Joseph Pistone

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FBI surveillance photo of Joseph Pistone

Joseph Dominick Pistone , (born September 17, 1939 in Erie , Pennsylvania ) is a former FBI agent who was able to spy on the New York mafia family Bonanno and partly also the Colombo family for six years as an undercover investigator under the name Donnie Brasco .

Pistone was an FBI agent for 17 years and is now a legend among the FBI staff.

He was a pioneer in longstanding undercover work. J. Edgar Hoover initially refused to let FBI agents work undercover because he saw the work as dirty and feared it would spoil the agents. Pistone's successful work later convinced the FBI leadership of the usefulness of undercover work.

His work as an underground agent was portrayed in the film Donnie Brasco .

biography

Pistone was born in Erie and raised in Paterson . He graduated from Paterson State College (now William Paterson University ) with a BA in social education in 1965. He taught for a year before joining Naval Intelligence. Pistone joined the FBI in 1969. After various posts he went to New York in 1974 to join the truck robbery department. His ability to drive trucks led to his first undercover mission. For this he took the name Donald ("Donnie") Brasco as an alias. He snuck into a gang that was robbing trucks and his use led to the arrest of 30 members.

Operation: Sun-Apple (1976–1981)

Pistone was chosen to work undercover at La Cosa Nostra because of his Sicilian origins, his good Italian language skills and his experience with the mob from his youth in New Jersey . He also had the ability not to get nervous under extreme pressure and literally never worked up a sweat. He was also familiar with the Mafia codes and rules and attended some preparatory courses before attempting to sneak into one of the Mafia families as an expert in jewelery theft.

The operation was called " Sun-Apple " and began in September 1976. Pistone left the FBI office as Donnie Brasco and did not return until many years later. Initially, the operation should not take more than six months. Pistone became part of the crew around Jilly Greca from the Colombo family. He later joined the Bonanno family and developed close relationships with Anthony Mirra and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano and was trained by "Soldier" Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero . Ruggiero became a close friend of Pistone's. Pistone operated the King's Court Bottle Club in Florida. As this business was doing well, his reputation with the mob rose.

In order to become a full member of the Mafia - as an Italian he would have been able to do so - he would have had to commit a contract murder at some point, and so one day in December 1980 he was asked to murder the capo of the Bonanno family Philip Giaccone .

This "hit" was withdrawn, but later Pistone would then murder Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's son, Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato . As an FBI officer, of course, this act was not possible with impunity; However, such an order could not be rejected without consequences. Pistone's undercover assignment was therefore canceled after six years because the superiors feared for his life.

consequences

After Pistone went into hiding on July 26, 1981, the Mafia learned of his true identity. Napolitano, who had allowed an FBI agent to join the "family", was murdered on August 17, 1981 for this. He was shot and his hands were cut off. Anthony Mirra, who first introduced Donnie Brasco, was also killed. Ruggiero was arrested to prevent his murder.

The Mafia offered a half a million US dollar bounty to Donnie Brasco. The evidence gathered by Brasco resulted in the arrest of 200 suspects and the transfer of 100 gangsters.

The boss of the Bonannos, Joseph Massino , could be convicted in 2004 for commissioning the murder of Napolitano. Pistone is still submerged and staying away from places where there is a high concentration of Mafiosi. He worked as a consultant for the feature film Donnie Brasco and went to New York for it. He continues to act as an organized crime expert for government commissions and police agencies, and has also been summoned to testify before the US Senate to testify as an expert.

art

  • Pistone described his experience in his 1988 book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia .
  • The book was the basis of the feature film Donnie Brasco , with Johnny Depp as Pistone and Al Pacino as "Lefty Ruggiero". Pistone acted as an advisor on this film to guarantee authenticity.
  • The story of Pistones is told in the TV series Falcone . However, the name Falcone was used here because of copyright issues. Jason Gedrick plays the "Falcone" here.
  • Pistone published the book The Way of the Wiseguy (2004) and Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business (2007).
  • Pistone continued to write several novels: The Good Guys , Deep Cover , Mobbed Up, and Snake Eyes .
  • The mob's murder assignment and bounty is mentioned in the movie The Godfather of New York .

Documentation

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FBI Agent "Donnie Brasco" Recalls Life in the Mafia . News.nationalgeographic.com. October 28, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  2. ↑ Joseph Pistone. For six years, FBI agent Joseph Pistone lived a double life undercover as jewel thief, Donnie Brasco. What horrors did he witness during his days in the belly of the Mafia beast? Archived from the original on August 16, 2011 ; accessed on June 19, 2018 (English).
  3. ^ Pistone, Joseph with Richard Woodley (1987). Donnie Brasco - My Undercover Life in the Mafia ISBN 978-0-451-19257-8
  4. ^ Joseph D. Pistone: Tony Mirra . In: Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia , p. 112.
  5. ^ Nate Hendley, American Gangsters, Then and Now: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2010) p. 192
  6. ^ A b Joe Pistone's Unfinished Mob Business , Orchard Press Mysteries. December 30, 2007. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2008. 
  7. ^ Donnie Brasco's Agent Helping Scotland Yard , American Mafia. February 1, 2001. Retrieved June 21, 2008. 
  8. ↑ Real life Donnie Brasco vows to find £ 250m stolen art haul . The Daily Record. March 25, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  9. ↑ Bootie Cosgrove-Mather: Donnie Brasco's Mob Memory Lane . CBS News. May 6, 2004. Retrieved December 4, 2010.

swell

  • Christine S. Diehl: WP Has a Sit-Down With Joe Pistone / Donnie Brasco . WP, The Magazine of William Paterson University , Vol. 7, No. 1, winter 2006.
  • Joseph D. Pistone, Richard Woodley: Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia , Hodder & Stoughton, 1999. ISBN 0-340-66637-4 .
  • Joseph D. Pistone: The Way of the Wiseguy , Running Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7624-1839-7 .
  • Joseph D. Pistone, Charles Brandt: Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business , Running Press, 2007. ISBN 0-7624-2707-8 .
  • Anthony DeStefano: The Last Godfather: Joey Massino & the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family . California: Citadel, 2006.
  • Selwyn Raab: The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire . New York: St. Martins Press, 2005.
  • D. Lea Jacobs: Friend of the Family: An Undercover Agent in the Mafia , Howells House ISBN 0-929590-19-8 .
  • Testimony before a Senate subcommittee on Organized Crime americanmafia.com

Web links

Commons : Joseph D. Pistone  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Pistone, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pistone, Joseph Dominick; Brasco, Donnie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American FBI agent
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Erie , Pennsylvania