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From FBI Agent to Mob Insider: The TRUE Story That DESTROYED the American Mafia
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Jun 23, 2025
He lived a LIE for 6 YEARS... and they were about to make him KILL someone! 🔪 The TRUE story of FBI Agent Joe Pistone (aka Donnie Brasco) who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family and brought down the American Mafia from the INSIDE. What started as a 6-month mission turned into a DANGEROUS 6-year undercover operation that changed organized crime FOREVER. In this shocking true crime story, we reveal: ✅ How one man FOOLED the most dangerous criminals in America ✅ The moment they asked him to MURDER someone to become a made man ✅ What happened to the mobsters who vouched for him (HINT: it's brutal) ✅ The $500,000 CONTRACT still on his head TODAY This isn't Hollywood - this ACTUALLY happened. The most successful undercover operation in FBI history that cost some men their lives and saved others from a life of crime. #TrueCrime #Mafia #UndercoverAgent #FBI #DonnieBrasco #OrganizedCrime #RealStories --~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Like and subscribe will be greatly appreciated! 🙏 -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Grow Your YouTube Channel Faster with vidIQ! Want to get more views, subscribers, and take your YouTube game to the next level? I personally use vidIQ to optimize my videos, find the best keywords, analyze trends, and crush the algorithm.
View Video Transcript
0:00
what does it take to break a family Not
0:03
just any family one bound by blood oaths
0:07
secrecy and violence a family like the
0:10
American mafia for decades law
0:13
enforcement could only chip away at the
0:16
edges of this criminal empire the core
0:20
protected by a sacred code of silence
0:22
known as murder seemed untouchable they
0:26
thought they were invincible they were
0:28
dead wrong this isn't just another cops
0:31
and robbers story it's about what
0:33
happens when the line between them
0:36
completely vanishes it's about a man who
0:39
volunteered to walk into the underworld
0:42
who lived a lie for so long he barely
0:45
recognized himself in the mirror he got
0:49
so close they were ready to make him one
0:51
of their own they were going to make him
0:53
a killer this is the story of the
0:56
federal snitch the man who became the
0:59
mob's most trusted friend and its
1:03
absolute worst nightmare imagine getting
1:07
the call it's the climax of 6 years of
1:10
dangerous mindbending undercover work
1:14
you've earned the trust of some of New
1:16
York City's most ruthless killers they
1:18
love you you're a brother to them and
1:21
now they want to give you the ultimate
1:24
honor they want to make you a made man
1:28
there's just one little condition to
1:31
prove your loyalty you have to murder
1:33
someone this isn't a movie this was the
1:37
reality for FBI agent Joseph Piston and
1:41
the choice he was forced to make would
1:43
not only seal his own fate but would
1:45
bring one of America's most powerful
1:47
crime families to its knees section one
1:50
the mission and the man in the mid 1970s
1:55
New York City was a playground for the
1:57
mob the five big families the Banano
2:01
Gambino Columbbo Genevvesi and Lucazi
2:05
ran the city's underworld with an iron
2:07
fist truck hijackings were out of
2:10
control with major heists happening
2:13
practically every day and the FBI knew
2:16
the mob was behind it all but getting
2:19
inside that was a different story
2:22
the mafia was a closed society you were
2:26
either born in or you earned your way in
2:30
through years of loyal and often brutal
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service the FBI decided it was time to
2:36
try something radical they needed more
2:39
than informance they needed a window
2:41
into the soul of the organization itself
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they needed to plant one of their own on
2:47
the inside the plan was incredibly
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audacious one of the first of its kind a
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long-term deep cover operation the
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mission had a high chance of failure and
3:00
an even higher chance of death for the
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agent who took it the man for this
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impossible job was Joe Piston on paper
3:10
he was just a solid experienced FBI
3:12
agent but he had something else
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something you couldn't teach at Quantico
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he'd grown up in the workingclass
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Italian-American neighborhoods of
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Patterson New Jersey he got the culture
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the language the way these guys thought
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in 1976
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Joe Pistone FBI agent husband and father
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of three basically disappeared the
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agency wiped his personnel file friends
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were told he was gone he vanished and in
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his place a new man was born donnie
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Brasco a sharp small-time jewel thief
3:50
from Florida looking to make his mark in
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the big city the whole thing was only
3:56
supposed to last 6 months just long
4:00
enough to figure out who was fencing all
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the stolen goods from the hijackings no
4:05
one not Piston not his bosses could have
4:08
possibly imagined that this little
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six-month gig would stretch into six
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agonizing years pulling him deeper into
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the abyss than any agent had ever gone
4:20
before section two Donnie the Jewel
4:23
Thief becoming Donnie Brasco was an art
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piston took gemology classes to make his
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cover as a jewel thief rock solid
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the FBI set him up with apartments cash
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and jewels some real some fake to build
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his reputation as a successful earner
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for the first 6 months he just existed
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he hung out in the mobun bars and social
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clubs in Brooklyn and Manhattan just
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listening watching and waiting for an
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inn that inn came in the form of
5:00
Benjamin Lefty Rivierro
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lefty was a soldier in the Banano family
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a veteran wise guy who'd been around for
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30 years but never quite made it to the
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top he was cynical tired and always
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looking for the next score and in Donnie
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he saw potential he saw an earner donnie
5:22
Brasco was in with Lefty as his mentor
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Piston stepped into the daily grind of a
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mob associate it was a world of
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shakedowns hijackings and constant
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scheming he learned the unwritten rules
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of mafia life never talk business on the
5:43
phone never disrespect a made man and
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always kick up a piece of your earnings
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to the captain piston wasn't just acting
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he was living it his Sicilian background
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helped him fit right in the bond between
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Donnie and Lefty became the heart of the
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entire operation lefty vouched for him
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taught him the ropes and grew to love
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him like a son this was Piston's
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greatest asset and ultimately his
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heaviest burden the danger was
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everywhere all the time one slip of the
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tongue one wrong move could get him
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killed he lived on a knife's edge for 6
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years gathering intel that gave the FBI
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a front row seat to the mafia's inner
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workings he recorded hundreds of hours
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of conversations
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identifying key players their rackets
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and the entire family structure from
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street soldiers all the way up to
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powerful captains like Dominic Sunny
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Black Napolitano
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the operation even expanded beyond New
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York letting Piston build connections
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with crime families in Florida and
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Milwaukee he was more successful than
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anyone had dreamed possible section
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three the blurring of the line 6 years
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is a long long time to be somebody else
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the psychological toll on Piston was
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crushing he was cut off from his real
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family spending holidays with mobsters
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to keep his cover the FBI would go for
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weeks sometimes months without hearing
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from him leaving them to wonder if he
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was still alive or worse if he'd flipped
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the line between Joe Piston and Donnie
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Brasco was starting to disappear he
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spent all his time with murderers and
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crooks living by their rules talking
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their talk he later admitted that he had
7:48
to catch himself from using mob slang
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even when he was with other agents
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donnie Brasco's world was becoming his
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this kind of psychological decay is a
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huge danger for undercover agents and
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informants
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piston was a trained professional but
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many informants aren't take the tragic
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case of Rachel Hoffman a young college
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grad who got busted for minor drug
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possession police pressured her into
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becoming a confidential informant she
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was killed during a botched stingup
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operation a heartbreaking reminder of
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the risks faced by people who are forced
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into the informant world without proper
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protection her death led to Rachel's law
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in Florida which created better
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safeguards for informants but the
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ethical nightmare remains piston though
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was playing this dangerous game with
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incredible skill he'd become one of the
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Banano family's most trusted guys his
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crew led by Sunny Black respected him
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lefty adored him he was a top earner
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bringing in steady cash from his scores
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he was so good so completely integrated
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that the Banano leadership decided it
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was time for the ultimate reward they
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proposed him for membership they were
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going to make him a made man this was
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both the peak of his success and the
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point of no return to get made you swear
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the oath loyalty until death and to seal
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the deal the candidate usually has to
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make his bones carry out a murder for
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the family sunny Black had a job for
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Donnie the order came down kill a rival
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mobster the FBI was now stuck
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do they pull their agent out and end the
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most successful undercover operation in
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history Or do they let him cross a line
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he can never come back from The pressure
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on Joe Pone was at a boiling point a
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psychological tightroppe with death on
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either side these kinds of deep cover
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operations reveal the hidden battles
10:12
that shape our world if you find these
10:15
true stories of crime and justice as
10:18
fascinating as we do go ahead and
10:20
subscribe to our channel and ring that
10:23
notification bell you won't want to miss
10:26
what happens when the law decides to
10:28
fight crime from the inside out section
10:32
4 the takedown the FBI made its choice
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the risk was just too high on July 26th
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1981
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after six long years Operation Donny
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Brasco was over piston actually argued
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to stay in wanting to see it through
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until his induction think of the blow it
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would have been he said that they
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inducted an FBI undercover agent but the
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order was final he was out for the
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Banano crime family the news was a
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bombshell the man they knew as Donnie
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Brasco their friend their partner the
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guy they were about to make their
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brother was a fed the sense of betrayal
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was absolute and had sent a shock wave
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through the entire American mafia trust
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the bedrock of their world had been
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completely shattered how could this have
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happened The fallout was swift and
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savage the mafia doesn't do forgiveness
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dominic Sunny Black Napolitano the
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captain who brought Donnie in and
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sponsored him was held responsible he
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knew his fate was sealed the FBI offered
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him protection but he was bound by his
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oath and refused he was called to a
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meeting he never came back from a year
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later his body was found with his hands
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cut off a symbolic message for shaking
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hands with an agent lefty Riierro was
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also marked for death but the FBI got to
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him first arresting him and probably
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saving his life he was sentenced to 15
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years and reportedly died still cursing
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the friend who had betrayed him the
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intel Piston collected was a treasure
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trove it became the foundation for a
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wave of prosecutions that tore the
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leadership of the five families apart
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evidence from the Donny Brasco operation
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led to over 200 indictments and more
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than 100 convictions of major mob
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figures this wasn't just about locking a
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few guys up it was about systemic
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destruction
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the operation fed intel to the historic
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commission case which took down the
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heads of multiple New York families and
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crippled the mafia's national governing
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body the Banano family was left in
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shambles as punishment for the disaster
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the other families kicked them off the
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commission the ultimate humiliation the
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supposedly invincible empire had been
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brought to its knees one man with nerves
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of steel had walked straight into the
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lion's den and ripped its heart out
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section five the price of betrayal the
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legacy of Donnie Brasco is a mix of
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triumph and tragedy for the mafia it was
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a lesson written in blood they actually
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changed their own rules to prevent
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another infiltration
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reportedly a new prospect would now need
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to be vouched for by two made members
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and killing someone to get made became a
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firm requirement the paranoia Pisone
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sowed rotted the organization from the
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inside out for years this tactic of
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turning people against each other became
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a killer strategy in another huge case
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Operation Family Secrets the FBI didn't
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even need a deep cover agent they had
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something better a son willing to flip
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on his own father frank Calibresy Jr
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writing a letter from prison decided to
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cooperate against his dad a feared
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Chicago mob hitman his testimony along
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with his uncles led to the conviction of
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14 mobsters for 18 different murders
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breaking one of Chicago's toughest crews
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and proving that sometimes the deepest
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betrayals come from within for Joe Pone
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victory came at a steep price the
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humiliated and furious mob put a
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$500,000 contract on his head he had to
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retire from the FBI in 1986 and to this
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day he and his family live under assumed
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names in undisclosed locations
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he can never truly be free he won the
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war but he's serving a life sentence
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still what he did for law enforcement is
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immeasurable piston basically wrote the
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modern playbook for long-term undercover
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work proving it was one of the deadliest
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weapons against organized crime he
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demolished the myth of mob honor showing
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the world that these so-called men of
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honor were just a bunch of treacherous
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backstabbing thugs as he put it himself
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he wasn't a rat he was an FBI agent
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doing his job the story of the federal
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snitch whether it's a deep cover agent
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like Joe Pistone or a son turning on his
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father like Frank Calibrizzy Jr reveals
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a core truth about the war on crime it's
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usually one in the shadows it's one
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through deception betrayal and
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incredible personal sacrifice these
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operations blur the lines between good
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and evil forcing good people to live in
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a dark world to fight for a greater
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justice joe Pistone walked through fire
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and came out the other side not unmarked
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but victorious
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he proved that no organization no matter
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how secret or violent is untouchable he
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showed that even the strongest families
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can be broken from within his story is a
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testament to individual courage a stark
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reminder of the hidden price of justice
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and a truly unforgettable chapter in the
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neverending war between organized crime
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and the