Peter J. Forcelli is a retired Deputy Assistant Director from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Prior to joining ATF he served for 15 years with the N.Y.P.D., before retiring from the Bronx Homicide Task Force.
He is now an author, public speaker and advocate for law enforcement and government accountability. He is a volunteer at Empower Oversight, a government watchdog organization.
Mr. Forcelli worked his way up from "beat cop" to detective, before going on to serve as a Special Agent for ATF in New York City. There, he rose through the ranks of ATF, eventually becoming a Deputy Assistant Director at the agency. He has made over 1,200 arrests and has served over 300 search warrants in his law enforcement career. He was known for developing complex criminal investigations targeting armed gangs and criminal organizations.
Over the span of his career Mr. Forcelli served in a variety of leadership positions within ATF. He was a Group Supervisor in Phoenix, Arizona; an Assistant Country Attaché in Eastern Canada; and both an Assistant Special Agent in Charge and eventually the Special Agent in Charge in Miami, Florida.
While serving as the Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Division, he oversaw ATF’s response to several mass shootings, including those at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland Florida. He also oversaw ATF’s investigation into Omar Mateen and his acquisition of the firearms that were used in the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
Mr. Forcelli is a survivor of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center, and the lung cancer that he later developed because of his work in the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero.
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