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Who is Donnie Brasco?
Is Donnie Brasco based on a true story?
Who is Joe Pistone aka Donnie Brasco?
Did Joseph Pistone infiltrate the Bonanno Mafia?
On July 26, 1981, he and his fellow wise guys learned that Donnie Brasco—who they knew as a small-time jewelry thief and burglar, who they thought was their partner and even their friend, who they...
Sep 30, 2005 · Pistone is a retired FBI agent who lived six years in the Mafia underworld as Donnie Brasco. That assumed identity is now the title of a movie about his experiences, with Depp starring as...
- Former Times Staffer
Joseph Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco, was an undercover FBI agent tasked with infiltrating the Bonanno family. After months of planning, in September 1976, Pistone started his undercover operation—an operation that was initially intended to last for around six months, but which turned into several years.
Pacino plays a low-level earner for the Bonnano crime family named Lefty Ruggiero. He approaches Pistone as Donnie Brasco wanting to get a stolen diamond appraised for sale.
- Who Is Donnie Brasco?
- The Bonanno Family
- Undercover with The Mob
- Mafia Trials
- Death of Napolitano
- Wife
Donnie Brasco was the alias of undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone, who was born in 1939 in Erie, Pennsylvania. The FBI created the alias of Brasco to stem the rising truck hijacking numbers, but Brasco was able to rise quickly within the ranks and be nominated for membership in the Bonanno crime family. Eventually, Brasco was pulled and the missio...
In 1976 FBI undercover agent Joseph Pistone successfully infiltrated New York's Bonanno Mafia family. Going under the name of "Donnie Brasco," Pistone became close to several Mafia members during an assignment that lasted five years and the information he amassed over that time led to hundreds of arrests. In 1974, Pistone was transferred to New Yor...
An average day would start with checking in with Ruggiero, Brasco's captain, and then hanging out in a bar or nightclub trying to think of new ways to make money or advancing up the Mafia ladder. Brasco always worked with the same people and never asked what other members were doing or even who they were. Too many questions were viewed with great s...
Brasco and the FBI planned to arrest Indelicato before the day of the hit, but they were unable to find him. Because of this incident and the shooting war being waged between the families, the FBI decided to end the operation. Brasco argued that he should stay until December when his membership into the family would be decided, but the FBI disagree...
Two days after the FBI pulled Brasco out of the operation they informed Napolitano that he had been working undercover. It was not long before Napolitano's death was ordered. On August 17, 1981, accepting his fate, Napolitano gave his favorite bartender his jewelry and the keys to his apartment so that his pet pigeons could be looked after. On Augu...
Pistone's wife is Maggie, a former nurse. The couple has three daughters. The family lives in New Jersey under false identities.
Apr 16, 2024 · There are many media portrayals of the Bonanno family, including the films The Godfather (1972) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Joseph Bonanno’s autobiography, A Man of Honor, was released in 1983, making him the first boss to break the Mafia’s code of silence and write about his dealings.
May 21, 2024 · Posing as a jewel thief named Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joe Pistone befriended mobster Lefty Ruggiero and spent six years undercover in the Bonnano family.
