The Former United States Marshal for the Massachusetts District, John Gibbons, has p@ssed away. John Gibbons, the state’s first Black U.S. sheriff, di*d less than two years after retiring from a long and successful career in law enforcement.
The office of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has released this information to 22News. After more than four decades in law enforcement, Gibbons retired in August 2021. For the District of Massachusetts, he was the first African American to hold the position of U.S. Marshal.
He was sworn in on January 13, 2010, after being appointed by President Obama in December 2009. Before becoming the Marshal, Gibbons spent 30 years as a police officer in Massachusetts with the Massachusetts State Police (MSP).
For 27 years, he worked in the Division of Investigations at the Massachusetts State Police, where his titles included Unit/Section Commander of the State Police Detective Unit at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in Western Massachusetts and Unit Commander of the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Massachusetts has some interesting recent headlines. You can reach them via the following links:
Marshal Gibbons was the Operational Supervisor for the FBI’s Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force, the Western Massachusetts Team Leader for the Massachusetts State Police Crisis Negotiations Team, and the Massachusetts Fire Marshal’s Representative.
He was a member of the Terrorism Task Force investigating the Boston-Raymond Luc Levasseur/Nyack, New York Brinks Robbery (BOSLUC/NYROB) with the FBI, the New York City Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, and Nick Cocchi, a friend of Gibbons’s and the sheriff of Hampden County, MA, made the following remark.
Sheriff Cocchi said:
“The world lost a good man today as my dear friend, retired U.S. Marshal John Gibbons, passed away. During his career spanning 30 years with the Massachusetts State Police and over a decade as the first Black U.S. Marshal in the Commonwealth, John worked on some of the most high-profile cases.
On the job, he was incredibly talented and dedicated to finding justice for victims. Day-to-day, he was a great friend and a loving family man. My heart goes out to his brother Ronnie, who works for our Sheriff’s Office, his wife Shelby, and his entire family.”
Gibbons was responsible for ensuring safety at several noteworthy events in the District of Massachusetts while serving in the U.S. Marshals Service, such as the Boston Marathon Bombing trial and the arrest and trial of James “Whitey” Bulger. Masslivenews covered the death of Gibbons as linked below:
Gibbons served on the Massachusetts State Police for 30 years. https://t.co/PvQGAa9q3D
— masslivenews (@masslivenews) May 3, 2023
