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Apr 6,2008 - Apr 13,2008 |
The Wiseguys Culture
Former FBI agent Donnie Brasco is back with a lot to tell
By Janet Bellotto
Originally Published: 2004-04-25
Infiltrating the mob is no easy task, but Donnie Brasco, aka FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone, had gone in so far that he was almost a made guy in the family. After his first successful novel Donnie Brasco, was made into the movie starring Johnny Depp, Pistone is back with this nonfiction tale The Way of the Wiseguy.
Literally almost every question you would want to ask about a wiseguy sprawls through the pages of this book. It's better than reality TV, with an audio CD of some surveillance conversations with a real wise guy that tops it all off.
Pistone was an FBI agent for 17 years from 1969 to 1986. His most telling years as 'Donnie Brasco' - jewel thief - took place from 1976 to 1981.
His main in was "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero, and Brasco convinced gangsters of his role as an associate of the Bonanno family for six years. Brasco came within four months of becoming a wiseguy and the only FBI agent to be proposed for membership. He ate with mobsters and had several close ties to the Bonanno family, particularly Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano. He managed to stay out of trouble enough not to get whacked, and went to jail a few times while constantly taking mental notes of the wiseguy life, which he shares in this book.
After quite an audacious operation, he now lives under a secret identity in an undisclosed location.
The Way of the Wiseguy is a fun read and will give you some information that you will not believe. It is a first-hand account of the hows and whys, from gambling and loan-sharking, table manners and wiseguy nicknames. It is clearly not a gathering of information from other shelved texts. A book that will surely be used in college criminal justice courses, it's the real thing and probably the closest most people would want to get to a wiseguy.
Tandem had the pleasure of talking to Pistone from some unknown place.
How did you survive all these years?
"I survived all these years by having good street smarts and common sense."
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