Donnie Brasco
Authors: Joseph D. Pistone
Tags: #Biographies & Memoirs, #True Crime, #Organized Crime
Table of Contents
“Thoroughly absorbing true-life adventure.”
—
Newsday
Newsday
“The tension builds with machine-gun
rapidity ... the suspense of a fictional
mystery yarn but the chilling ring of
reality.... Joseph D. Pistone is a true
American hero!”
rapidity ... the suspense of a fictional
mystery yarn but the chilling ring of
reality.... Joseph D. Pistone is a true
American hero!”
—
VirginianPilot
VirginianPilot
“Excellent ... for a view of how the Mafia operates, none can match Joe Pistone!”
—
SeattlePost-Intelligencer
SeattlePost-Intelligencer
“Truly exciting.... so skillfully written it’s worth your time.”
—
PalmSprings Desert Sun
PalmSprings Desert Sun
“Oozes with names ... and plenty of behind-the-social-club-door gossip.”
—
NewYork Daily News
NewYork Daily News
“Unprecedented ... a chilling chronicle of undercover work in the Mafia.”
—UPI
“A penetrating look into the Mafia inner circle
...
real-life drama.”
...
real-life drama.”
—
DetroitNews
DetroitNews
“What it’s really like ... fascinating ... frightening ... daring.”
—
FortWorth Evening Telegram
FortWorth Evening Telegram
“Compelling, gripping, revealing ... raw, hard-hitting nonfiction at its best.”
—
TorontoStar
TorontoStar
“Immense!y satisfying!”
—
OaklandPress
OaklandPress
“Chilling ... not since Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguy has the day-to-day life of the Mafia been so entertainingly captured.”
—
BuffaloNews
BuffaloNews
“New ground is broken! ... There are few
ways, short of participating in it, that
you’ll get a better look at the business of
crime than by reading Pistone’s
recollections of his life in it.”
ways, short of participating in it, that
you’ll get a better look at the business of
crime than by reading Pistone’s
recollections of his life in it.”
—
CantonRepository
CantonRepository
“An unforgettable eyewitness account!”
—
RollaNews
RollaNews
“Fascinating!”
—
DaytonNewslJournal Herald
DaytonNewslJournal Herald
SIGNET
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Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
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Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
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Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
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Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a Dutton edition.
First Signet Printing, January 1989
eISBN : 978-1-101-15406-9
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To my wife and children, whom I love dearly.
To both sets of parents, brothers and sisters.
To Michael, Sheila, Janie, Bob F., Howard and Gail,
and Don and Patricia—Thank you.
To both sets of parents, brothers and sisters.
To Michael, Sheila, Janie, Bob F., Howard and Gail,
and Don and Patricia—Thank you.
To the FBI undercover agents, who are the best at
what they do.
To the street agents, who make the FBI the best
investigative agency in the world.
To the U.S. Justice Department Strike Force attorneys
in Tampa, Milwaukee, and especially the Southern
District of New York.
what they do.
To the street agents, who make the FBI the best
investigative agency in the world.
To the U.S. Justice Department Strike Force attorneys
in Tampa, Milwaukee, and especially the Southern
District of New York.
—J.D.P.
1
THE WHIRLWIND
I looked down from the witness stand at five Mafia defendants, five rows of press, and a standing- room-only courtroom filled with more than 300 people. It was an incredible sight to me. This was just the first mob trial, the first group of wiseguy defendants.
Lefty Guns Ruggierro was shaking his head. So were Boobie Cerasani and Nicky Santora and Mr. Fish Rabito and Boots Tomasulo. It was as if these defendants couldn’t believe what was taking place either. Lefty had told his lawyer, “He’ll never go against us.” Up until my appearance on the stand, apparently he refused to believe that I was a special agent of the FBI and not his partner in the Mafia.
But two other defendants had already pleaded guilty before the trial. And later in his jail cell, between court appearances, Lefty had become a believer. He told his cell mate, “I’ll get that motherfucker Donnie if it’s the last thing I do.”
There was a Mafia hit contract out on me. FBI agents were guarding me twenty-four hours a day.
Two days before I took the stand to testify, before my real name was revealed, we got word from an informant in Buffalo, New York, that the mob was going to go after my family.
The chief prosecutor for this case was Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Jones. The most powerful Mafia boss, the man who then sat at the head of the Mafia Commission, the boss of bosses, was Big Paul Castellano of the Gambino family. I told Barbara that I wanted to go to Castellano myself and tell him this: “If anybody touches my wife or kids, I will go after you personally. I will kill you myself.” I said I would do that only if it wouldn’t jeopardize the cases. “I can’t tell you who and who not to talk to,” she said.
She was being tolerant and understanding. But I figured it might hurt the cases, so I held off and alerted some people and stayed very watchful.
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