United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW YORK – Born and raised in New York City, Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan returns home to lead the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division in its mission to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations worldwide.  With a noteworthy background, Mr. Donovan brings a mixture of highly sophisticated investigative techniques and good old fashioned police work to dismantle drug trafficking and money laundering organizations in New York and around the globe. 

Mr. Donovan began his law enforcement career in October 1995, as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in San Diego, California. Two years later, Mr. Donovan became a Special Agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assigned to the DEA’s New York Drug Task Force, the largest and oldest task force in the nation.

In June 2006, Mr. Donovan was promoted to Group Supervisor in the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, responsible for a team of DEA Special Agents, New York City Police Department Detectives and New York State Police Investigators. Under his leadership, the team achieved many significant accomplishments, to include launching an innovative money laundering initiative designed to identify and target drug trafficking organizations engaged in the collection and laundering of drug proceeds. Not only did this initiative result in the seizure of millions of dollars, but it sent a message to the traffickers that law enforcement was taking away what they wanted most, their profit.

In September 2012, Mr. Donovan was reassigned to the Special Operations Division; a premier multi-agency operational coordination center focused on attacking national and international drug trafficking and narco-terrorism organizations, located in Chantilly, Virginia. Assigned to the Mexico, Central America and Canada Section, Mr. Donovan spearheaded and directed investigations and enforcement operations targeting many of the world’s most notorious drug trafficking organizations, to include the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mr. Donovan was promoted to Section Chief in February 2015 where he oversaw the operation that resulted in the capture of Joaquin Guzman-Loera, aka Chapo, in Los Mochis, Mexico. Section Chief Donovan was also one of the original managers of the Special Operations Division Heroin/Fentanyl Working Group, which devoted resources to develop and expand operations to investigate and track fentanyl trafficking across the U.S. and internationally.

Mr. Donovan returned to the New York Division as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge in April 2016, responsible for four enforcement teams of DEA Special Agents in their efforts to dismantle opioid traffickers in the New York area as well as their sources of supply.  Eight months later, Mr. Donovan was promoted to the Senior Executive Service and became the Special Agent in Charge of the Special Operations Division.  Mr. Donovan was responsible for 500 personnel from DEA and 34 partner agencies; including federal and state law enforcement, the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and foreign law enforcement counterparts. 

In December 2018, Mr. Donovan was selected as the Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s New York Division where he currently leads the premiere, drug law enforcement agency in efforts to target the highest echelon of international drug traffickers while simultaneously dismantling local distributors in New York State and cities across the United States. 

Mr. Donovan is a 1993 graduate from St. John’s University with a degree in Criminal Justice.