The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, headquartered in Chelsea, is retiring effective June 9.
The FBI announced the retirement of Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Joseph R. Bonavolonta last week. Bonavolonta is retiring after a 27-year career with the FBI.
Bonavolonta has served as the special agent in charge of the Boston Division since January 2019, overseeing all FBI operations in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. He also serves as the director of national intelligence’s representative for the New England region.
“I have spent the last 27 years of my life with the FBI, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t trade in a single day,” Bonavolonta wrote in a letter announcing his retirement to the Boston Division. “As many of you know, I was raised in an FBI family with my father having served 24 years as a Special Agent in this organization, and there is no doubt watching the way he went about doing his job cultivated my desire to follow in his footsteps. I have always considered myself lucky to have been able to carry on the legacy he set, and I have never taken it for granted one single day. I have had many positive assignments throughout my career but serving all of you as special agent in charge has been one of the most rewarding.
“Simply put, it is time to devote more time to the people who have made the most sacrifices on my behalf, and that is my family, and I look forward to pursuing new endeavors in the private sector.”
Bonavolonta joined the FBI in May 1996 as an investigative specialist in the FBI’s New York Field Office and four years later became a special agent assigned to that office. He spent many years investigating the Bonanno La Cosa Nostra Family, and his work led to the convictions of dozens of high-ranking members and associates. For his contributions to these investigations, Mr. Bonavolonta received the Attorney General’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance in 2005. Additionally, he has held a variety of leadership, operational, and investigative positions throughout his career including at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; the Newark Field Office; and the Boston Division, where he also served as the assistant special agent in charge overseeing the cyber and counterintelligence programs in 2013 before returning to Headquarters in 2017.
Bonavolonta‘s permanent replacement will be appointed by FBI Director Christopher Wray at a later date.