Criminal Justice-Donnie Brasco

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Donnie Brasco Abstract Joseph Dominick Pistone is a former FBI agent who worked undercover infiltrating the Bonanno crime family and to a lesser extent the Colombo crime family, two of the Five Families of the mafia in New York City (Pistone, 1989). Joseph Pistone is better known as Donnie Brasco (his alias), the man who infiltrated the New York mafia. Pistone is a pioneer of deep long-term undercover work spending six years within the Bonnano crime family. Pistone was an FBI agent for 27 years and is considered an FBI legend pioneering methods for surveillance, audio and visual monitoring, informants and stings. Joe Pistone travels under an assumed name and with a mob contract hanging over his head; he must always be diligent of his surroundings. Background Joseph Pistone (Pistone) was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Italian parents, but was raised in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1965, Pistone graduated from Paterson State College with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education and worked as a teacher for one year before taking a position at the Office of Naval Intelligence. Pistone joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1969, Pistone was assigned to do street work specifically prostitution and robbery cases. His first long-term undercover assignment that led to his work with the mafia was in Tampa, Florida. Pistone penetrated a ring of thieves that stole cars. In February 1976, due to Pistone's work, the entire ring was put in jail, and millions in stolen property was recovered. Pistone (1989) says, "For my work I got a letter of commendation from Clarence M. Kelley, Director of the FBI, and an award of $250.” In 1974, Pistone was transferred to New York and assigned to the truck hijacking squad of the FBI. There were approximately five to six major hijackings per day in the New York City

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