Head of Boston’s FBI Office Announces Retirement

The top FBI official who was in charge of the Boston Marathon bombing investigations, implemented unique tactics to help capture famed criminal James “Whitey” Bulger, and followed leads on the country’s biggest art heist to date, announced he will be retiring from the division starting next month.

In a statement, Richard DesLauriers, FBI Special Agent in charge of the Boston Division, said he was ending his 26-year career with the agency effective July 13.

DesLauriers, who has been the SAC since July of 2010, has overseen some of the largest and most prominent investigations Boston has handled, including the arrest of Bulger, the terrorism convictions of Tarek Mehanna and Rezwan Ferdaus, the conviction of former Speaker of the Massachusetts House Salvatore DiMasi, the arrest and convictions of Anthony DiNunzio and Luigi Mannochio, former leaders of the New England La Cosa Nostra, and helped make progress in the hunt for the thieves responsible for swiping millions of dollars worth of artwork from the city’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Since April 15, the day that two bombs exploded along Boylston Street during the Boston Marathon, DesLauriers has lead the investigation and helped track down apprehend the suspects.

“It has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve for the past three years as SAC of the Boston Division of the FBI. I thank the very hard-working women and men of the FBI for their dedicated public service to our great nation, and I thank our many law enforcement and United States Attorney’s Office partners for their enduring friendship and countless contributions to enhancing public safety and security across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine,” DesLauriers said in a statement on Tuesday.

A native of Longmeadow, he first began working with the FBI in January 1987. Upon his retirement, the government official will move to Michigan, where he will take on the position of Vice President of Corporate Security with Penske Corporation in Bloomfield Hills.