Head of Boston FBI division is retiring

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston division announced that Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta is concluding his 27-year career at the agency.

Since 2019, Bonavolonta has led the FBI Boston division, which oversees operations in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, according to an announcement Friday. He is also currently the New England representative for the director of national intelligence.

His retirement announcement highlighted his years-long investigation into the Bonanno La Cosa Nostra Family, one of the five most prominent mafia families in New York, which led to several convictions of dozens of high-ranking members of associates. He began his career at the FBI at the New York Field Office, where he started as an investigative specialist and later assumed the role of special agent.

Bonavolonta said counterintelligence, counterterrorism and cybersecurity threats have been the biggest priorities in the New England region. Especially on the counterintelligence and cybersecurity fronts, he said New England is a "target-rich environment" given its concentration of world-renowned research universities, Department of Defense contractors and financial institutions.

"We have so many sectors that are just prime targets for our foreign state adversaries," he said.

These are concerns the next head of the FBI Boston division will have to contend with, but Bonavolonta said the various task forces in which his office participates have offered critical support during his tenure.

"For us to be truly effective in mitigating these threats, we have to work consistently within the task force environments with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners, which we do very well up here in New England," he said.

Bonavolonta's father also served as a special agent in charge in the FBI, and Bonavolonta said he was "lucky" to follow in his footsteps. "I have never taken it for granted one single day," he wrote in a letter.

According to the letter, Bonavolonta said he looks forward to spending more time with his family and that he would be moving to the private sector.

His retirement goes into effect on June 9. The FBI has yet to name a permanent replacement.