Joseph Pistone infiltrated the Bonanno Crime family from 1976 to 1982, and .
in my opinion was one of the most amazing feets to had been accomplished in the history .
of organized crime. He was raised in Paterson, New Jersey, where his father had run .
several bars. He married his high school sweetheart and spent three years working for the .
government in naval intelligence before joining the FBI. Pistone had been an FBI agent .
since July of 1969 and served undercover for the first time in Florida. There he helped .
break up a crime ring that had stolen over a million dollars worth of automobiles. After .
he finished his assignment in Florida, he transferred back to the FBI office in New York, .
where he and a group of backup agents came up with the concept of infiltrating major .
fences that were dealing with the mafia. Agent Pistone's appearance and American Italian .
background were perfet for this assignment and he went undercover in September of 76'.
.
Before I begin the story of Donnie Brasco, I just wanted to mention that.
the FBI budgeted this job for six months and it went on for almost six years. He started.
hanging out at bars and clubs in Manhattan, spending money trying to create some sort of .
presence and waiting for something to happen. For this assignment he used an alias he .
used for the Florida job; "Donnie Brasco". He eventally hooked up with a group of .
hodlums that were affiliated with a capo (captain) in the Colombo crime family, and .
through them in March of 77' met Tony Mirra, a well known hitman for the Bonanno .
crime family. Mirra, an unstable lunatic and very deadly person to cross, operated in a .
crew headed by Mickey Zaffarano (who ran the pornography business for the family). .
Mirra also ran a sandwich bar on Madison Street in Lower Manhattan, where .
Pistone met Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero (another Bonanno member). .
Over the following few weeks, Pistone gathered enough information on .
Donnie Brasco When I was first assigned to see "Donnie Brasco" I instantly had an image of another ruff and intense mobster movie. It has been a while since Hollywood has attempted to do a mob related movie until now. "Donnie Brasco" was released last Friday. This movie stars Al Pac...