Thomas F. Sheehan of Nutley, New Jersey passed away on the evening of December 10th, 2022, at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY. He was surrounded by his daughter Meave and son Will who loved him very much.
Tom was devoted to his country and loved being a federal agent. He was honored to have served alongside the men and women who fought the war on drugs. During his career with the U.S. Department of Justice, Tom was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco, New York and Newark field offices for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Tom’s 36-year-long career in federal law enforcement began at the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), until President Nixon created the DEA by Executive Order in 1973 to ensure a single unified command to combat America’s growing drug problem.
During his time with the DEA, Tom was stationed all over the country in many posts including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Long Island, New York City, and Connecticut— and spent many months in Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout the mid-1970s disrupting the opium trade and collecting intelligence on Russian KGB agents prior to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Additionally, Tom was credited as one of the creators of DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), which still dismantles and disrupts drug trafficking organizations today. Known to many in New York City as “Tommy Red” because of his hair color, Tom’s career took him on many adventures – from navigating the streets of Beirut to being part of the team that took down Henry Hill.
In addition to his time at the DEA, Tom was appointed to serve on President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Commission on Organized Crime, working in the Executive Branch and directly with the White House.
Prior to that, Tom was a Massachusetts State Trooper and a member of the 49th Recruit Training class appointed in January 1968. Before his career in law enforcement, Tom served in the United States Army as a Mustang, enlisting and then receiving his officer’s commission. He was born in Cambridge, MA, as the eldest of six children to Ann Buckley and Thomas Sheehan, Sr., where he attended Matignon High School and played football at Boston College.
Tom is survived by his two children, Will and Meave Sheehan, and is predeceased by his beloved wife Margaret, his siblings Eileen, John, Paul, Kevin and Elizabeth, his parents Thomas Sr. and Ann, and his dog Petey.
There will be a funeral mass celebrated at Holy Family Church, 28 Brookline Avenue, Nutley, New Jersey on Monday, December 19th at 10:00 AM. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ. The family will receive guests at the church from 9:30 AM until the beginning of mass. Please feel free to share stories about Tom with his children. Meave can be reached at meave.warnock.sheehan@gmail.com and Will at will.sheehan@icloud.com.