“Variety” is a word that can be personified as a quickie mart, mired in the cheapness of over-cooked hot dogs and over-priced gallons of milk. It’s hard to imagine, but this same word, “variety,” when used by Special Agent Gary Cacace, the Supervisory Special Agent for the Hudson and Lowell agencies of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to describe what he likes about his career, loses the cheap connotation to gain an almost prestigious aura.

While focusing on the eclectic aspects of a career in law enforcement may seem cliché, Cacace has run the gamut: from his collegiate accounting introduction to the bureau, to his three years spent busting fraudulent bankers with the white-collar crime squad, a few years with the narcotics squad where he went undercover and encountered cocaine-carrying Colombians and drug-dealing Dominicans, on to a seven-year stint with the violent crimes squad at a time when Boston was “plagued by armored car robberies,” next it was back to the white-collar crime squad for a year or so, this time as a supervisor and finally, this January, Cacace moved to his present position as supervisory agent in Hudson and Lowell. 

“No two days have been the same in my sixteen-year career,” said the agent. He especially likes the Resident Agencies (Hudson and Lowell) because the variety is magnified, and of his supervisory role, he said, “You do feel like a ‘Jack of all trades’ in this position.”

That said, in the last 16 years, there has been one defining moment that profoundly affected the nation and revolutionized the focus of American law enforcement. Although he was not even on American soil at the time of the events that would go down in infamy, upon his re-entry Cacace would walk into a whirlwind that would irrevocably alter the remainder of his career.

As Special Agent Gary Cacace and his wife returned from vacation on board a plane bound for Logan Airport, a flight attendant walked past them and instantly the agent sensed something was wrong. 

“She looked nervous to me, and my antennas went up,” said Cacace. He intuitively knew something was awry, but not until the agent and his wife entered the airport concourse ripe with utter chaos could he comprehend the magnitude of the day’s events.

The date was Sept. 11, 2001. Cacace’s plane was among the last to land at Logan on that fateful autumn day.

 “Nine-eleven was a defining moment in American law enforcement,” Cacace said.

The FBI is “cognizant” to the world around it, according to Cacace, and the attacks on the nation were the pivotal point that identified terrorism as the FBI’s number one priority.

“You can see, in one foul sweep, just how devastating terrorism can be,” he said.

In the days and months following the attacks, the agent “rode around checking leads” with several state troopers and “the law enforcement bond” was in full effect.

 “It was a terrible moment in American history,” he said, “but you could really see the brotherhood.”

There has always been a terrorism task force in Boston, but in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy, the FBI reorganized its funds, giving the Boston division five task forces, which cover all of Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Each program has its own set of rules based on the constitution. 

“What we do with criminal investigations won’t be the same as with terrorism,” said Cacace. 

Each year, the bureau comes up with a list of priorities dictated by the criminal problems of the time. According to the FBI’s Web site, FBI.gov, the bureau’s priorities are counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cyber crime, public corruption, civil rights, white-collar crime, organized crime and major thefts/violent crime, in that order.

The current list has been in effect for the last several years, but was very different 16 years ago when Cacace broke in to the business with white-collar crime heading the list.

Growing up in New Haven, Conn., Cacace was always around law enforcement — half of his family worked for police department and half for the fire department, he said. He took both tests at age 18 and could have been hired as either a police officer or a firefighter. However, he decided to pursue his education. Studying accounting at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., Cacace received something from the FBI saying the bureau was looking for accountants. He applied and was hired by the New Haven branch of the FBI to work on a part-time basis during his junior year. He said it took him just two weeks to decide he wanted to be an FBI agent.

After a brief stint with a small CPA firm after graduation, Cacace entered the FBI Academy. He’s been in Massachusetts since graduating as a special agent 16 years ago. He believes his background as an accountant was part of the reason that he was hired, as white-collar crime, where Cacace spent his first three and a half years, was the FBI’s top priority.

Responsible for bank fraud, money laundering, healthcare fraud, public corruption and multiple federal crimes, Cacace was working specifically with bank fraud, and his first case, which lasted for almost his entire time with the squad, involved a city councilor and real estate developer.

“Once the market crashed, [they] couldn’t pay the bank loans,” said Cacace. “Ultimately, they were convicted.”

He said some of the more interesting cases on the drug task force included arresting people internationally with multiple kilos of cocaine using “reverses,” in which undercover agents are involved with selling “supposed narcotics.”

Among his favorite cases was with violent crimes was the kidnapping for ransom of a 19-year-old male. The daylong case ended 11 p.m., when the agencies closed in on the victim and perpetrators.

Destined to be “remembered forever” is a bank robbery in New Hampshire that led to a chase down Route 1, with the subject “allegedly firing at police the whole way,” according to the agent. The chase ended up at the Massachusetts’ home of a corrections officer, who was home with his two children. The kids and officer eventually got out of the home, and the subject was apprehended. Cacace summed up the experience, “Standing outside that house for five, six, seven hours … you see what people are made of at that point.”  

Capitalizing on the tantalizing details of cases like these, crime drama has become all the rage on cable. But if you ask Cacace, they’re no substitute for the real thing. 

“Shows don’t adequately capture [the] FBI, “ he said. “We’re not like a half-hour or hour TV show.”

In fact, the public is often unaware of the FBI’s day-to-day business.

“We try to be a proactive agency. … Unless something goes to trial, it typically is not visible to the public,” he said.

So, if not for the outpouring of thanks and accolades, what is it that keeps Cacace and other special agents getting up for work every morning? 

“The thing that keeps us coming back everyday is camaraderie — friendly competitions, people’s pride. [There is an] unspoken competition, like ‘You had a good case last year, but mine was better,’” he said.

Now, entering the latter stages of his career, Cacace can see past the competitiveness and fondly look back to his FBI beginnings to acknowledge that the camaraderie within the bureau has bred accomplished agents. 

“How do you define success?” he asks. “I look back on agents that started with me in the Boston Division. They’ve all had successful careers.”

Patrick Ball is a recent graduate of Framingham State College and can be reached at mothertown@cnc.com.