FBI Files: The Most Wanted Agent In FBI History

one wrong move and donnie brasco would find himself shoes full of cement laying motionless at the bottom of the hudson as an undercover agent joe pastone successfully did the impossible infiltrating the most dangerous mafia families in america but for decades his name was wiped off the face of the earth joe didn't exist he was donnie brasco now donnie squeezed himself into the diabolical american italian mob he formed relationships created an intricate backstory followed orders to take out innocent people and sold himself as a jewelry thief all while lying through his teeth somehow despite chaos and bloodshed unfolding around him he managed to take down over 100 mafia members enraged by betrayal the mob put out a 500 000 bounty for his head on a stick did joppa stone make it out alive let's find out before joe became donny a sneaky fake risk-taking undercover agent willing to put himself on the line for the sake of the justice system he was just plain old joe pastone a pennsylvania-born man who grew up in paterson new jersey with a sicilian heritage and therefore a thorough understanding of the italian language joe had the framework of a mafia man but he wasn't a mafia man he was a teacher who'd worked for about a year at a school in paterson before transitioning to the office of naval intelligence he also occasionally drove 18-wheeler trucks and bulldozers little did he know these skills would soon catapult him into the riskiest job of his life now with experience at the office of naval intelligence under his belt the next logical step in an intelligence-focused career was onwards and upwards to the fbi where the special agent yearly pay is approximately 74 635 dollars as a 29 year old joe burst the front door down at the jacksonville florida office on july 7th 1969 and once he was in there was no looking back because of joe's experience driving large-scale vehicles he was eventually assigned undercover work infiltrating a vehicle theft ring it proved a master stroke because his successful execution resulted in the arrest of over 30 criminals at this moment the fbi realized they'd found a diamond in the rough postone had a gift for going undercover in 1974 when postone was assigned this role vehicle thievery was near an all-time high every year the cost of hijacked trucks exceeded 4.2 million dollars while his work squashing a vehicle theft operation was applauded and respected it's not what joe's become renowned for as impressive as he was to take down dozens of criminals while undercover just two years later in 1976 he took his first steps in what would be one of the most significant undercover operations in american history joe was about to adopt the new identity and infiltrate the treacherous new york mafia a highly organized italian-american criminal society that operated by its own rules and who wasn't afraid to dispose of anyone who got in their way joe's goal was relatively simple over the course of six months he was to identify the hierarchy of families within the mafia while also connecting the dots between the mob families in florida and milwaukee well it sounds simple in theory in reality it took six months to merely make the first connection the first of many in a journey that would in turn become a six-year roller coaster of sleepless nights dangerous fights and endless lies there was no question about it joe pastone was the perfect man for the job he was the only one with the capability to successfully take down the five main mafia families from the inside bonanno gambino colombo genovese and luquese why because joe already spoke italian came from sicilian ancestry and had spent years growing up in a jersey neighborhood which allowed him to familiarize himself with italian american culture joe put his hand up for the job knowing the serious risks for the sake of protection the fbi gave pastone a new identity with a fake driver's license as well as access to cash and credit cards his new name donnie brasco his improvised backstory a small but very successful jewel thief and burglar after all to gain trust within a criminal network you need to be a criminal yourself a driver's license and a loose fictitious backstory wasn't going to cut it though piston needed to be sure of his new identity so he enrolled in a school to learn about precious gems and jewels if the mob believed that donnie was an expert in his field there'd be less room for raised eyebrows countless anecdotes needed to be thought up and memorized as well from fights he had in school to past lovers to his obsession for his grandmother's casada siciliana his story couldn't afford to have any holes joe or should we say donny also needed to study the mafia's members and understand the basics of its operations all before being sent out into the field once the backstory was airtight the fbi set him up with two apartments one in new york and one down in south florida from there it was all guns ablazin donnie was going full steam ahead with the intention to take down the mob the operation was given the code name sun apple after the locations of its two simultaneous operations sun for sunny miami an apple for new york city the big apple with the operation now officially underway donnie circled through bars restaurants and cafes that he knew were frequented by certain mafia members it took months for a solid opportunity for progress to reveal itself that opportunity came in the form of benjamin ruggiero nicknamed lefty this man had operated as a loyal foot soldier for the new york mafia and its head families for the better part of three decades lefty boasted a long list of people he had um taken care of 26 people to be exact so donny needed to tread very carefully one wrong move and he could have become number 27 with his rock solid backstory and perfected jewel thief persona donnie managed to successfully strike up a conversation with lefty this was the big break he needed with a considerable amount of charisma donnie impressed ruggiero and talked his way into a business partnership lefty was now donny's mentor in the mob world mentorship is not to be underestimated donny was now a branch of lefty and if donnie messed up then lefty would get the blame and by get the blame we mean that his shoes would have been filled with cement and he'd been tossed into the frigid waters of the hudson river if brosco let the family down lefty would pay with his own life so trust was everything donnie's involvement was small to begin with placing bets on lefty's behalf and helping him make collections for the book making operation in his social club but as time passed donny's role grew and he developed further mafia connections lefty officially made donnie an associate of the bonanno family in early 1977 and he was welcomed into the typical mob pay structure it went like this any money that donnie earned be it clean or dirty would be split 50 50 between donny and lefty lefty would then split his share 50 50 with his captain mike sabella and then at the top of the food chain mike sabella split his share of 50 50 with the bonanno family bosses the money was dirty and it came in droves the fbi estimated that the mafia earned between 50 and 90 billion dollars a year in 2002. while ruggiero was the main contact he wasn't the only mafia face that donnie saw on the regular thanks to lefty donny had arranged ongoing dealings with frank bolastieri of the milwaukee crime family the other key member across this operation was bonanno family mobster anthony mira donnie created a close relationship with mira in the early days before the mobster was sent to prison interestingly mira and ruggiero lived in the same apartment building in manhattan if not for meera joe wouldn't have been able to strike up a chat with lefty in the first place can you imagine what it must have been like to have woken up every day and pretended to be somebody else to be away from your family the whole time as well that quickly became joppa stone's normal merely once every three or four months would he find the time to visit his wife maggie and his three kids strict silence about his operations evidently took a tremendous toll on their relationship with struggles of plenty along the way time and time again donnie was forced to lie in order to keep his real identity a secret one time he had his car trunk packed with christmas gifts ready to drive down to visit his actual family but before he could leave he bumped into a couple of guys from his crew who invited him out donny brasco was a bachelor so he had no choice but to ditch the plans with his real family and go party with his mafia buddies mafia members even brought a christmas tree to donny's apartment and helped him decorate it thinking that he was alone for the holidays he was at the mercy of the mob and there was nothing he could do about it he just had to continue playing the part and keep trying to acquire information as the days rolled by donny's typical day would start with a meeting with his mentor lefty otherwise known in the mob world as his captain together they'd meet and hang out in various bars and nightclubs racking their brains trying to think of new criminal ways to make a few bucks as well as deciphering means to climb up the mafia ladder donnie quickly learned his place no matter the circumstances he never asked the whereabouts identities or operations of the other members too many questions would bring suspicion and enough suspicion could have led to his reveal as a rat and we all know what happens to wise guys who turn out to be rats occasionally totaling four separate events donnie brasco was ordered to take out a target refusing would invite skepticism and draw unnecessary attention so he accepted the orders without question then at a later date he'd find a way to get himself out of the situation in the event that he couldn't the fbi would step in and stage a fake attack even when he had little or no helpful information to report back to the fbi joe needed cash begrudgingly the authorities continued to provide him with the funds he needed even when he refused to wear a wire the reality of the situation was that the early days were needed to establish trust one glimpse of a bulge under his shirt and the whole operation would have imploded on july 12 1979 the head of the bonanno family carmine gallante was fatally attacked in the courtyard of a brooklyn restaurant a war quickly broke out between the upcoming rival leaders within the family who each wanted to take the throne for themself the result two distinct groups within the family who were not getting along tensions were at all time highs and two years later in may of 1981 those tensions spilled over lefty together with a man named sunny black napolitano took out the top members of the opposition faction donnie brasco was then given a direct order dispose of anthony bruno in delicato at this point the fbi saw no choice but to end the operation the circumstances became more extreme than ever and donny was in real danger however by this point the seed was already planted while the bonanno family was falling into violent anarchy donny successfully got lefty in sunny black to agree to a new business venture the purchase of a nightclub called knights court in holiday florida the masterstroke knight's court was renovated during which time listening devices and cameras were secretly installed behind the walls the bugs had been placed and the fbi could now afford to pull the plug on operation sun apple piston was relinquished from his deep cover in mid-1981 what was supposed to be just a few months turned into six years of undercover intelligence from the nightclub in florida he was flown to milwaukee where he testified against milwaukee crime boss frank balastrari the fbi could never have imagined the sheer success that the operation would bring it opened a window into the inner workings of the bonanno family and the wider american mafia secrets came from new york mostly but critical information was also gleaned out of florida and michigan it took less than 24 hours for fbi officials to reveal to lefty that donny had been a rat the entire time once the mafia knew they'd been played they put out a bounty on brasco's life for half a million dollars because of their disastrous infiltration new york mafia families now instituted new rules before a member can join they must take a life and two family members instead of just one must vouch with their own lives as collateral for the new member to be approved after testifying in court and helping bring over 100 mobsters to justice piston and his family were given secret identities and moved to an undisclosed location in new jersey they're just one of the many parties which now fall under the 10 million dollar annual witness protection program in 1986 piston retired as an fbi agent these days he works as a consultant for them and also gives lectures around the world retelling his incredible story thanks to the evidence collected as a direct result of joe pastone's mission over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions rained down on the mafia crumbling the majority of their network for that reason we'd imagine that not a day goes by where joe and his family don't fear for their lives nearly 40 years since his undercover mission joe pistone the former donnie brasco still lives in the shadows still with a price on his head his courageous journey propelled him to hero status and to this day he remains one of the most influential law enforcement officers in history do you think that you'd make a good undercover agent why or why not let us know in the comments down below thanks for watching don't forget to smash that like button and subscribe and we'll see you next time

Channel: TheRichest

Views: 286,820

Rating: 4.884984 out of 5

Keywords: the richest, fbi, undercover, mob, donnie brascoe, fake, rat, mole, operation, new york city, italian, arrested, caught, crime, stolen, money, Bonanno, Gambino, fbi agent, joe pistone, mystery, solved, true crime

Id: 1DMEsjOzbZw

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020