The Real Donnie Brasco. * SPOILERS TO THE MOVIE *

[Von Smallhausen]

In line with the gangster theme and the recent avatar changes, I thought the following woould make an interesting read for some. I have said that I have a few books on organinised crime and the Mafia is one of subjects I read about quite a lot.

Made into a film in 1997, Donnie Brasco is the true story of FBI agent Joe Pistone and his infiltration of the Mafia. There are five Cosa Nostra families in New York of which Joe Pistone infiltrated the Bonnano family. His first skirts with the Mafia involved the Columbo family but he was soon drawn in with the Bonnanos. The other families are Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese.

Johnny Depp / Donnie Brasco and Al Pacino / Lefty Ruggerio.

Benjamin " Lefty Guns " Ruggerio and " Donnie Brasco " aka Joe Pistone.

From 1976 until 1981, Pistone collated huge amounts of evidence against the Cosa Nostra not only in New York but elsewhere where his evidence led to over 200 indictments and 100 convictions.

This picture amazes me. It is an FBI surveillance photo taken in Miami and the person seemingly looking at the camera is the Caporegime of the crew that Pistone infiltrated Dominick " Sonny Black " Napolitano ( played by Michael Madsen in the movie ). Donnie Brasco is sitting to the right. It amazes me that it shows a brutal killer and Mafia captain who is completely unaware that sitting next to him is an undercover FBI agent. I wonder what Agent Pistone was thinking at that time ?

In the movie, one of the final scenes showed Al Pacino being called for to get whacked for introducing Donnie to the mob. In reality he was on his way to that when the FBI arrested him on racketeering charges where he was subsequently sent down. He refused all offers to turn informant and died in 1995.

Sonny Black paid with his life. He was summoned to his execution in 1981 and also had his hands cut off as a warning to others. His murder was not solved until 2004 when Bonnano boss Joey Masssino was convicted of his murder.

Link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Brasco

There are many spin off links from here where further information can be read.

 

[jakeke]

Great book and a good film. I read it a few years ago and was really drawn in by it.

 

[marscay]

must have watched this movie loads of times - pacino and depp at their best and a great real life story too.

 

[Kell_ee001]

Very interesting read Thanks Von.

 

[Spie]

Interesting post Von. Thanks for sharing

 

[Von Smallhausen]

In his books Joe Pistone states that Sonny Black had arranged with the jailed boss of the Bonnano family, Phillip ' Rusty ' Rastelli that Donnie Brasco would become a made man upon his release from prison and Pistone wanted to carry on undercover but the senior FBI in charge did not. For Pistone to be made would have been such a huge humiliation for the Bonnano family and mob in general that even more damage would have been done and Agent Pistone knew this.

The FBI take on it was that if he was made then he may have been put at greater risk because of a feared war following the whacking of three Bonnano capos, Alphonse Indelicato, Phillip ' Phil Lucky ' Giaccone and Dominick ' Big Trin ' Trinchera. This treble hit was orchestrated by Sonny Black but the final ok was given by Gambino boss Paul ' Big Paul ' Castellano who was the capo de tutti capi or ' Boss of Bosses ' and head of the Mafia Commission which consists of the heads of the five New York families. Big Paul Castellano was subsequently whacked in 1985 in a move by John Gotti ( Commissario avatar ) which saw him take over the Gambino organisation.

Two books worth reading are

' My Life In The Mafia ' which tells the story of Joe Pistone's undercover activities but at the time of writing there were court cases ongoing so a lot had to be omitted which led to his second book ' Unfinished Business ' which covers what he could not put in the first book.

Allegedly, the $500,000 contract was rescinded after a visit by agents which threatened ' unprecendented interest ' in mob activities. Joe Pistone advises on undercover operations to this day.

 

[Conanius]

I read the true story behind this quite a while ago, the book was on offer in HMV for 1.99 so it would have been rude not to

The book goes into a lot of detail about how he started out right at the bottom of the food chain no months, if not years before where the film started off. Inredibly interesting, and he at the time was the longest ever person working undercover. Fantastic insight into what the guy did

 

[Von Smallhausen]

The star prosecutor was an up and coming Rudi Giuliani who was Mayor at the time of the 9/11 attacks.