This article is about the undercover FBI agent. For the film, see Donnie Brasco (film).Joseph Pistone as Donnie Brasco (left) with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano (right) in Florida.

Joseph Dominick Pistone (born 1939), alias Donnie Brasco, is a former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family and to a lesser extent the Colombo crime family, two of the Five Families of the Mafia in New York City.

Pistone has stated that he would have become a made member of the Bonanno family if he had murdered capo Phillip Giaccone in December of 1981. That hit was called off, but Pistone was later contracted to murder Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's son, Anthony Indelicato. Pistone was sworn in as a Special Agent of the FBI in 1969, seven years before going undercover.

Early life

Pistone was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and grew up in the Sandy Hill section of Paterson, New Jersey. He graduated from Paterson State College (now William Paterson University) in 1965 with a degree in anthropology. After a year of working as a teacher in Paterson School No. 10, he worked for the Office of Naval Intelligence. He became an FBI special agent in 1969.[1] He is of no relation to Colombo crime family mobster Joseph (Joe Baldy) Pistone or Lawrence (Larry) Pistone.

Career prior to Donnie Brasco

After serving in a variety of FBI roles throughout the USA, Pistone was transferred to New York in 1974 and assigned to the truck hijacking squad. His ability to drive 18-wheel trucks and bulldozers meant he was picked for what would become his first major undercover role, infiltrating a gang stealing these vehicles as well as others, sometimes to order. His penetration of this group led to the arrest of over 30 people along the Eastern Seaboard in February 1976 and was described at the time as one of the largest and most profitable theft rings ever broken in the United States to that point. To this day Pistone remains a legend throughout the FBI for his work in undercover operations.

As Donnie Brasco

Pistone was selected to be an undercover agent because he was of Sicilian heritage, was fluent in Italian, and was acquainted with the Mob from growing up in Paterson. He also said that he did not perspire under pressure and was aware of the Mafia's codes of conduct and system. The operation was given the code "Sun-Apple".

After an extensive amount of background work, the name "Donald Brasco" was chosen to be Pistone's alias, and in September 1976 he went undercover as a jewel thief. Pistone has stated that it was not the original aim to penetrate the Mafia, rather the focus was to be on a group of people fencing stolen property from the large number of truck hijackings taking place each day in New York at the time (five to six a day). It was intended that the undercover operation last for six months, rather than six years.

At the same time Pistone was investigating the Bonanno crime family, Bob Delaney, under the ruse of "Bobby Covert" a.k.a. "Bobby Smash," began investigating the New Jersey organized crime scene. He maintained during the investigation an open association with the crime families who would alleviate their business pressures from the unions for a price. The two would actually meet through Colombo crime family caporegime Nicholas Forlano. At the time, neither man knew that the other was working undercover.

Pistone subsequently developed a close relationship with the Bonanno capo Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, Michael Sabella, Anthony Mirra and was tutored in the ways of the Mafia by Bonanno soldier Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero. It was by doing this that Ruggiero was to inadvertently provide much evidence to Pistone, as made Mafia members will not normally talk to non-members about the activities of other crews.

The evidence collected by Pistone led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of Mafia members. Pistone's operation ended after six years when Napolitano ordered Pistone to murder Anthony Indelicato, who previously evaded a meeting which left Anthony's father Alphonse Indelicato, together with Phillip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera, dead. Pistone never witnessed, nor was involved in the murder of the three. Two days later, FBI agents informed Napolitano and Ruggiero that their longtime associate was in fact an FBI agent.

Shortly thereafter, Napolitano was murdered for having allowed an FBI agent to infiltrate the family; he was shot, and his hands were cut off in retaliation for the breach.[2] Ruggiero was to be killed as well, but he was instead arrested by the FBI in order to prevent his death.[2]

Aftermath

Following Napolitano's murder, the Mafia put out a $500,000 contract on Pistone; his family had to move six times.[3] However, the contract was rescinded following a sitdown between FBI agents and members of the Bonanno family where unprecedented FBI attention was threatened on the mob if Pistone was touched. Subsequent surveillance confirmed the contract had been lifted.[citation needed]

Bonanno boss Joe Massino was convicted in 2004 of ordering Napolitano to be killed for allowing Pistone into the family.

Pistone continues to be active as an author and consultant to worldwide law enforcement agencies, such as Scotland Yard,[4] and he has been called to testify before the U.S. Senate as an expert on organized crime.

Despite the contract on his life being lifted, Pistone still travels disguised, under assumed names and with a license to carry a firearm.

John Cersani Libel Suit

Sometime in 1996, years after the Donnie Brasco book debuted, a bootlegged video from the pre-release screening of the film found its way into the hands of John "Boobie" Cersani, a close associate of Napolitano. In the movie, the actor who portrays Cersani, as well as several other actors portraying gangsters, are seen kicking a the owner of a Japanese restaurant in the face and smashing him in the head with a garbage can. Worse, the actor portraying Boobie is seen blasting three gangsters with a shotgun, blowing off pieces of one's head and a chunk out of the leg of another. The Boobie character is then seen helping other gangsters dismember the corpses with a saw for disposal in garbage bags, which, unlike the description in the book version, are black, not green. His lawyer, Barry Slotnick, threatened to sue for libel and defamation of character, even though the picture had not yet been released. He argued that because enough people had seen the pirated version, the damage was already done to Cersani's reputation. Sony Pictures Entertainment shortened the murder scene and deleted a scene in which the Boobie character reloads during the shotgun murder, replacing him with Dominick Napolitano for those portions of the film. Dominick was already dead, murdered in a gangland slaying. They also changed the character's name to "Paulie," and effected the change by having actors dub the name "Paulie" every time they had previously said "Boobie". When the movie was released in early 1997, there was still one mention of Boobie that erroneously made it past this voiceover process. In addition, the Boobie character, now named Paulie, still helps to dismember a victim with what is described by all involved as a "saw-like knife."

Books and films

Pistone detailed his undercover experience in his 1987 book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia. This book was the basis for the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, starring Johnny Depp as Pistone and Al Pacino as Ruggiero. Pistone revisited his experiences as Donnie Brasco in his books The Way of the Wiseguy (2004) and Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business (2007).

Pistone also wrote a novel, titled The Good Guys, with Joe Bonanno's son, Salvatore Bonanno. He also has served as an executive producer on movies relating to the Mafia, including the 2006 film 10th & Wolf.[2]

References

Sources

• Diehl, Christine S. "WP Has a Sit-Down With Joe Pistone/Donnie Brasco", WP, The Magazine of William Paterson University, Vol. 7, No. 1, Winter 2006.
• Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, p. 402, Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-66637-4.
• Pistone, Joseph D. (2004). The Way of the Wiseguy, Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-1839-7.
• Pistone, Joseph D.; & Brandt, Charles (2007). Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business, Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-2707-8.
• Testimony before Senate Sub Committee on Organized Crime http://www.americanmafia.com/pistone_testimony.html