Edward Grace began his Fish and Wildlife Service career cracking Russian gangsters’ hold on the New York City caviar trade. He ended it as the agency’s top cop, retiring in January as chief of the FWS Office of Law Enforcement.
Now 59, Grace spent nearly 30 years working in Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement. From the mobbed-up fish egg trade and the gruesome market for animal crush videos to the craving for pet turtles and the three-ring circus that was the “Tiger King” murder-for-hire case, Grace handled his share of exotic police work.
Funded at about $92 million and staffed by about 330 employees, the FWS Office of Law Enforcement oversees compliance with the nation’s myriad wildlife and related laws. In fiscal 2023, it reported that it conducted over 9,600 wildlife crime investigations while inspectors processed nearly 175,000 declared wildlife shipments.
Grace’s team handled many successful cases, such as the 2020 conviction on multiple charges of wildlife impresario Joseph Maldonado, aka “Joe Exotic” or the “Tiger King.” Other cases frustrated Grace’s investigators, as with the 2024 acquittal of a Cambodian government official on charges of macaque smuggling.
