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Jerry Speziale resigned in 2010 and took a position with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Speziale's decision to move from Passaic County to the Port Authority mid-election was the focus of controversy, and prompted allegations that the appointment was political. Sympathizing with Speziale's family situation, because his wife was suffering from a terminal illness, many respected his right to make this move, but local and countywide Democrats were disappointed with the abruptness of his departing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9h9maut6ME/news/081010|title=Speziale steps down as sheriff|publisher=NorthJersey.com |accessdate=2010-08-11}}</ref>
In 2003, Speziale had been described as a "flamboyant figure"<ref name="Rashb">William K. Rashbaumaug, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/nyregion/20sheriff.html Inquiry Into Ex-Sheriff's Motor Pool], ''The New York Times'', August 19, 2010.</ref><ref name=NYTrides>Jonathan Miller, [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/09/nyregion/the-law-passaic-sheriff-rides-high-on-attention.html "THE LAW; Passaic Sheriff Rides High On Attention"], ''The New York Times'', February 9, 2003</ref> and as having a "flair for publicity."<ref name=OldJob>Abbott Koloff, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924180320/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-228047027.html "Old Job Has Sway on Police Director,"] ''The Record'' (Bergen County, N.J.), 18 August 2014: A.1</ref><ref name="patriciaalex">{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/former-sheriff-jerry-speziale-is-a-no-show-at-motorcycle-run-named-for-him-1.1154456|title=Former sheriff Jerry Speziale is a no-show at motorcycle run named for him|author=Patricia Alex|work=NorthJersey.com}}</ref><ref name=Doblin>Alfred P. Doblin, [http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/steven-slater-has-nothing-on-jerry-speziale-1.247858 "Steven Slater has nothing on Jerry Speziale"],''The Record'' (Bergen County, N.J.) 13 August 2010: A.19.</ref> In 1986, just a few years into his time with the New York City Police Department, Speziale was shot in the line of duty, where Speziale and his partner were ambushed and he was shot. Two other cops were shot and Speziale returned fire and killed the suspect. Speziale, later got involved in undercover drug work that took him to Colombia to help fight the powerful cartels.
In 1989, Speziale was promoted to the rank of detective and assigned as an undercover agent with United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Throughout his career with the DEA, Speziale undertook international travel and participated in a number of raids and operations targeting drug smuggling operations. Speziale primarily worked with Paul Lir Alexander, a high level informant, who taught him the intricacies of the South American drug trade. Alexander introduced Speziale to members of South American drug cartels, which assisted Speziale, Alexander and the members of the DEA operation, "Group 93," to infiltrate the infamous Cali Drug Cartel.
In July 1992, Speziale was responsible for capturing and arresting the largest Cali drug cartel leader ever prosecuted under New York State law. ******** arrested the cartel leader at the Hilton Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland and extradited him to the United States with the assistance of the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutors Office and the US Marshall Service. Despite the collaboration between Alexander and Speziale, Alexander ultimately betrayed Speziale.
In 1992, Alaska Federal Court, Speziale and his team traveled to Anchorage, Alaska and raided the compound of Frank Plunk an established cocaine trafficker responsible for coordinating the transportation of cocaine from Los Angeles and Houston to the New York City area. Plunk was responsible for recruiting drivers to transport shipments of approximately 200-250 kilograms of cocaine in recreational vehicles and produce trucks and was successfully directed approximately two dozen shipments. In December 1993, Speziale through court-authorized wiretaps revealed the existence of a large conspiracy to transport cocaine across the United States. Pet. Many of the monitored telephone calls were from Frank Plunk in Alaska. Speziale coordinated a multi-state wiretap operation with federal, state and local law enforcement utilizing authorized wiretap of Plunk’ cellular telephone, which caused Speziale and his team to stop a motor home driven by Hal Booher. Speziale and his team searched Booher's vehicle and discovered 220 kilograms of cocaine. Booher identified Frank Plunk as his employer, and an ensuing search of Plunk’s home by Speziale and his team uncovered several firearms, a scale, and nearly $10,000 in cash. Speziale of the New York City Police Department testified in federal court in Alaska as an expert witness "in the field of narcotics trafficking, including wiretapping investigations, analysis of codes, words, and reference[s] used by narcotics traffickers." Speziale was qualified by the court to provide expert testimony under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 about his "specialized knowledge of how drug trafficking is sometimes conducted and the methods and techniques that may be employed. Speziale testified about code words used by drug traffickers and interpreted encoded conversations between petitioner and his co-conspirators. The court cautioned the jury that Speziale's interpretation of the conversations was "only an opinion" and that it was up to the jury "to decide whether to believe any, all, or none of that opinion." In the end, Frank Plunk was convicted on six of the ten counts against him. Plunk challenged Speziale’s testimony and the court determined that "Detective Speziale's testimony concerned a proper subject of expert testimony," because "the jargon of the narcotics trade and the codes that drug dealers often use constitute specialized bodies of knowledge." The court also upheld the district court's ruling that Detective Speziale was qualified as an expert on that subject. The court of appeals concluded that the district court acted "well within the bounds of its discretion in qualifying Detective Speziale as an expert and allowing him to testify as such regarding the cryptic codes and jargon of narcotics dealers.".
In 1993 the Frank Plunk investigation expanded to California under Operation Foxhunt - Zorro. Speziale travelled to Los Angeles, California and assisted the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, (HIDTA) Task Force initiating wiretaps on Diego Fernando Salazar-Izquierdo (Zorro). Speziale coordinated efforts with federal, state and local law enforcement in California and Operation Foxhunt commenced. Operation Foxhunt took its name from one of the investigation's primary targets, Diego Fernando Salazar-Izquierdo, a Cali cartel transportation cell director in Los Angeles known as "Zorro." (Zorro is Spanish for fox.) A second cell director, Over Arturo Acuna directed parallel drug operations, also out of Los Angeles. Zorro and Arturo each directed their own drug networks, but were tightly controlled and compartmentalized distribution networks. Both Zorro and Arturo, reported directly to the head of the organization's U.S network based in Cali, Colombia. Operation Foxhunt was significant in that the arrest of Zorro and Arturo effectively and completely shut down the distribution of cocaine in the United States by the family in Colombia that supplied these two cell directors. Operation Foxhunt was an enormously successful investigation, benefitting from support from more than 55 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
In 1995, the culmination of this investigation resulted in the arrest of 199 suspects, seizure of over $13.5 million dollars and 6.5 tons of cocaine. The investigation dealt a major blow to the Colombian drug cartel's operations in seven U.S. cities, New York City, Los Angeles, Colorado, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, San Antonio, St. Louis and Washington, DC.
Until he retired from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the rank of Detective 1st Grade in 1997, Speziale's career was distinguished by ever higher promotions and he was recognized as a National Wiretap Expert - FBI Academy. Speziale is recognized as an expert on cell phone and wiretapping technology, narcotics smuggling, money laundering and has lectured on these subjects at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Speziale has testified before the U.S. Congress and frequently lectures at law enforcement training centers throughout the nation. Speziale has received numerous departmental recognition awards, including the Michael John Buczek Medal of Honor; twenty-two New York City Police Department commendations, two DEA Administrator's Awards, the NYPD Organized Crime Control Bureau of Excellence Award, and the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Award.<ref http://forums.leoaffairs.com/archive/index.php/t-172360.html><ref><refhttp://forums.leoaffairs.com/archive/index.php/t-172360.html><ref>
Those experiences formed the basis of his published [[ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] book: “Without a Badge: Undercover in the World’s Deadliest Criminal Organization,” describing his experiences working undercover,<ref name=NYTrides/> and has been featured on the reality TV series [[Cops (TV series)|''Cops'']]. Speziale also played a police captain and served as a "police consultant" for the 2010 film ''[[Brooklyn's Finest]].''<ref name=Reich>Michael, [https://www.timesleader.com/news/725805/police-chief-has-gained-fame-but-remains-committed-to-helping-hazleton],''The Times Leader'' (Wilkes-Barre, P.A.) 25 November 2018: C.1.</ref>
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