U.S. Attorney Trini Ross said Monday that federal prosecutors are ready to retry the former federal agent on unresolved bribery and corruption charges.
Harmony vanished as Bongiovanni jury deadlocked on 12 bribery and corruption charges
The jury in the eight-week trial of the former Drug Enforcement Administration agent did not reach a verdict on bribery counts against him but found him guilty on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of lying to federal agents over a case file kept in his home after his retirement. Jurors acquitted Bongiovanni, 59, of deleting data on his DEA-issued cellphone when he retired.
“I am proud of the work by the trial team on this difficult public corruption case,” Ross said in a written release. “The jury’s verdict includes two felony convictions of a former DEA special agent for obstruction of justice and making false statements. And we stand ready to retry the remaining counts where there was no unanimous verdict.”
Jurors could not reach a verdict on 12 other charges, including that he allegedly protected members of the Ron Serio drug-trafficking organization from arrest and alerted them of informants as well as other counts involving Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club near the airport.
After the verdict was announced Friday, defense attorney Robert Singer said he would move to dismiss the unresolved counts, saying the disagreement among jurors “calls into question whether this prosecution should continue.”
