Andrew Arena, 49, will retire next month as the top FBI official in Detroit to run the Detroit Crime Commission, a new nonprofit that says it is dedicated to dismantling criminal enterprises in metro Detroit, reports the Detroit Free Press. During his five years heading the FBI Detroit office, FBI investigations resulted in more than a dozen convictions of people involved in pay-to-play scandals. Former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, who admitted she took bribes, is in prison. Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is to go on trial in September.
Arena also oversaw the investigation of the so-called underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who pleaded guilty last year to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25, 2009. He had some setbacks, too, including the acquittal last month of seven members of the Hutaree militia, who were accused of plotting a violent revolt against the U.S. government using weapons of mass destruction. Three members have pleaded guilty to weapons charges. Arena spoke passionately about fighting public corruption and said he plans to continue to do so at the Detroit Crime Commission. Since joining the FBI in 1988 in Albany, N.Y., Arena has fought organized crime in New York, Youngstown, Ohio, and Detroit.