based on the undercover life of the author, Joseph D. Pistone, an F.B.I agent who penetrated one of New York City's five families in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Joseph D. Pistone served in the FBI for 28 years, including six years of undercover life in the New York Bonanno crime family, where he operated as a jewel thief under the name Donnie Brasco. Due to his undercover work, more than 200 members of the Mafia were put behind bars. Joseph D. Pistone was born in Pennsylvania, where he also spent
Joseph D. Pistone was one of the undercover agents for six years in Bonanno crime family. In September 1976, he was sent to investigate a large number of truck hijackings in New York which involved some mobs. He was investigating the Bonanno crime family at the same time. When he moved into the Bonanno crime family, he got close to Anthony Mirra and "Sonny Black" Dominick Napolitano. Pistone tutored a Bonanno soldier Benjamin Ruggiero so he ended
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