Donnie Brasco
by Signet

	Donnie Brasco
	Customer Rating: Sales Rank: 18845 Available from Amazon
	$7.99

Book Description

In <I>Donnie Brasco</I>, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone tells the story of working so deep undercover in the Mafia that the truth of his identity became blurry even for him. For six years, Pistone posed as jewel thief Donnie Brasco in order to pull off one of the most audacious sting operations ever. Because any small detail could blow his cover, Pistone adjusted his personality and habits to earn the trust of Mafia soldiers, connected guys, captains, and godfathers. He was so successful that many FBI surveillance teams assumed that he was yet another Mafia guy. This memoir paints a vivid portrait of the underworld of wise guys by revealing their code of honor, their treacherous dealings, their relationships with their wives and mistresses, and their lavish money habits. The suspense in Pistone's story builds as he unfurls his experience of life on the edge of good and evil and on the verge of death.

Reader Reviews

This is the kind of story many would consider incredible hadn't these events actually taken place. Years ago a short-lived television series (two seasons, to be exact) called "Tightrope" aired in which a young actor named Michael Connors portrayed an undercover police officer known only as "Nick" who, week after week, successfully infiltrated various underworld gangs and operations. It was a fictional TV show, nothing more, designed solely for the entertainment of the viewing audience. In 1976 Special Agent Joseph D. Pistone of the FBI made that role a reality. Under the guise of jewel thief "Donnie Brasco," Pistone entered the dangerous world of organized crime and eventually penetrated it at a level so deep that he was actually "proposed" for membership in La Cosa Nostra when the "books" were opened. Renting an apartment on Manhattan's upper East Side (a lot more affordable then), Pistone began to frequent a local restaurant where he got to know a few "connected" guys. This led to his broadening his circle of associates to include, first, a Colombo-affiliated crew in Brooklyn and, later, a Manhattan-based faction of the Bonanno family. The fact that he was accepted and gained the trust of these otherwise wary, street-smart "wiseguys" is a testament to how well Pistone played his role, knowing how far to push the envelope in tricky situations and when to step back. The operation, which lasted six years, came to an abrupt halt when Pistone was given a "contract" to "whack" a Bonanno rival. By that time, however, the Mob had been irreparably damaged. Within weeks of the startling revelation that "Brasco" was in fact an FBI agent, a $500,000 bounty was placed on his life and the Mob began to exact revenge on those who had originally "sponsored" him. One, Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero, was picked up by FBI agents while on his way to almost certain doom after having been "sent for," or summoned, to a Little Italy bar by his former pals. Two others weren't so lucky. In August, 1981, the badly decomposed body of one Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, a capo who maintained a special fondness for Pistone even after learning he was an agent, turned up in a Staten Island creek, minus both hands. Seven months later, in March, 1982, Anthony Mirra, a psychopath who had been the first to introduce Pistone to the Bonanno crew, was found shot to death behind the wheel of his car in a downtown Manhattan garage. Co-written by Mr. Pistone himself and Richard Woodley, "Donnie Brasco" reveals the gritty, day-to-day workings of the Cosa Nostra lifestyle as it actually exists (or should I say existed?) and not the honorable, glamorized version of Don Vito Corleone's world as depicted in "The Godfather."