Niagara Falls Reporter
Home | Archive / Search
JULY 07 - JULY 15, 2015

Series to Chronicle Life of FBI Special Agent J. Gary DiLaura

By Tony Farina

JULY 7, 2015

Love him or hate him, J. Gary DiLaura has an opinion on just about everyone and everything with whom he came in contact.
J. Gary DiLaura came across a lot of individuals in his legendary career. One of them was Mafia boss John Gotti. It did not end well for Gotti.

If you read this newspaper, you may have read a column or two by J. Gary DiLaura called “The Right Side,” a provocative, conservative-leaning view of the world in the words of a former special agent of the FBI.

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to take a peek at the life of this retired crime fighter now living in Niagara Falls who spent the last 20 years of his 29-year FBI career in the Buffalo office, one of 56 field offices in the United States and one of three in New York State (Albany, New York).

In his day, Agent DiLaura, who characterized himself as a “hustler,” was no shrinking violet sitting around an office drinking coffee.

He was an aggressive lawman who was involved in street shootouts, the Oklahoma City bombing investigation and Timothy McVeigh, and local cases involving familiar names like Niagara Falls plumber John Gross.

DiLaura investigated and subsequently arrested numerous high profile Western New York figures from the political, business and crime worlds, including a raft of them residing in Niagara County.

DiLaura didn’t always go by the book, and at times did it his way, leading to confrontations with his superiors but winning him many honors during a career that was marked by dangerous street confrontations with armed hoodlums and sharing the back seat of a car with New York crime boss John Gotti.

And how about investigating the robbery of screen actress Sophia Loren in New York City, a scene she did not want published for personal reasons.

It is all part of the DiLaura journey, and we will take a look at some of those drama-filled moments in the career of a special agent who went to Niagara Falls High School and now makes a living running a self-storage business, a far cry from his FBI days.

Of course, DiLaura’s Buffalo stop included working with two men who now sit as federal judges, the Hon. Richard Arcara and the Hon. William Skretny.

Judge Arcara was the United States attorney in Buffalo when DiLaura got here in 1975 after five years in wild and wooly New York City.

Cases put together by the FBI are prosecuted at the federal level, and Arcara would have been at the top of the food chain for federal prosecutions in Buffalo when DiLaura came to town and Judge Skretny was a first assistant under Arcara.

DiLaura remembers both men well, and sings their praises as prosecutors who were courageous and committed to bringing true criminals to justice, while safeguarding the due process rights of the innocent until proven guilty.

So for the next several weeks, we will examine some of the experiences of special agent J. Gary DiLaura and kind of put you right in the seat with him in that unmarked FBI car as he strives to bring the guilty to justice and make us all a little safer.

In a way, my time as an investigative reporter in Buffalo corresponds pretty closely with DiLaura’s time here as a special agent.  We will also examine that connection as part of the series on this former hard-charging crime fighter.

Look for Part I of the J. Gary DiLaura story next week.

 

 

 

 

 

Grandinetti Tells Falls' Residents on Facebook, If You Don't Like it Here "Move, You Are Not a Tree"
Accardo to State Comptroller: City is Rapidly Approaching Insolvency, Request State Audit, Will Hold Press Conference
Accardo Call for Truth-in-Budgeting From Falls Mayor
Says Cataract City is on the verge of insolvency
Walker Forgot a Few Details in Recent Interview About His Unpaid Property Taxes
Skrlin Hoists Sign Focused on "Missing Money" Mentioned in City Audit by State Comptroller
Poor Planning or Vandalism at Root of Destruction of Wallenda Monument at State Park?
Is Skrlin's Canvas a Sign or Master Artwork
Council Candidate Smith Will Answer Tough Questions
Early Morning Fog Befuddles Dyster’s
Grasp of Railroad Station Time, Budget
Sweet of Brooke to be Dyster’s Campaign Photographer

Blame Game Over Moody Downgrade Rising
Moody Downgrades Lewiston - But Who's Fault Is It?
Ceretto: 2015 Legislative Session,
Making State Govt Work For You Again
Games People Play
Taxpayers Can’t See Clearly Now, or Ever,
As Dyster Defies Transparency
Scott Runs in Crowded Race; Could Tip the Majority on City Council to School Teachers
Reporter Asks Scott for More Than Platitudes
Scott Seeks to Connect with City Voters Through Modern Methods
DiPaolo’s, Lombardo’s to Mark Anniversaries at Italian Festival
Many Await Results of State Audit of ECC
Only in NT: Oliver Street Transformation
Stagnant in North Tonawanda
Niagara Falls 5K Experience Back on Top Council Chair Lights Up Downtown Course
Affirmative Action, Free Housing, Free Lunch, Free Everything, Yes, We Have No More to Give
Sabres, Bills Getting Plenty of Hype From Local Media
Series to Chronicle Life of FBI Special Agent J. Gary DiLaura
Shame on You
Skrlin Flies Confederate Flag in honor/defiance of Obama
Letters to the Editor
City Hall Jokes
Deer spotted in back yard near Pine Ave.

Contact Info

©2014 The Niagara Falls Reporter Inc.
POB 3083, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304
E-mail: info@niagarafallsreporter.com
Phone: (716) 284-5595

Publisher and Editor in Chief: Frank Parlato
Managing Editor: Dr. Chitra Selvaraj
Senior Editor: Tony Farina