A Couple of Guys Smoked Cigars With Boston’s Retiring Top FBI Official

Special Agent Richard DesLauriers officially steps down from his post on July 13. He started the celebration early.

Photo via Imgur.com

Photo via Imgur.com

What does the leading FBI official who handled cases like the capture of Whitey Bulger, and developed leads in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Museum heist do when he decides to retire? He smokes cigars with random strangers.

On July 13, Richard DesLauriers, FBI Special Agent in charge of the Boston Division, will step down after serving 26-years with the agency. To cap off his career successes, which also includes working on the Boston Marathon bombing case leading to the apprehension of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, DesLauriers was awarded by two gentlemen in the form of a cigar when he was spending time in Faneuil Hall this week.

According to the person who posted the image to the photo site Imgur.com, they were hanging out in a cigar bar when they got to talking with a group of men in suits, smoking “big cigars.” The men at the bar told the duo, who appear in the photo with DesLauriers, that they were waiting for the outgoing FBI special agent so they could officially celebrate his retirement.

DeLauriers, who was the last to appear at the cigar bar, didn’t have his own, so the two people who were chatting away with FBI officials bought one for him—and then they smoked it together.

“I had a few to spare,” wrote the person who posted the photo, adding it was a “cheapie” from a 7/11 store.

DesLauriers, who has been the SAC since July 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, 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.

“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,” DesLauriers said in a statement when he announced his retirement last month.

Boston reached out to the person who posted the photo and the FBI division in Boston for a comment, but neither have immediately replied.