What are you watching on TV?

Sneakylong

Not sure if you're familiar with the movie, "Donnie Brasco."

It's one of my favorite mob movies of all time, starring Johnny Depp (as undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone) and Al Pacino (as Lefty "Two-Guns" Ruggiero".)

Great flick, a true story based on Joe Pistone's infiltration of the NJ/NY mob syndicates back in the late 1970's/early 1980's, which ultimately led to bringing down both the Bonanno/Colombo crime families that for years had made up two of the most notorious "Five Families."

For those not familiar with Joe Pistone, he spent a year training with the FBI as an undercover agent, as a jewelry thief, then spent the following 6 years of his life infiltrating the Northeast mob syndicates as "Donnie Brasco."

Anyway... long story short, his brother is a member at my club. I played golf with him last week, and we spent most of the round talking about his brother Joe and his time spent infiltrating the mob. Turns out that he (the brother I played golf with) ended up being Joe's primary point-of-contact during the years-long operation anytime the FBI needed to communicate to him, give him money to continue financing his operation, etc. I asked him how accurate the movie was based on real-life events, and he said, "It was fairly accurate. But my brother was in a lot more danger than the movie ever indicated. I was the go-between, I facilitated communications and resources to him via the FBI. There are a lot of stories I could tell you, but can't for obvious reasons. Suffice to say, most agents would've never made it out of there alive."

Obviously his brother has taken an alias and lives an anonymous life elsewhere these days, but... he told me that day we were playing golf, "If you'd like to meet him, I'll let you know the next time he visits. I can make it happen."

One of the more memorable rounds of golf I've ever enjoyed. I played well that day, which (to some degree) might've influenced his brother's decision to offer the potential meet-and-greet.

Fingers crossed that he comes through!

ode

I think organized crime these days is more gang-affiliated than mob-related, although I'm sure that there's a small underbelly still intact despite the dismantling that occurred in the 80's and 90's. To what extent he feels comfortable/safe... he's authored a book and has done detailed interviews with cable television networks that do mob-related documentaries on the NJ/NY syndicates from back in those days.

In fact, I recently watched a documentary that featured Pistone detailing the "Donnie Brasco" operation just a few weeks ago, and no effort was made whatsoever to hide his appearance or anything of that nature during his interview. But his brother maintained that he still very much makes it a point to not disclose his whereabouts to anyone other than his immediate family. So to some degree - he still looks over his shoulder, I guess you could say.

A few other tidbits his brother told me... once Pistone was assigned to go after the semi-truck hijackings that had become a serious problem in the mid-late 1970's, the agency quickly realized how easily he was able to infiltrate the NJ crime family, and then gave him the cover of a jewel thief, which began the famous "Donnie Brasco" operation. He not only infiltrated the Jersey mafia, but networked into the NY syndicate as well.

Once assigned to the Brasco operation, he spent 6 years away from his family and friends, his only connection being his brother (who I played golf with). He said he would go months without hearing from him, worried sick about him, no way to get in contact with him, firmly believing on more than one occasion that his cover had been blown and that he'd been killed. He told me of one particular instance, in which the FBI used him to funnel operational money to his brother... He was informed of a vehicle that Joe would be driving, told him where it would be and when it would be there, but that his brother would be nowhere around... and to put the money in a hidden compartment within one of the seats. So he makes the drop, and three weeks later his brother calls him from a payphone asking him where the hell the money is, he needed it asap.

The brother informs him of where he put it... Joe had no idea that he'd been driving around for three weeks with $50,000 cash in his car. Luckily it was so well hidden that none of his mob associates (who'd ridden in that same car with him since then) found it. Otherwise they would've undoubtedly assumed that he was holding out on his collections and killed him on the spot.

Anyway... very interesting stuff, to me anyway. One of the more enjoyable rounds of golf I've had in a long while.

darpar

I agree. I've got this series on DVR, looking forward to watching it. This was back when the NBA was a lot more interesting than it is today, back when true rivalries existed. These guys respected their opponents to such a degree that they hated losing to them with a passion, to the point where they'd never remotely consider the thought of joining forces to create a Super Team to win championships.

We'll never see rivalries like that again imo. The entertainment value was so much better, it isn't even measurable.

I'm into the 2nd episode in Season 2 of Ozarks via Netflix. So far, pretty good.

I'm still interested to see how this story unfolds in the coming episodes.

LBlack14

Love the area rug.