The Debrief With MyronGainesX - How FBI Agent Donnie Brasco INFILTRATED The Mafia & Bonanno Crime Family!

00:00:00.960 All right, we are live. What's up, guys? Welcome to FEDA. Today, we're going to be going over

00:00:04.640 the Bonanno Crime Family, as you guys know, is the ongoing mafia series. Let's get right

00:00:08.580 into it. No intro needed. Bonanno Crime Family. The Bonanno Crime Family, pronounced Bonanno,

00:00:13.080 is an Italian-American mafia crime family and one of the five families that dominate

00:00:16.540 organized crime activities in New York City and the United States as part of the criminal

00:00:20.440 phenomenon known as the American Mafia. And as you guys know, we're covering, the first

00:00:24.220 episode we covered was the organization, hierarchy, terms, et cetera, of the mafia and the history.

00:00:30.340 Then we went into the Gambino Family. Then we covered the Lucchese. Now we're doing

00:00:34.560 the Bonanno. Next will be Genovese. And after that, we're going to go ahead and do Columbo.

00:00:38.320 And I'm trying to do that right around the same time that we have Michael Francis in studio.

00:00:43.140 The family was known as the Maranzano Crime Family until its founder, Salvatore Maranzano,

00:00:46.400 was murdered in 1931. And when I go over the detail of this, guys, with the war that they

00:00:52.340 had between the two different crime mafia families back then and the first episode that we do.

00:00:57.520 So make sure to go back to the channel and watch that first episode. Joseph Bonanno was

00:01:01.900 awarded most of Maranzano's operations when Charles Lucky Luciano oversaw the creation of

00:01:05.840 the commission to divide up criminal enterprises in New York and among the five families, which

00:01:10.080 was very smart by Lucky because that took the target off his back. Under leadership of Bonanno

00:01:14.240 between the 1930s and 1960s, the family is one of the most powerful in the country. So we're

00:01:18.880 going to go ahead, guys, and cover this documentary right here. Mafia in New York, the Bonanno family.

00:01:26.320 And yeah. And once again, I really matter of fact, let me because this is so important. I want you

00:01:31.300 guys to really make sure that you watch this because I'm not going to go over certain terminology

00:01:35.240 with this broadcast because listen, and this is right after filming the deadliest duo. Go make

00:01:41.740 sure to check out this DC sniper one. You guys have been requesting this one for a while. But as you

00:01:45.800 guys can see here, I created a mafia playlist here. If you go down here. So in this episode right here,

00:01:53.100 I go over everything, guys. I'm talking about, well, I go over the hierarchy, the history from

00:02:00.300 Sicily. I go over everything that y'all want to know when it comes to organized crime in the United

00:02:07.860 States. Lucky Luciano how you formated the commission and the crime families. Consolidated

00:02:13.160 control over all that stuff is here. Magadino. All right. The commission, right? Like we go in

00:02:19.380 detail on this one, man. So make sure to watch this episode right here, guys, because it's going to give

00:02:24.580 you the history, the breakdown, et cetera. So when I use certain terminology, you'll know exactly what I'm

00:02:29.460 talking about. All right. And then we went on and did the Gambinos and the Lucchese's, as I said

00:02:34.700 before. And yeah, now we are on the. Go ahead and get into this documentary or mafia in New York

00:02:40.700 drugs, the Bonanno family. Drug addiction in the American cities was on the increase and crime was

00:02:48.080 rising. In the late 1960s, drug addiction in the American cities was on the increase and crime was

00:02:59.460 rising. The government was forced to take action. In 1971, president Nixon declared war on drugs.

00:03:10.700 Just a year later, law enforcement won a major battle by breaking up the Marseille based heroin

00:03:18.700 racket known as the French connection. These French laboratories were supplying America with so much of

00:03:26.460 the drug that the bus led to a heroin famine on the streets. What nobody knew was that this success

00:03:36.340 would lead to disaster. Shutting down the French connection was indirectly opening the door to

00:03:42.160 something every bit as dangerous. The Sicilian mafia. In the coming years, they would fill the gap in the

00:03:50.860 market and forge a relationship with the most feared mafioso in America, Carmine Galante.

00:03:58.720 In 1974, two years after the French connection was busted, Carmine Galante walked out of prison,

00:04:06.260 ready to flood America with a new source of heroin and turn the mafia.

00:04:10.260 And just so you guys know, dealing drugs back then was forbidden between the five families. And the

00:04:17.560 reason why is because the mafia looked at drugs as a dirty business and a lot of snitches, and it would

00:04:22.200 lead to, you know, increased heat and attention from law enforcement, which is what they did not want.

00:04:27.600 That's why they were more involved with the labor racketeering, the labor unions, construction,

00:04:32.020 gambling, scamming, as far as like fraud with gas stations, extortion, all these different types

00:04:42.160 of crimes that, you know, kind of went under the radar of federal law enforcement agencies, but they

00:04:48.000 stayed away from drugs. So the fact that the Bananos, right, were known for kind of being drug

00:04:52.720 traffickers is something that sets them apart. But this was frowned upon and you can get killed

00:04:56.840 for doing this back then. Nowadays, right, if you do find someone that's involved with La Cosa Nostra,

00:05:04.020 you know, drug trafficking is kind of something that happens now. But back then they had to keep

00:05:07.680 it on the hush hush. Even in the Gambino family documentary, if you guys watch, when John Gotti

00:05:11.400 and his guys were involved in drug trafficking, they did everything in their power to kind of keep it

00:05:14.840 from the other families or keep it on the hush hush, because it was an offense that could lead to death.

00:05:19.080 Galanti was a member of the mafia family known as the Bananos. He had a long history of drug trafficking

00:05:30.720 and an even longer history as a tough guy. His personality could be summed up by an incident

00:05:37.780 at Lewisburg Prison, where he was serving a sentence for drugs trafficking.

00:05:41.780 During telephone days, when inmates line up to use the telephone, he was in a section which had some

00:05:51.160 of the toughest black inmates you've ever seen. Murderers, strong-arm artists, you name it.

00:05:56.720 And he would simply walk to the head of the line, grab the phone out of some black

00:06:02.080 inmate's hand and said, get off the phone. This surrounded by 200 black guys.

00:06:08.940 No one dead touched the hair on his head.

00:06:14.780 If that isn't power, I don't know what is, man. Holy.

00:06:17.900 Forget about it.

00:06:22.320 When he got out of prison, the rumblings that, you know, that you heard on the street,

00:06:27.880 there was a lot of people scared of him. And he was a real tough guy.

00:06:33.680 A little office rocker. And always known as a, you know, as a, as a heroine man.

00:06:42.380 That's what he did.

00:06:45.200 When Galanti got out of prison, the Bananos were in crisis.

00:06:49.420 Their leadership, either exiled or in prison.

00:06:54.360 Joe Banano's son, Bill, is a convicted mobster.

00:06:57.020 He remembers Galanti only too well.

00:07:01.900 He had a short fuse. He was abrasive.

00:07:05.740 He had a manner about him that he would never win any popularity contest.

00:07:10.860 And constantly, constantly had a cigar in his mouth.

00:07:14.580 And that's where he got his nickname, the cigar.

00:07:17.100 With no challengers prepared to take on this dangerous man, the Bananos had their new boss.

00:07:27.880 Galanti's top priority was to kickstart the heroin trade.

00:07:32.780 In five short years, he transformed the fortunes of the U.S. Mafia

00:07:37.300 by leading it into an era of multi-billion dollar profits and unparalleled violence.

00:07:43.820 In the 70s, the Banano family was known in this, in, in, in the mafia circles,

00:07:52.220 basically as being the heroin family.

00:07:55.280 I mean, you know, everybody knew they would deal in heroin.

00:08:03.120 Galanti was now in the perfect position to build a heroin business,

00:08:06.660 even bigger than the French Connection.

00:08:08.580 He was head of the Banano family, and now the heroin trade was moving to Sicily,

00:08:14.960 where Galanti had his roots.

00:08:22.180 And again, we talk about Sicily in detail, guys, on the first episode of this Mafia series.

00:08:27.380 You know, the origin story there, how organized crime rose up in Sicily.

00:08:31.180 This is something that's been going on for a while, guys,

00:08:33.400 and how they had all the civil unrest going on.

00:08:35.300 So make sure to check out that first episode before you watch this one.

00:08:38.100 And if you're already starting to get confused,

00:08:39.700 that's a sign that you need to go ahead to the original.

00:08:43.100 So all of this makes more sense.

00:08:45.760 Galanti was born in New York,

00:08:47.020 but his family came from the town of Castellamari del Golfo

00:08:51.080 in the northwest of Sicily.

00:08:54.660 Sicilians have been emigrating to America for a hundred years,

00:08:57.680 but many of their descendants kept strong links with their homeland.

00:09:02.380 Galanti was no exception.

00:09:03.480 His plan was to exploit his close ties with the Sicilian Mafia

00:09:08.460 to dominate the American heroin trade.

00:09:13.480 This was the beginning of a whole new era in the history of the Mafia.

00:09:22.880 Until now, the Sicilian and American Mafia

00:09:26.080 had mainly operated as separate organizations.

00:09:28.940 With the French connection broken,

00:09:33.240 the Sicilian Mafia decided to fill the gap in the market,

00:09:36.680 and there was no bigger market than America.

00:09:40.720 The Sicilians set up a sophisticated smuggling system.

00:09:45.420 Pakistani suppliers shipped partially refined opium from Asia via Turkey

00:09:50.000 to a rendezvous point off the coast of Sicily.

00:09:53.980 A transmitter on the seabed alerted the Sicilians when the drug ships had arrived.

00:09:59.580 Then a powerboat would speed out to meet it,

00:10:02.500 returning with the drugs under cover of darkness.

00:10:05.140 The opium base was processed into heroin in laboratories in the west of the island.

00:10:15.620 Three Sicilian bosses ran this growing trade,

00:10:19.120 but one of them was far more ambitious,

00:10:21.860 far more greedy,

00:10:23.120 and far more dangerous than the others.

00:10:26.600 Totò Riina.

00:10:29.460 Riina planned to shake up the Sicilian Mafia,

00:10:31.820 just as Galante.

00:10:33.320 And just so you guys know,

00:10:34.620 drug trafficking in the old land was permitted,

00:10:37.920 but in the United States it was not.

00:10:39.780 And as a matter of fact,

00:10:40.780 Mafia guys nowadays that are still based in Italy and Sicily,

00:10:44.340 drug trafficking is a big thing that they do.

00:10:47.080 ...was making waves in America.

00:10:51.040 The Sicilian Mafia always claimed

00:10:53.260 they adhered to a code of honor,

00:10:55.700 murdering only when necessary,

00:10:57.900 and avoiding the killing of innocents,

00:10:59.640 women, and children.

00:11:02.080 But Riina shunned these old guards.

00:11:04.240 Stop the cow!

00:11:10.320 Riina was as ambitious as he was ruthless.

00:11:13.620 He was determined to become the boss of bosses,

00:11:16.860 head of the Sicilian Mafia.

00:11:19.640 To achieve this,

00:11:20.880 he would commit so many atrocities

00:11:23.100 that he became known simply as the Beast.

00:11:26.940 To toriina, known as the Beast,

00:11:43.220 was putting Sicily on the heroin lamp.

00:11:46.260 In the early 70s,

00:11:47.340 his factories were producing ton after ton

00:11:49.740 of pure heroin.

00:11:52.220 All of it needed to be sold.

00:11:54.140 On the other side of the Atlantic,

00:12:01.520 Carmine Galante and the American Mafia

00:12:03.740 could see that there were huge sums

00:12:05.620 to be made selling Sicilian heroin.

00:12:08.460 But there was also a problem.

00:12:10.880 Throughout its history,

00:12:12.280 the U.S. Mafia had vowed

00:12:13.860 never to be associated with drugs.

00:12:17.220 The Chicago mob,

00:12:19.020 known as the Outfit,

00:12:20.380 was one of the most vocal opponents

00:12:22.080 of the drugs trade.

00:12:23.400 We always knew that.

00:12:24.460 If you dealt with drugs,

00:12:25.480 it was a dirty business.

00:12:28.960 FYI, just so you guys know,

00:12:30.340 this is the first time

00:12:31.360 I've watched this documentary.

00:12:33.340 Hey, man.

00:12:34.000 Like I said,

00:12:34.500 this is the importance

00:12:35.180 of watching that first episode

00:12:36.280 I told y'all.

00:12:36.840 How do I know all this?

00:12:37.980 Because I did extensive research,

00:12:39.380 watched that first episode,

00:12:40.640 took notes, etc.

00:12:41.400 So all this stuff makes more sense

00:12:43.120 once you understand

00:12:43.860 the history of the Mafia

00:12:45.060 and the origin

00:12:45.560 versus going straight to the families.

00:12:47.720 So he's basically repeating

00:12:49.940 what I told y'all before.

00:12:50.720 Drugs were a dirty business

00:12:52.340 and brought a lot of

00:12:53.120 unwanted attention

00:12:54.060 to organized crime,

00:12:55.320 which is why the Mafia,

00:12:57.760 at least, you know,

00:12:59.280 back then,

00:13:00.280 were one of the few

00:13:01.060 criminal organizations

00:13:01.880 that stayed away from drugs

00:13:03.100 most of the time.

00:13:04.520 Of course,

00:13:04.960 you're going to have people

00:13:05.500 that wheel and deal

00:13:06.880 with drugs here and there.

00:13:07.940 But in general,

00:13:09.100 most of the guys,

00:13:10.120 most of the organization

00:13:10.960 were not involved in drugs.

00:13:12.100 Maybe one or two guys

00:13:13.020 would be doing it on the side.

00:13:14.440 But if they got caught,

00:13:15.400 they would get killed.

00:13:15.880 So it was a very strong

00:13:17.060 detractor

00:13:19.080 from getting in the drug business.

00:13:22.340 And it'd be like

00:13:23.040 you're feeding your own kid

00:13:24.120 narcotics.

00:13:25.780 So it was like taboo.

00:13:27.720 And if you got involved with it,

00:13:30.240 you're definitely

00:13:31.280 going to get whacked.

00:13:35.220 As far as the outfit

00:13:36.320 was concerned,

00:13:37.540 there was no need

00:13:38.340 to deal drugs

00:13:39.140 when money could be made

00:13:40.620 in more acceptable ways.

00:13:42.000 And we will be covering

00:13:43.320 the outfit guys as well

00:13:44.760 after we cover

00:13:45.320 the five crime families

00:13:46.480 of New York.

00:13:47.180 We're going to go over

00:13:48.100 to the other side

00:13:49.340 and cover the outfit,

00:13:52.700 which is the Chicago-based portion.

00:13:54.080 And we're going to cover

00:13:54.620 Al Capone extensively.

00:13:56.360 Okay.

00:13:59.320 In the 1970s,

00:14:01.160 Frank Carlotta

00:14:01.960 was sent to Las Vegas

00:14:03.460 to make sure nobody messed

00:14:05.000 with the outfit's

00:14:05.880 highly profitable casinos.

00:14:12.000 My main job

00:14:15.500 was the casinos

00:14:16.440 to make sure

00:14:17.200 that everything

00:14:17.860 ran smooth in there

00:14:18.960 and there was no stealing

00:14:19.860 going on,

00:14:21.040 that they knew

00:14:22.040 our presence was there,

00:14:23.800 that if they did mess around

00:14:24.980 that they would get hit in the head.

00:14:28.600 But Carlotta and his crew,

00:14:30.780 running casinos

00:14:31.660 earned them respect

00:14:32.620 in a way drugs never would.

00:14:37.040 Actually, it was great.

00:14:38.220 It was beautiful.

00:14:39.680 I mean, you had everything

00:14:40.540 you needed out there.

00:14:41.440 You had anything

00:14:42.480 you wanted to do,

00:14:43.560 you had movie stars.

00:14:44.880 They wanted to be involved

00:14:46.760 with you.

00:14:47.360 You wanted to be involved

00:14:48.260 with them.

00:14:49.300 Anywhere you went,

00:14:50.440 you got the red carpet treatment.

00:14:53.520 It was like

00:14:54.620 you were respected.

00:14:56.260 I think you were respected.

00:14:57.600 I'm hoping that I wasn't feared,

00:14:59.060 but in some cases

00:15:00.000 you were feared.

00:15:02.000 And if that brought respect,

00:15:03.620 well, then it brought respect.

00:15:05.620 But for others,

00:15:06.980 the huge profits

00:15:08.000 of heroin dealing

00:15:08.900 were hard to resist.

00:15:11.440 From his beginnings

00:15:12.160 in suburban Brooklyn,

00:15:14.060 Dominic Montilio

00:15:15.100 grew up to be a member

00:15:16.080 of the notorious

00:15:16.840 New York crime family,

00:15:18.760 the Gambinos.

00:15:20.640 He dealt drugs

00:15:21.420 for the mafia

00:15:22.000 for many years.

00:15:23.240 the word that filtered down

00:15:25.700 just saying,

00:15:26.700 you know,

00:15:27.100 if you got caught.

00:15:28.520 And that was one of

00:15:29.360 John Gotti's guys

00:15:30.240 that were doing this

00:15:31.440 and they caught them

00:15:32.040 on wiretaps

00:15:32.660 talking about selling drugs.

00:15:33.960 That's how they actually

00:15:34.580 were able to go ahead

00:15:36.140 and catch John Gotti

00:15:38.080 and a bunch of his other people

00:15:39.400 because this dude

00:15:40.460 was out here

00:15:41.120 or this guy

00:15:42.560 that they're talking about

00:15:43.180 was dealing dope

00:15:44.420 in the Gambino family.

00:15:45.640 And we talked about that

00:15:46.320 in the last Gambino podcast.

00:15:47.900 Feel free to go check

00:15:48.920 that one out, guys.

00:15:50.480 You know,

00:15:51.080 dealing drugs,

00:15:52.320 you know,

00:15:52.740 it was an immediate

00:15:53.320 death sentence.

00:15:54.920 But the real message

00:15:56.280 that came down

00:15:57.240 was just don't get caught.

00:16:00.400 At that time,

00:16:01.460 I couldn't think of one crew

00:16:02.840 that I knew

00:16:03.320 that wasn't involved in it

00:16:04.440 because the money

00:16:05.520 was too lucrative

00:16:07.680 to pass up.

00:16:09.900 The street crews

00:16:10.920 that were involved in it

00:16:12.140 weren't going to give it up

00:16:13.880 either which way.

00:16:14.880 You know,

00:16:15.760 there was guys

00:16:16.380 that weren't making

00:16:17.940 a real good living

00:16:18.740 that all of a sudden

00:16:19.660 were taking,

00:16:21.100 you know,

00:16:21.380 150 large a week down.

00:16:25.660 The mob didn't want

00:16:26.700 to be seen

00:16:27.280 to be peddling drugs,

00:16:28.620 but they were happy

00:16:30.000 to take the money.

00:16:31.480 I mean,

00:16:31.700 the reason,

00:16:32.680 there was no great

00:16:33.640 moral reasons

00:16:34.720 why they didn't want

00:16:35.860 you dealing in heroin.

00:16:37.400 It was just that

00:16:37.920 it would bring out

00:16:39.260 much more heat

00:16:40.040 on the family.

00:16:42.300 But the bottom line

00:16:43.860 is the cash.

00:16:45.600 You know,

00:16:46.020 and that's a cash business.

00:16:48.360 And the amounts

00:16:49.120 are staggering,

00:16:50.900 the amounts of money

00:16:51.620 that can be made.

00:16:52.860 The New York families

00:16:54.220 knew that dealing drugs

00:16:55.520 would attract attention

00:16:56.460 from the authorities,

00:16:58.220 but it was a risk

00:16:59.220 they were prepared

00:16:59.840 to take.

00:17:01.480 The U.S. Mafia

00:17:02.700 secretly embraced

00:17:03.860 the heroin trade

00:17:04.800 and were soon

00:17:05.860 making more money

00:17:06.760 than they knew

00:17:07.300 what to do with.

00:17:09.660 The unpleasant fact

00:17:11.040 is that there

00:17:11.760 is a new epidemic

00:17:12.940 of heroin use

00:17:13.960 in the United States.

00:17:16.120 As Sicilian heroin

00:17:17.520 began to flow,

00:17:19.220 addiction rates

00:17:19.960 in America soared.

00:17:22.080 At the end

00:17:22.520 of World War II,

00:17:24.000 America had an estimated

00:17:25.100 20,000 heroin users.

00:17:27.800 By the mid-70s,

00:17:29.620 there were more

00:17:30.240 than half a million.

00:17:31.160 The FBI had little idea

00:17:34.640 how such large quantities

00:17:36.240 of drugs

00:17:36.780 were getting into the country

00:17:37.860 or who was bringing it in.

00:17:40.580 But that was about to change.

00:17:42.300 In the 50s and 60s,

00:17:46.320 FBI agents

00:17:47.160 were mostly white males.

00:17:50.660 Now the FBI

00:17:51.700 was recruiting

00:17:52.300 from a much wider pool.

00:17:54.540 Finally,

00:17:54.980 they had young,

00:17:55.940 ambitious agents

00:17:56.700 who came from

00:17:57.920 the communities

00:17:58.580 that were home

00:17:59.180 to the mafia

00:17:59.740 and could speak

00:18:01.220 the Sicilian dialect.

00:18:02.300 That's very important,

00:18:04.040 guys.

00:18:04.400 To this day,

00:18:05.000 the FBI is still

00:18:05.780 heavily involved

00:18:06.600 in doing recruitment

00:18:08.680 of people

00:18:09.440 from different walks

00:18:10.180 of life

00:18:10.660 because they want

00:18:12.400 language capabilities,

00:18:13.600 they want people

00:18:13.960 that can blend in,

00:18:14.740 et cetera.

00:18:15.160 Even to this day,

00:18:15.920 the FBI is still

00:18:16.420 a mostly Caucasian agency,

00:18:18.400 so they do a lot

00:18:19.080 of outreach

00:18:19.580 to different demographics

00:18:21.960 of people

00:18:22.500 to make the workplace

00:18:24.260 more diverse,

00:18:24.980 especially to gather

00:18:26.400 people that speak

00:18:27.020 certain languages

00:18:27.620 that they're looking for,

00:18:28.520 Arabic, Russian,

00:18:29.940 Mandarin, Chinese,

00:18:30.780 et cetera.

00:18:36.500 Joe Pistone

00:18:37.540 was a young FBI agent

00:18:39.120 from a Sicilian background.

00:18:41.480 His mission

00:18:42.060 was to infiltrate

00:18:43.460 the mafia,

00:18:45.200 something that had

00:18:45.860 never been done before.

00:18:47.240 Hey, here we go, guys.

00:18:49.920 We might,

00:18:50.780 if you guys want,

00:18:51.700 I might go ahead

00:18:52.400 and do an entire podcast

00:18:53.500 just on Pistone,

00:18:55.440 but, you know,

00:18:56.940 let me know in the comments

00:18:57.680 what you guys want.

00:19:00.780 I grew up in New Jersey

00:19:01.940 and I grew up

00:19:02.900 in an Italian neighborhood.

00:19:05.140 Joseph D. Pistone,

00:19:07.140 a.k.a. Donnie Brasco,

00:19:08.380 man, former FBI agent.

00:19:09.420 Let's go, baby.

00:19:12.600 FBI in the house now.

00:19:14.500 And there actually

00:19:14.840 was a really good movie

00:19:15.520 that came out on this,

00:19:16.320 did really well.

00:19:17.660 Even Mike Francie

00:19:19.680 said that it was

00:19:20.280 a very good,

00:19:20.940 I guess,

00:19:22.780 reincarnation

00:19:23.440 of the original story.

00:19:25.480 FBI, open up!

00:19:26.540 And in this neighborhood,

00:19:28.140 there were mafia guys,

00:19:29.940 mob guys,

00:19:30.720 and I went to high school

00:19:32.480 with sons of mob guys.

00:19:34.420 So I knew about the mafia

00:19:36.140 growing up.

00:19:37.380 It wasn't foreign to me

00:19:38.660 when I became an FBI agent.

00:19:40.440 So I was pretty well versed

00:19:41.780 in the ways

00:19:42.500 and traditions of the mafia.

00:19:46.940 Joe Pistone's dream

00:19:48.300 was always to be a cop.

00:19:49.880 Growing up,

00:19:54.200 it was easy,

00:19:56.100 it would have been easy

00:19:56.920 to go, you know,

00:19:58.860 to go crooked

00:19:59.780 or become bent

00:20:00.740 because you're in the neighborhood,

00:20:03.240 you see what's going on.

00:20:04.960 There are guys

00:20:05.720 doing illegal activities.

00:20:08.280 But I never had

00:20:09.840 an inkling to go toward that

00:20:11.480 because of my parents.

00:20:12.760 I mean,

00:20:13.980 I know if I ever

00:20:16.240 did anything wrong

00:20:16.900 that I'd get a good

00:20:18.120 swift boot

00:20:18.720 and I ran from my father.

00:20:20.940 Same exact thing

00:20:21.840 with me, guys.

00:20:22.580 My dad,

00:20:23.440 I tried to go ahead

00:20:24.160 and do son dumb,

00:20:25.160 and I'm going to get slapped.

00:20:27.260 So definitely

00:20:28.840 W Parenting.

00:20:31.680 On July the 7th, 1969,

00:20:34.640 Pistone was sworn in

00:20:35.680 as a special agent

00:20:36.560 of the FBI.

00:20:38.900 Seven years later,

00:20:40.260 he disappeared

00:20:41.000 from everyday life

00:20:42.240 and developed

00:20:43.520 a new identity.

00:20:45.380 Everybody needs a legend,

00:20:47.100 and that's a history,

00:20:48.180 a legend,

00:20:48.480 a history.

00:20:49.380 And so, you know,

00:20:50.140 you pick a name,

00:20:50.880 and I picked Donnie Brasco,

00:20:52.320 and I picked a jewel thief,

00:20:55.280 burglar or jewel thief

00:20:56.360 because it's a profession

00:20:58.660 that is not involved

00:21:00.300 in violence.

00:21:02.980 You know,

00:21:03.420 not many jewel thieves

00:21:04.780 are in jail for murder.

00:21:06.300 So you want a legend

00:21:08.440 that is a nonviolent legend,

00:21:10.380 and you want one

00:21:11.460 where you can provide

00:21:12.700 somebody with something.

00:21:13.820 so I could come around

00:21:16.000 with precious gems,

00:21:17.560 jewels,

00:21:18.220 and tell them

00:21:19.220 that I had just

00:21:19.740 pulled a score.

00:21:22.860 Pistone's job

00:21:23.660 was to work his way

00:21:24.640 into a mafia family.

00:21:26.540 The risks were great,

00:21:28.440 but if he pulled it off,

00:21:30.100 he had the chance

00:21:30.880 to expose

00:21:31.600 a secret world of crime.

00:21:33.040 one wrong move,

00:21:36.860 and he faced

00:21:37.600 almost certain death.

00:21:38.980 In order to do this job...

00:21:45.680 Another thing, guys,

00:21:46.540 I didn't talk about this

00:21:47.260 in the first episode,

00:21:48.120 but as you guys know,

00:21:49.440 taking the code of silence

00:21:50.840 to Omerta

00:21:51.340 and becoming a made man,

00:21:52.920 one of the parts

00:21:53.700 of becoming a made man,

00:21:54.720 you could not have ever

00:21:56.240 have attended

00:21:56.900 any type of

00:21:57.820 law enforcement academy

00:21:58.980 or be a police officer

00:22:00.420 in any kind of fashion.

00:22:02.840 Even if you were crooked,

00:22:04.440 you know,

00:22:04.640 you might be an associate,

00:22:05.580 et cetera,

00:22:05.800 but you can never be

00:22:06.560 a made man in the mob

00:22:07.480 if you've ever attended

00:22:08.760 a police academy

00:22:11.140 or worked in law enforcement.

00:22:12.520 So this was death sentence

00:22:13.580 if they caught him.

00:22:14.860 The cover work,

00:22:15.660 you have to have two things.

00:22:16.820 You got to have

00:22:17.260 a lot of nerve

00:22:17.900 and you got to have

00:22:19.560 a lot of mental toughness.

00:22:21.680 I'm not a person

00:22:22.420 that sweats, you know.

00:22:23.380 When I get into a jam,

00:22:24.440 I don't sweat,

00:22:25.120 so you don't know

00:22:25.720 if you're scaring me or not,

00:22:27.580 you know.

00:22:28.580 And, you know,

00:22:29.680 there's not much

00:22:30.240 that can be done to you.

00:22:31.140 The worst thing that can happen

00:22:32.120 is they can kill you.

00:22:33.000 That's about it.

00:22:35.600 The FBI wanted

00:22:36.680 the inside story

00:22:37.700 on the mafia.

00:22:38.760 The Bonanno boss,

00:22:40.600 Carmine Galante,

00:22:41.560 was their first target.

00:22:44.440 Pistone used the FBI's diamonds

00:22:46.100 and his Sicilian roots

00:22:47.520 to gradually infiltrate

00:22:49.440 Galante's mafia family.

00:22:50.780 being of Italian ancestry

00:22:57.320 and knowing the streets

00:22:58.840 and knowing how the mafia operates,

00:23:02.960 you know,

00:23:03.440 you speak when you're spoken to.

00:23:05.980 You mind your own business.

00:23:07.400 You don't get involved

00:23:08.040 in conversations

00:23:08.780 that don't concern you.

00:23:11.400 They don't just, you know,

00:23:12.520 embrace you and take you in.

00:23:13.760 And you have to just lay back,

00:23:16.340 be patient,

00:23:17.180 and work your way.

00:23:23.260 You know,

00:23:23.800 and it's the first impression

00:23:24.980 that's going to carry you through.

00:23:28.560 And if you do things,

00:23:30.100 certain things,

00:23:30.860 that they pick you out,

00:23:32.080 that you have street smarts

00:23:33.940 and you aren't street guy,

00:23:34.860 that that's what's going to make you.

00:23:41.320 In March 1977,

00:23:46.240 Pistone began to hang around

00:23:47.640 in Nome-Banano territory.

00:23:50.500 He soon got noticed

00:23:51.480 by mafia foot soldiers.

00:23:57.640 One of the wise guys

00:23:59.120 Pistone met

00:23:59.960 was Lefty Ruggiero.

00:24:02.840 Pistone would later discover

00:24:04.040 that Lefty

00:24:04.780 was a known hitman

00:24:06.020 for the mob.

00:24:09.920 Lefty approached Pistone,

00:24:11.620 asking him to sell

00:24:12.620 some stolen jewelry.

00:24:15.900 I was introduced

00:24:16.600 to a fellow by the name

00:24:17.860 of Lefty Ruggiero,

00:24:19.160 and Lefty was,

00:24:21.480 he was a 24-hour gangster.

00:24:24.320 I mean,

00:24:24.780 he knew the mob.

00:24:26.980 He knew everything

00:24:28.540 about the mafia.

00:24:29.380 If you need a teacher

00:24:30.120 in the mafia,

00:24:30.840 Lefty was the guy

00:24:31.660 that you wanted.

00:24:34.420 I used my street smarts

00:24:35.600 and my knowledge

00:24:36.120 of the mafia,

00:24:37.280 and I didn't push with him

00:24:39.000 as far as questions

00:24:41.360 and, you know,

00:24:42.800 trying to get information.

00:24:45.420 And he liked that.

00:24:47.200 He saw that I was a street guy,

00:24:48.820 that I knew the streets.

00:24:50.200 And also, you know,

00:24:51.480 being a jewel thief

00:24:52.480 and bringing around

00:24:54.060 some precious stones,

00:24:55.340 he liked that too

00:24:56.260 because...

00:24:57.540 And that's really smart,

00:24:58.540 guys,

00:24:58.760 that he came in

00:24:59.260 as a jewel thief.

00:24:59.980 And the reason why

00:25:00.640 he probably had that cover story

00:25:01.940 versus having something else

00:25:03.040 is that when you're

00:25:04.060 in the mafia,

00:25:05.060 right,

00:25:05.440 you don't want to come in

00:25:06.640 and say,

00:25:06.980 oh yeah,

00:25:07.340 I'm this tough guy

00:25:08.380 and all this other stuff

00:25:09.040 because they're going to put you

00:25:09.920 to the test a lot of times

00:25:10.760 and want you to kill somebody

00:25:11.740 if they know that you're

00:25:12.780 a violent criminal.

00:25:13.540 But as a jewel thief,

00:25:14.780 what he's able to do

00:25:15.520 is he's able to say,

00:25:16.040 hey, listen,

00:25:16.740 I'm able to come in,

00:25:17.440 I have a skill set,

00:25:18.100 I can make y'all money

00:25:19.260 because that's what

00:25:19.820 they prioritize

00:25:20.340 and I'm not necessarily

00:25:22.420 one of these,

00:25:22.960 you know,

00:25:23.180 tough guys that needs

00:25:23.900 to go out and kill people

00:25:24.700 but I got my connections

00:25:26.380 in the underworld

00:25:27.040 of being a jewel thief

00:25:27.820 so that allows

00:25:28.540 the undercover agent

00:25:29.440 to assume a criminal identity

00:25:31.000 without necessarily

00:25:31.540 having to be a violent one

00:25:32.420 because if they do try

00:25:33.200 to put him to the test

00:25:33.920 and tell him,

00:25:34.900 we need you to rough this guy up

00:25:35.880 or beat this guy up,

00:25:36.460 he can't do that as an agent.

00:25:38.000 So that's why he went

00:25:39.900 with the backstory

00:25:40.480 of being a jewel thief

00:25:41.380 because it lets him

00:25:43.680 inflate his own status

00:25:44.920 within a mafia.

00:25:45.800 He can go ahead

00:25:46.880 and make introductions

00:25:47.800 and it allows him

00:25:49.020 to be a criminal

00:25:49.680 while simultaneously

00:25:51.060 still be able

00:25:52.140 to have the guys

00:25:54.100 in the cover

00:25:54.680 of being a veteran crook

00:25:57.620 that can steal

00:25:58.240 and earn for the mafia

00:25:59.640 which is their number

00:26:00.340 one priority.

00:26:00.920 Violence always comes

00:26:02.580 just to,

00:26:04.840 violence is a secondary

00:26:05.920 to the primary

00:26:06.640 and that primary

00:26:07.240 is earning money first

00:26:08.540 which is why the mafia

00:26:09.320 was so big

00:26:10.320 on extortion rackets,

00:26:12.180 gambling,

00:26:13.120 having extorting garment,

00:26:15.540 the garment district,

00:26:16.760 meat, kosher meat,

00:26:17.720 all these different ways

00:26:19.360 to make money.

00:26:21.600 They prioritized that.

00:26:22.940 Obviously the violence

00:26:23.600 came if the money

00:26:24.180 didn't come

00:26:24.660 but rarely did the violence

00:26:25.640 have to come

00:26:26.200 versus how many people

00:26:27.440 they were extorting

00:26:28.040 at the same time.

00:26:28.920 But it was always

00:26:29.500 about making money

00:26:30.420 not necessarily

00:26:31.280 just committing

00:26:31.760 senseless acts of violence.

00:26:33.260 And Lucky Luciano

00:26:33.940 is one of the big ones

00:26:35.280 that imported that idea

00:26:36.840 into the mafia

00:26:37.740 aka the commission.

00:26:40.220 It was money,

00:26:41.200 you know.

00:26:41.580 As his undercover

00:26:46.240 operations stretched

00:26:47.460 into months and years,

00:26:49.640 Pistone gradually

00:26:50.420 became an accepted face

00:26:51.820 within the mob.

00:26:53.560 But the risks

00:26:54.580 remained high.

00:26:57.640 Former gangster

00:26:58.580 Henry Hill

00:26:59.400 knows all about

00:27:00.820 the dangers

00:27:01.480 that Pistone faced.

00:27:02.800 I mean,

00:27:05.860 he was susceptible

00:27:06.460 to get figured out

00:27:08.300 at any time,

00:27:09.240 you know.

00:27:09.520 I mean,

00:27:09.740 it took balls.

00:27:10.400 Believe me,

00:27:10.940 it took balls.

00:27:11.680 But he also enjoyed it.

00:27:13.100 You know,

00:27:13.260 he became a member.

00:27:15.800 Or as close

00:27:16.300 as you can come

00:27:16.820 as a member.

00:27:19.160 Pistone was so convincing.

00:27:21.660 An almost father

00:27:22.420 and son relationship

00:27:23.540 developed

00:27:24.140 between him

00:27:24.880 and Lefty.

00:27:27.460 He did have

00:27:28.280 an affection for me,

00:27:29.320 I think,

00:27:29.820 because he saw me,

00:27:33.060 you know,

00:27:33.440 something that he

00:27:34.180 might have wanted

00:27:34.920 to have been

00:27:35.920 or his son,

00:27:37.440 you know,

00:27:37.860 to have been.

00:27:38.920 And he introduced me

00:27:40.520 to his family

00:27:41.760 and his wife.

00:27:43.540 And, you know,

00:27:44.680 I spent...

00:27:45.000 And just so you guys know,

00:27:45.960 this movie right here,

00:27:47.100 okay,

00:27:47.900 Donnie Brasco

00:27:49.060 released back in 1997,

00:27:50.860 Johnny Depp.

00:27:51.840 Good film, man.

00:27:52.900 It covers this

00:27:54.000 extensively

00:27:55.360 with Donnie Brasco

00:27:57.500 and Lefty,

00:27:58.300 et cetera.

00:27:58.660 So go ahead

00:27:59.040 and check that movie out

00:27:59.880 when you guys

00:28:00.700 get the chance.

00:28:02.180 But, yeah,

00:28:02.940 pretty damn good film here.

00:28:04.200 You guys can see here,

00:28:05.160 it got, what,

00:28:06.120 7.7 on IMDb

00:28:07.620 and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes,

00:28:09.140 a 1997 film.

00:28:12.780 A lot of times

00:28:14.620 at his house

00:28:15.200 having dinner.

00:28:17.240 So,

00:28:17.780 it became more

00:28:19.660 than just a,

00:28:20.560 you know,

00:28:21.240 gangster on gangster

00:28:22.260 relationship.

00:28:23.100 by the summer

00:28:28.420 of 1977,

00:28:30.440 the Stone had won

00:28:31.280 Lefty's trust.

00:28:33.320 But would he ever get

00:28:34.180 any closer

00:28:34.800 to heroin boss

00:28:35.960 Carmine Galante?

00:28:37.080 I was with,

00:28:40.240 I was a Lefty

00:28:40.920 one night

00:28:41.400 and he said,

00:28:42.240 we gotta go,

00:28:43.320 we gotta go somewhere

00:28:45.660 and I said,

00:28:46.140 well,

00:28:46.240 where we're going?

00:28:46.900 He said,

00:28:47.260 well,

00:28:47.400 I'll tell you

00:28:47.720 when we get there.

00:28:50.860 Galante was having

00:28:52.140 a meeting in there

00:28:52.940 and it was our job

00:28:54.700 to stand outside

00:28:55.760 and make sure

00:28:56.520 that the meeting

00:28:58.620 went smooth

00:28:59.200 and nothing happened.

00:29:00.240 Basically,

00:29:00.740 we were outside

00:29:01.260 guarding them.

00:29:01.860 this was a big

00:29:04.280 opportunity

00:29:04.840 for the Stone.

00:29:07.400 And I asked him,

00:29:08.340 I said,

00:29:08.540 you know,

00:29:08.720 Left,

00:29:09.060 can't we go inside?

00:29:10.120 And he says,

00:29:10.720 what are you,

00:29:12.240 crazy?

00:29:12.900 You can't go in there

00:29:13.960 and sit down

00:29:14.600 when the boss is meeting.

00:29:16.400 You can't even

00:29:16.920 meet the boss.

00:29:18.360 You know,

00:29:18.840 he doesn't meet

00:29:19.420 anybody on your level.

00:29:23.080 Translation,

00:29:23.700 you're not a made guy yet.

00:29:25.300 So that's a big,

00:29:26.300 Nope.

00:29:26.960 And if you guys

00:29:27.820 want more details

00:29:28.500 on becoming a made guy

00:29:29.620 and the ritual

00:29:30.300 and everything else

00:29:31.140 like that,

00:29:31.460 I cover this extensively

00:29:32.560 in episode one,

00:29:33.320 guys,

00:29:33.580 so you can get

00:29:33.940 the difference

00:29:34.460 between a made guy

00:29:35.600 aka a soldier

00:29:36.240 versus a capo

00:29:37.020 versus a consigliere,

00:29:38.660 under boss,

00:29:39.380 boss,

00:29:39.740 et cetera.

00:29:40.140 We go over

00:29:40.480 the entire hierarchy

00:29:41.280 in that first episode.

00:29:42.540 Go back and watch it

00:29:43.300 so I don't have

00:29:43.640 to rehash it.

00:29:44.780 He says,

00:29:45.080 we got to stand out

00:29:45.860 here until we're told

00:29:46.740 to lay release

00:29:48.180 until we're told

00:29:48.760 we can go.

00:29:50.780 You know,

00:29:51.260 it was kind of

00:29:51.720 an adrenaline rush.

00:29:53.300 A lot of things

00:29:53.980 go through your mind,

00:29:54.720 but the main thing

00:29:55.300 was is that

00:29:55.820 if I get killed,

00:29:57.180 I'm going to get killed

00:29:57.740 as a wise guy,

00:29:58.560 not as an FBI agent here.

00:30:01.460 You know,

00:30:03.140 here I'm an FBI agent

00:30:04.580 working undercover

00:30:05.360 and, you know,

00:30:07.180 nobody ever got to

00:30:08.260 be close to a boss,

00:30:09.840 let alone guard him.

00:30:13.180 Pistone did not get

00:30:14.060 as close to Galanti

00:30:14.920 as he wanted,

00:30:16.320 but he learned

00:30:17.000 important facts

00:30:18.020 about his operation.

00:30:18.920 before Pistone went undercover,

00:30:22.780 the FBI had some idea

00:30:24.320 about the inner workings

00:30:25.540 of the mob.

00:30:27.060 Now,

00:30:27.700 for the first time,

00:30:29.220 an agent was able

00:30:30.080 to confirm the way

00:30:31.300 the mafia was organized

00:30:32.640 from the inside.

00:30:36.820 Pistone told the FBI

00:30:38.160 how each family

00:30:39.520 was structured

00:30:40.160 into a military formation.

00:30:41.640 At the top

00:30:43.380 was the head

00:30:43.980 of the family.

00:30:45.800 Working directly

00:30:46.600 for him

00:30:47.100 was an underboss

00:30:47.880 and an advisor

00:30:48.700 known as a consigliere.

00:30:51.640 Beneath them

00:30:52.300 were the capos,

00:30:54.640 each of whom

00:30:55.300 ran a crew

00:30:55.920 of five to ten

00:30:57.060 foot soldiers.

00:30:59.340 This structure

00:31:00.420 meant the boss

00:31:01.240 was always

00:31:01.840 several layers away

00:31:03.060 from the foot soldiers

00:31:04.000 and the crimes

00:31:04.760 they committed,

00:31:06.160 making it almost

00:31:07.040 impossible

00:31:07.600 to convict

00:31:08.920 the head

00:31:09.620 of the family.

00:31:12.160 This was vital

00:31:13.040 intelligence

00:31:13.560 in the war

00:31:14.180 against the mob.

00:31:15.180 And just clarification

00:31:16.140 real fast, guys,

00:31:17.100 because he said

00:31:17.640 a wise guy

00:31:18.300 and a wise guy

00:31:19.080 is commonly used

00:31:20.040 to refer to a guy

00:31:21.260 that's a made man.

00:31:22.860 Let me be very clear

00:31:23.740 about this.

00:31:24.160 Joey Pistone

00:31:24.720 never became

00:31:25.960 a made guy.

00:31:27.220 The FBI actually

00:31:27.660 ended up pulling him out

00:31:28.740 before he could be made

00:31:29.880 because it was too dangerous

00:31:30.760 because they were

00:31:31.160 almost certain

00:31:31.620 that he was going

00:31:32.060 to have to commit

00:31:32.520 some type of violent act

00:31:33.360 to become a made guy.

00:31:34.380 So he came very close

00:31:35.440 and he probably

00:31:36.780 infiltrated the mafia

00:31:37.660 to the greatest extent

00:31:38.520 of any law enforcement

00:31:39.480 officer in American history,

00:31:40.780 but he was never

00:31:42.020 a made guy, okay?

00:31:43.580 And I want to make

00:31:44.240 that very clear

00:31:44.860 because becoming

00:31:45.480 a made man

00:31:46.180 is a big deal

00:31:47.400 in the mafia.

00:31:48.580 It takes years of work.

00:31:49.560 You need to,

00:31:50.820 for most,

00:31:51.200 not all,

00:31:51.740 unless you have

00:31:52.200 someone that's verifying

00:31:53.460 you to tie up

00:31:53.940 in your organization,

00:31:54.660 et cetera.

00:31:55.140 But it isn't easy

00:31:56.000 to become a made guy.

00:31:56.980 And once again,

00:31:58.840 to understand

00:31:59.820 what being a made guy

00:32:01.140 is,

00:32:01.340 go back and watch

00:32:01.920 that first episode.

00:32:02.560 I don't want to sound

00:32:02.980 like a broken record,

00:32:03.780 guys, here,

00:32:04.600 but it's really important

00:32:06.160 that you understand

00:32:06.920 these terms

00:32:08.620 and phrases

00:32:09.620 and hierarchies,

00:32:10.980 et cetera,

00:32:11.200 so everything makes sense.

00:32:14.240 But it was just

00:32:15.120 the beginning.

00:32:16.900 Pistone also managed

00:32:17.980 to find out

00:32:18.520 the secret

00:32:19.040 of Galante's

00:32:19.800 meteoric rise

00:32:20.740 within the New York mafia.

00:32:23.620 Joe came back

00:32:24.560 to us telling us

00:32:27.260 about the Sicilians

00:32:29.140 whom the American

00:32:31.640 mafia figures

00:32:32.960 were referring

00:32:33.560 to as ZIPS.

00:32:36.000 And to him,

00:32:36.600 this meant

00:32:37.020 that these Sicilian

00:32:38.140 mafia figures

00:32:38.940 within the Bonanno family

00:32:40.520 were actually being used

00:32:42.380 to commit murder,

00:32:44.140 dealing in drugs,

00:32:45.580 heroin.

00:32:46.340 That was just

00:32:47.260 unbelievable revelation.

00:32:48.880 I met some Sicilian

00:32:52.960 that were members

00:32:54.980 of the mafia.

00:32:57.400 And these guys

00:32:59.060 were made guys

00:33:00.840 over in Sicily

00:33:03.360 and then brought

00:33:04.020 over here.

00:33:04.920 But the Sicilians

00:33:05.760 had their own

00:33:06.760 clique over here

00:33:09.620 in the U.S.

00:33:12.600 Galante had imported

00:33:13.780 his own private army

00:33:15.080 of ruthless Sicilian

00:33:16.380 mafiosi.

00:33:17.160 And Galante's

00:33:18.460 two key guys

00:33:19.600 that he brought over

00:33:21.200 were Cesar Bonaventuri

00:33:23.880 and Baldo Amato.

00:33:27.140 And he brought them

00:33:29.260 over from Sicily

00:33:30.160 and they were

00:33:31.880 with him constantly.

00:33:33.620 And I think

00:33:34.140 one of the reasons

00:33:34.740 why he did bring him

00:33:35.620 over is that he felt

00:33:36.620 a better sense

00:33:38.700 of security

00:33:39.400 with the Sicilians

00:33:40.580 because I guess

00:33:43.580 he felt they were

00:33:44.120 still loyal

00:33:44.720 to the tradition

00:33:46.260 they weren't

00:33:49.100 Americanized yet.

00:33:51.660 Galante's new bodyguards

00:33:53.020 made waves

00:33:54.040 in the Bonaventuri family.

00:33:55.640 There was a lot

00:33:56.380 of friction

00:33:56.820 I found

00:33:57.460 between the American

00:33:58.780 mafia and the Sicilians

00:34:00.240 even though they were

00:34:01.700 married up

00:34:02.980 into one family.

00:34:04.780 I mean,

00:34:05.120 anyway,

00:34:06.120 Lefty and Sonny

00:34:06.980 and the other Americans

00:34:08.180 thought that they were

00:34:09.200 looking to take over

00:34:10.560 the family

00:34:11.140 and that the other

00:34:13.380 American mafia guys

00:34:15.360 didn't trust them

00:34:17.060 and didn't like them.

00:34:20.540 The Sicilian

00:34:21.600 and American mafia

00:34:22.640 were cut from

00:34:23.420 very different cloth.

00:34:25.980 In the past,

00:34:27.740 the Sicilians

00:34:28.280 had embraced

00:34:29.040 rules and traditions.

00:34:30.880 But that was changing.

00:34:32.140 They'd kill anyone.

00:34:36.680 You know,

00:34:36.940 we had certain rules.

00:34:39.160 You know,

00:34:39.380 it sounds strange,

00:34:40.280 but there were rules

00:34:41.400 as to, you know,

00:34:42.820 who you had to get

00:34:44.960 permission from

00:34:45.740 to go do a piece of work

00:34:48.000 or

00:34:48.360 you couldn't kill a guy

00:34:51.520 in front of his family

00:34:52.580 and

00:34:53.100 they didn't have those rules.

00:34:54.980 These new,

00:34:57.980 ruthless Sicilians

00:34:58.900 were from a mafia clan

00:35:00.660 based in Corleone,

00:35:02.440 a remote,

00:35:03.260 rural town

00:35:03.960 deep in the mountains

00:35:04.940 of Sicily.

00:35:10.020 Corleone mafiosi

00:35:11.060 are made of

00:35:11.620 different stuff.

00:35:12.820 They're tough,

00:35:13.580 very hard.

00:35:15.040 Probably their peasant

00:35:15.820 lifestyle trained them

00:35:16.820 to withstand

00:35:17.320 anything thrown at them.

00:35:22.060 Jail doesn't scare

00:35:22.860 the Corleone.

00:35:24.000 They aren't

00:35:24.760 frightened of death.

00:35:25.860 They're always

00:35:26.360 faithful to their boss.

00:35:29.980 The Corleone

00:35:30.980 had reached the top

00:35:32.400 of the Sicilian mafia

00:35:33.480 by breaking rules

00:35:35.280 and killing

00:35:36.120 without permission

00:35:36.960 from anyone.

00:35:45.280 In the American mafia,

00:35:47.660 obedience to your superiors

00:35:49.000 was deeply ingrained.

00:35:51.060 The godfather

00:35:52.220 of the American mafia,

00:35:53.300 Charlie Lucky Luciano,

00:35:55.960 had formed an organization

00:35:57.200 known as the Commission

00:35:58.320 back in 1931.

00:36:00.940 This was like the board

00:36:02.040 of directors

00:36:02.600 of the mafia.

00:36:04.220 All the heads

00:36:04.840 of the families

00:36:05.420 would meet

00:36:05.980 to settle disputes

00:36:07.220 and decide on strategy.

00:36:09.480 The Commission

00:36:10.280 imposed discipline

00:36:11.220 on the warring families.

00:36:13.660 Rules were agreed,

00:36:14.940 which changed little

00:36:15.940 over decades.

00:36:16.820 One of the rules

00:36:27.080 was that you didn't

00:36:28.360 kill someone

00:36:29.060 without permission

00:36:29.920 from the head

00:36:30.620 of your family.

00:36:37.300 Las Vegas mobster

00:36:38.520 Frank Carlotta

00:36:39.420 nearly paid the ultimate

00:36:41.160 price when this rule

00:36:42.340 was broken,

00:36:43.420 thanks to his ruthless boss,

00:36:45.360 Tony Spinaltra.

00:36:47.760 I grew up

00:36:48.460 with this Tony guy.

00:36:49.700 He was a very good friend

00:36:50.980 and as I said,

00:36:52.000 you know,

00:36:52.600 very good friends

00:36:53.520 that are the ones

00:36:53.880 that are going to get you killed.

00:36:56.060 And when he had ordered

00:36:57.920 me to whack some guy

00:37:00.480 out here,

00:37:01.100 I asked him,

00:37:03.060 did you get the okay

00:37:03.880 from back home?

00:37:04.580 And he said,

00:37:05.000 yeah.

00:37:05.660 And he promised me

00:37:06.560 he did.

00:37:07.780 Well,

00:37:08.600 he never did get the okay.

00:37:11.340 And he got a call

00:37:12.920 from one of the bosses

00:37:14.920 back there

00:37:15.540 and they said,

00:37:15.980 what are you guys

00:37:17.000 doing out there?

00:37:18.800 Oh, Lord,

00:37:19.560 you already know

00:37:20.060 that this is going

00:37:20.640 to cause a huge problem.

00:37:21.860 Mama Mia!

00:37:23.840 Killing someone

00:37:24.540 without authorization

00:37:25.400 from Chicago

00:37:26.280 was breaking the rules.

00:37:28.700 The punishment

00:37:29.420 was death.

00:37:31.300 And just so you guys know,

00:37:31.980 the commission was

00:37:32.840 all the crime families

00:37:34.080 basically sat on the board

00:37:35.060 and made these decisions.

00:37:36.040 It wasn't just

00:37:36.500 the five families of New York.

00:37:37.840 It was the guys out of Chicago,

00:37:38.960 the guys out of Florida,

00:37:40.000 et cetera.

00:37:40.240 And there was actually

00:37:40.660 a meeting done

00:37:41.360 in New York

00:37:42.920 and a state trooper,

00:37:44.600 right,

00:37:44.840 that was very go-getter

00:37:47.480 was able to catch

00:37:48.480 these guys all meeting.

00:37:49.820 And that's kind of

00:37:50.280 the first time

00:37:51.020 that the United States

00:37:51.800 figured out

00:37:52.240 that there was a

00:37:52.840 national criminal organization

00:37:55.820 of La Cosa Nostra.

00:37:57.580 It would have kind of

00:37:58.260 had been speculated against,

00:37:59.520 but no one knew for sure.

00:38:00.540 And when they call

00:38:00.980 all these guys meeting,

00:38:01.880 in one location in New York

00:38:02.940 from different parts

00:38:03.840 of the country,

00:38:04.460 that's when they were

00:38:05.280 pretty much like,

00:38:06.180 gotcha, bitch.

00:38:09.600 Tony Spilotto

00:38:10.440 decided to blame

00:38:11.600 his best friend,

00:38:13.060 Frank Colotta.

00:38:14.300 He was lying.

00:38:15.540 He was taking the weight

00:38:16.380 off himself

00:38:17.240 because he knew

00:38:18.980 that if he didn't

00:38:22.220 and said he readily

00:38:23.240 ordered me

00:38:24.340 to do these things,

00:38:25.500 that they would

00:38:26.260 whack him in the head.

00:38:27.160 so he shifted

00:38:28.320 everything over to me.

00:38:30.640 That was my best friend.

00:38:33.120 We shined shoes together

00:38:34.180 when we were

00:38:34.640 12, 13 years old.

00:38:36.760 So all my life.

00:38:38.560 He's the guy

00:38:39.480 that actually

00:38:40.140 was the guy

00:38:41.580 that told me

00:38:42.220 when I get to be

00:38:42.980 a big man,

00:38:43.640 you're my right-hand man.

00:38:45.840 And I was.

00:38:47.420 But that's the same guy

00:38:48.640 that was going to

00:38:49.260 sell me out

00:38:49.960 to save his ass

00:38:51.080 and get me whacked.

00:38:55.180 It wasn't long

00:38:56.180 before Tony Spilotto

00:38:57.260 and his mobster brother

00:38:58.540 received deadly punishment

00:39:00.760 at the hands of the mob.

00:39:03.600 Believe it or not,

00:39:04.400 I felt a little bad for him

00:39:05.780 because that's,

00:39:08.000 I mean,

00:39:08.620 they were both

00:39:10.160 beaten to death.

00:39:11.560 They weren't shot,

00:39:12.680 they weren't strangled,

00:39:13.640 they weren't knifed,

00:39:15.180 they were physically

00:39:16.080 punched to death

00:39:17.980 or beaten with bats to death,

00:39:19.820 however, you know,

00:39:21.080 and each one

00:39:22.380 was to watch one die,

00:39:24.020 you know.

00:39:24.500 So, you know,

00:39:25.280 I felt bad.

00:39:25.940 There were two brothers

00:39:26.600 at the same time.

00:39:28.300 I grew up with the guy.

00:39:29.420 Even though the guy

00:39:30.080 tried to kill me,

00:39:31.120 I still felt bad.

00:39:34.060 For all American mafiosi,

00:39:36.280 the rules of the commission

00:39:37.500 were a fact of life

00:39:39.420 and death.

00:39:40.980 And that goes to show

00:39:41.740 how brutal these guys were, man.

00:39:43.100 Forget about it.

00:39:44.480 Yeah, forget about your life.

00:39:47.160 You really never know

00:39:48.460 who to trust.

00:39:49.320 I don't care how close

00:39:50.260 you are with them,

00:39:50.780 if you grew up with them

00:39:51.620 or what.

00:39:53.200 If, uh,

00:39:54.280 that's gonna be the one

00:39:55.540 that's gonna kill you,

00:39:56.340 usually.

00:39:56.860 It's your best.

00:39:57.340 Yeah, so,

00:39:58.180 and the reason for that,

00:39:59.400 guys, is that, yeah,

00:40:00.100 if they want you dead,

00:40:01.340 what they'll do is

00:40:02.140 they'll, you know,

00:40:02.680 tell you that there's a meeting

00:40:03.620 or anything like that

00:40:04.400 and they'll walk you

00:40:05.000 into a room, right?

00:40:06.120 And if they walk you

00:40:06.680 in the room

00:40:07.080 and there's nobody in there,

00:40:08.120 then you already know

00:40:08.700 what time it is in.

00:40:09.420 By then,

00:40:09.740 you're probably getting

00:40:10.260 shot in the back of the head.

00:40:11.440 Just like the movie,

00:40:12.540 I think it was Goodfellas,

00:40:13.460 where they had that scene

00:40:14.320 where, uh,

00:40:16.640 was it Donny DeVito?

00:40:17.760 What's it?

00:40:18.040 I forget the doctor's name.

00:40:19.500 Uh, no, Joe Pesci,

00:40:20.380 I think it was.

00:40:21.120 He gets shot

00:40:21.520 in the back of the head

00:40:22.220 because they walk him

00:40:22.840 into an empty room,

00:40:24.020 people that he knows

00:40:24.720 and trusts,

00:40:25.480 and he's like,

00:40:25.820 ah, shit,

00:40:26.360 and they shoot him

00:40:26.800 in the back

00:40:27.200 and he dies.

00:40:27.760 So, um, yeah,

00:40:29.100 a lot of times

00:40:29.600 it's your best friend

00:40:30.280 that lines you up, guys,

00:40:31.520 uh, when it came

00:40:32.280 to the mafia.

00:40:33.200 Really crazy stuff here.

00:40:40.600 Carmine Galante

00:40:41.400 didn't care about

00:40:42.380 the commission

00:40:42.920 or its rules.

00:40:44.880 He believed

00:40:45.560 the American mafia

00:40:46.520 was soft,

00:40:47.600 and that his connections

00:40:48.780 with the ruthless Sicilians

00:40:50.160 made him invincible.

00:40:53.500 But there was

00:40:53.960 more than one advantage

00:40:55.180 of having an alliance

00:40:56.440 with the old country.

00:40:59.760 At first,

00:41:00.640 nobody thought

00:41:01.360 much about it,

00:41:02.460 uh,

00:41:02.860 but then

00:41:03.740 the rest of the mafia

00:41:04.880 began to get

00:41:05.700 really nervous

00:41:06.800 because they began

00:41:08.420 to ask themselves,

00:41:09.240 now,

00:41:09.360 why is he bringing

00:41:10.080 in so many

00:41:10.740 of these zips?

00:41:11.940 And everybody

00:41:12.480 put two and two together.

00:41:14.160 These guys

00:41:14.820 are running heroin.

00:41:15.600 This is a Sicilian

00:41:16.880 connection at work here.

00:41:18.660 Uh,

00:41:18.960 we don't need this.

00:41:20.560 For one thing,

00:41:21.420 the organization felt

00:41:22.480 we can't control

00:41:23.320 the zips.

00:41:28.500 Sicilians made

00:41:29.500 and smuggled in

00:41:30.500 the heroin.

00:41:31.920 By hiring them

00:41:32.820 into his own crew,

00:41:34.540 Galante was making sure

00:41:35.920 he would stay

00:41:36.600 at the heart

00:41:37.320 of the heroin business.

00:41:38.820 For what he was

00:41:40.900 trying to do

00:41:41.940 in the heroin business,

00:41:44.560 it would have been,

00:41:46.040 you know,

00:41:47.080 good for him

00:41:47.880 to be aligned,

00:41:48.740 but the more Sicilians

00:41:49.500 the better

00:41:50.060 because that's where,

00:41:51.620 you know,

00:41:51.860 the pipeline went,

00:41:53.000 came from.

00:41:54.480 In the late 70s,

00:41:56.040 the Sicilian mafia

00:41:57.040 dominated the heroin trade.

00:41:59.460 On the streets

00:42:00.080 of America,

00:42:00.760 the profits being made

00:42:01.880 were reaching

00:42:02.440 20 billion dollars

00:42:03.880 a year.

00:42:05.600 Galante was trying

00:42:06.380 to keep the profits

00:42:07.320 to himself.

00:42:09.820 Something had

00:42:10.820 to be done.

00:42:12.360 He was greedy.

00:42:13.600 He wasn't,

00:42:14.160 you know,

00:42:14.840 the Bananos may

00:42:16.000 have been involved

00:42:16.600 in this,

00:42:17.920 the profits

00:42:19.520 from this drug trade,

00:42:20.560 but Galante wasn't

00:42:21.520 sharing it even

00:42:22.180 with his own people

00:42:23.020 and their family

00:42:23.620 because he was

00:42:24.980 and nobody

00:42:30.580 was going to tell him

00:42:31.340 what to do

00:42:32.020 and he was going

00:42:33.960 to run his family

00:42:34.880 and he wanted to run

00:42:35.940 the other families too.

00:42:37.560 Sorry about that,

00:42:38.180 guys.

00:42:38.660 And during this time,

00:42:39.820 Galante was making

00:42:40.640 deadly enemies.

00:42:41.440 The other bosses

00:42:42.000 didn't like him

00:42:42.660 because of this attitude

00:42:44.080 that he had

00:42:44.860 that he was

00:42:46.080 the top boss

00:42:47.840 in the city.

00:42:50.140 Everyone knew,

00:42:51.760 everyone knew

00:42:52.720 on the street

00:42:53.300 that the clouds

00:42:54.780 are walled

00:42:55.360 right there.

00:42:56.600 I mean,

00:42:57.240 if this guy

00:42:58.080 stayed loose,

00:42:58.880 what he was plotting

00:43:02.200 would have

00:43:02.980 definitely caused

00:43:03.960 major,

00:43:05.240 major,

00:43:06.100 you know,

00:43:07.040 war to happen

00:43:07.680 between the families.

00:43:11.380 For mob bosses,

00:43:12.980 the Galante problem

00:43:13.820 was growing.

00:43:15.940 Only the commission

00:43:17.000 had the authority

00:43:17.900 to act.

00:43:19.520 Their solution

00:43:20.140 would be violent.

00:43:22.060 Galante had to go.

00:43:23.160 On July the 12th,

00:43:28.380 1979,

00:43:30.240 Carmine Galante

00:43:30.920 paid a visit

00:43:31.500 to Joe and Mary's

00:43:32.540 restaurant

00:43:32.960 on Knickerbocker Avenue

00:43:34.420 in Brooklyn.

00:43:35.960 It was one

00:43:36.880 of his favorite

00:43:37.480 haunts.

00:43:38.800 Run by his cousin,

00:43:39.840 he felt safe there.

00:43:41.800 He was joined

00:43:42.740 by his two loyal

00:43:43.840 Sicilian bodyguards.

00:43:45.140 There's a courtyard

00:43:50.820 that you go into

00:43:51.740 and is an open

00:43:53.660 air courtyard

00:43:55.340 and they were

00:43:57.140 sitting down

00:43:57.700 getting ready

00:43:58.980 to have lunch

00:43:59.680 and Galante

00:44:02.000 was sitting there

00:44:02.780 and he had

00:44:03.180 his cigar

00:44:04.300 in his mouth.

00:44:10.860 Three guys

00:44:11.700 pull up outside,

00:44:12.820 jump out of a car.

00:44:13.740 Here we go.

00:44:15.920 You want to deal

00:44:16.480 them drugs?

00:44:17.760 They run

00:44:18.620 in the restaurant

00:44:19.260 and start

00:44:20.440 blasting away.

00:44:33.140 Galante ends up

00:44:34.220 getting shot,

00:44:35.640 falls off his chair,

00:44:37.820 sprawls out

00:44:38.660 on the ground,

00:44:40.100 face up,

00:44:41.100 and he still

00:44:41.700 has his cigar

00:44:42.400 clenched in his mouth.

00:44:44.220 And that's

00:44:45.320 how they got Galante.

00:44:48.240 This is the famous

00:44:49.200 front page

00:44:50.060 that greeted America

00:44:51.420 the next morning.

00:44:53.860 Galante's meteoric...

00:44:54.940 That's what you get

00:44:55.600 for selling drugs.

00:44:57.900 Yeah, we're not

00:44:58.620 messing around

00:44:59.080 with that, man.

00:44:59.760 Brought too much

00:45:00.320 attention to them.

00:45:01.560 Rise of the top

00:45:02.480 had ended

00:45:03.820 in a pool of blood.

00:45:07.120 Still had the cigar

00:45:07.820 in his mouth

00:45:08.260 and everything, man.

00:45:09.140 Crazy.

00:45:09.540 Carmine Galante

00:45:13.580 was rubbed out

00:45:14.720 today as he sat

00:45:15.640 in a Brooklyn

00:45:16.180 luncheonette,

00:45:17.120 a gangland execution

00:45:18.400 of a man believed

00:45:19.380 to be the most

00:45:20.080 important organized

00:45:21.340 crime figure

00:45:22.160 in the country.

00:45:24.080 After the murder,

00:45:25.560 the killers

00:45:26.000 fled the scene.

00:45:28.040 But in an amazing

00:45:28.940 coincidence...

00:45:30.000 And the fact

00:45:31.380 that he got killed

00:45:32.240 as a boss, guys,

00:45:33.440 tells you that

00:45:34.020 the commission

00:45:34.560 agreed upon that

00:45:35.800 and it was universal

00:45:36.600 that they wanted him

00:45:37.400 gone.

00:45:38.480 One of them

00:45:38.840 walked into a club...

00:45:39.640 And the next thing

00:45:40.140 you know...

00:45:40.920 FATALITY!

00:45:42.480 ...that was under

00:45:42.900 police surveillance.

00:45:45.260 This incredible footage

00:45:46.540 shows him

00:45:47.880 reporting back

00:45:48.860 to the commission

00:45:49.460 bosses

00:45:49.880 after the successful

00:45:51.700 hit.

00:45:52.060 But the feds

00:45:55.100 were about to get

00:45:55.860 an even bigger

00:45:56.620 surprise.

00:45:58.240 When the police

00:45:58.840 came on the scene,

00:45:59.800 they immediately

00:46:00.400 identified

00:46:01.140 Carmine Galante's

00:46:02.460 body.

00:46:03.160 An old man

00:46:03.780 had a cigar

00:46:06.140 stuck in his mouth.

00:46:07.720 Totally lifeless.

00:46:09.120 As the police

00:46:09.680 pieced everything

00:46:10.640 together,

00:46:11.740 they were told

00:46:12.200 that two other

00:46:12.900 individuals

00:46:13.420 who were

00:46:14.560 in the backyard

00:46:15.620 with Galante

00:46:16.280 later identified

00:46:18.120 as the so-called

00:46:19.520 bodyguards,

00:46:20.660 they were the ones

00:46:21.340 who miraculously

00:46:22.100 got out of there

00:46:23.700 without any

00:46:24.580 wounds whatsoever.

00:46:30.260 Forensics found

00:46:31.200 five different

00:46:33.720 caliber slugs

00:46:34.580 in Galante

00:46:35.160 and there were

00:46:36.980 only three gunmen.

00:46:38.280 So that leads

00:46:38.820 you to believe

00:46:39.320 that there were

00:46:39.760 two guns

00:46:40.220 someplace else.

00:46:41.440 And the only

00:46:41.860 other two guys

00:46:42.600 there were

00:46:43.120 Bonaventri and

00:46:44.060 Amato.

00:46:45.440 Bonaventri and

00:46:46.100 Amato were the

00:46:46.800 two key Sicilians

00:46:47.940 Galante had brought

00:46:48.900 over for his own

00:46:49.800 protection.

00:46:51.340 the police

00:46:52.720 deduced from

00:46:54.420 what they saw

00:46:55.420 at the scene

00:46:55.940 that Bonaventri

00:46:57.720 and Amato

00:46:58.140 were not there.

00:46:59.540 And just so you

00:47:00.040 guys know,

00:47:00.540 this is the area

00:47:01.020 that he got killed

00:47:01.680 right here,

00:47:02.140 205 Knickerbocker

00:47:03.520 Avenue, right?

00:47:04.820 This is in Brooklyn.

00:47:06.940 This is where he

00:47:07.740 was killed

00:47:08.120 back in the day.

00:47:10.820 And obviously

00:47:11.500 it's changed a lot.

00:47:12.780 You see it's

00:47:13.800 basically

00:47:14.380 gentrified now

00:47:15.340 on a whole

00:47:16.780 other level.

00:47:17.920 But if I'm not

00:47:18.420 mistaken,

00:47:18.780 it's this building

00:47:19.740 right here,

00:47:20.280 one of these

00:47:20.580 two buildings.

00:47:21.960 So,

00:47:22.680 let's see here.

00:47:23.780 Yeah,

00:47:23.960 it's all crappy

00:47:24.620 now.

00:47:28.540 They have the

00:47:29.620 bongs,

00:47:30.880 hookah,

00:47:31.200 cigars,

00:47:31.760 and vapes.

00:47:32.380 Okay.

00:47:33.020 Fantastic.

00:47:34.200 Gotta love

00:47:34.660 Scum City,

00:47:35.180 New York,

00:47:35.480 huh?

00:47:35.580 protect Galante.

00:47:38.680 They were there

00:47:39.600 to ensure

00:47:40.300 that his

00:47:40.900 assassination

00:47:41.340 was carried

00:47:41.900 out without

00:47:42.360 a hitch.

00:47:44.800 The ultimate

00:47:45.520 treachery

00:47:46.060 was performed

00:47:46.980 by his own

00:47:48.160 men.

00:47:49.140 The men who...

00:47:49.640 Bam.

00:47:50.040 The two guys

00:47:50.580 that were supposed

00:47:50.920 to protect him

00:47:51.480 from Sicily.

00:47:52.240 Who was supposed

00:47:52.600 to protect him

00:47:53.280 from any harm,

00:47:55.300 they were the ones

00:47:55.880 who actually

00:47:56.320 helped carry out

00:47:57.420 the assassination.

00:47:57.960 The Sicilians

00:48:01.740 had turned on Galante.

00:48:04.060 It seemed his greed

00:48:05.280 had upset others

00:48:06.360 besides the commission.

00:48:07.700 The Sicilians

00:48:09.980 who had arrived

00:48:10.800 in America

00:48:11.760 in the 60s

00:48:12.660 and 70s

00:48:13.340 who were helping

00:48:14.340 bring in

00:48:14.980 the heroin

00:48:15.480 from Sicily

00:48:16.180 wanted full control

00:48:17.480 in their hands.

00:48:18.640 The message was

00:48:19.380 we are bringing it in,

00:48:21.640 we are going to be involved

00:48:22.840 in the distribution network.

00:48:24.440 Therefore,

00:48:24.760 we want a bigger share

00:48:26.080 in the proceeds.

00:48:27.800 And that was the message

00:48:28.700 of the new Sicilians.

00:48:29.820 We are the ones

00:48:30.800 doing it,

00:48:31.480 we want a bigger share.

00:48:32.820 Not what Galante

00:48:33.800 was doing,

00:48:34.600 keeping most of the share

00:48:35.400 for himself.

00:48:37.700 Galante's murder

00:48:38.540 made the FBI...

00:48:39.640 And he felt that way

00:48:40.420 probably because

00:48:41.140 he took on all the risk.

00:48:42.260 He was one of the few guys

00:48:43.180 that was actually

00:48:43.740 dealing drugs

00:48:44.320 on a high level.

00:48:45.040 So he looked at it like,

00:48:45.600 yo, I could get killed

00:48:46.180 for this,

00:48:46.460 I'm taking all the risk.

00:48:47.400 I'm going to take

00:48:47.920 the biggest share

00:48:48.440 because without me,

00:48:49.000 y'all aren't going

00:48:49.420 to make money anyway.

00:48:50.760 Y'all are sitting on

00:48:51.420 kilos of this crap

00:48:52.500 over there in Sicily.

00:48:53.420 I'm the one that actually

00:48:54.060 has the market here.

00:48:54.780 So he had a leverage

00:48:55.580 position where they need

00:48:56.980 him to flood into the markets

00:48:58.040 because the other families

00:48:58.800 didn't want to touch it

00:48:59.600 because obviously

00:49:00.440 it was a death sentence.

00:49:01.280 But him as a boss,

00:49:03.080 he had the leverage

00:49:03.920 to be able to do it

00:49:04.800 without necessarily

00:49:05.740 facing consequences

00:49:07.260 to the same extent

00:49:07.920 or as easily.

00:49:08.900 Eventually,

00:49:09.720 time ran out

00:49:10.460 and he had to face

00:49:11.120 those consequences.

00:49:12.280 And on top of this,

00:49:12.980 Sicilians getting mad

00:49:13.660 that he was taking

00:49:14.080 such a big cut.

00:49:15.140 But that's what happens

00:49:15.860 with greed, guys.

00:49:17.360 ...more suspicious

00:49:18.260 about the Banano family.

00:49:20.320 For the commission

00:49:21.080 to whack a boss

00:49:22.040 meant there were

00:49:22.740 big things going on.

00:49:24.900 Two young agents,

00:49:26.280 Charlie Rooney

00:49:26.840 and Carmine Russo,

00:49:28.180 were given the job

00:49:28.840 of watching

00:49:29.340 the Banano Sicilians.

00:49:30.500 This is the area

00:49:33.920 where myself

00:49:34.640 and my partner

00:49:35.400 Charlie Rooney

00:49:35.940 spent a lot of time

00:49:37.020 conducting surveillance.

00:49:39.300 And we needed to

00:49:40.400 find intelligence

00:49:42.440 that could only

00:49:43.440 be found on the street.

00:49:44.740 And that meant

00:49:45.340 being out here,

00:49:46.660 being the eyes and ears

00:49:47.500 basically of the FBI

00:49:49.120 trying to determine

00:49:50.260 who these Sicilians were

00:49:51.520 and what they were doing.

00:49:53.340 One Banano member

00:49:54.320 who soon came

00:49:55.220 to their attention

00:49:55.940 was Sal Catalano,

00:49:58.000 who ran an Italian bakery

00:49:59.720 in Queens.

00:50:00.500 The FBI realized

00:50:04.680 that Catalano

00:50:05.420 was a key figure

00:50:06.400 in the heroin trade.

00:50:08.500 Suspicious packages

00:50:09.340 were constantly

00:50:10.040 being exchanged,

00:50:11.620 probably containing

00:50:12.620 either heroin

00:50:13.420 or money.

00:50:15.220 The FBI decided

00:50:16.480 to play a waiting game

00:50:17.700 in the hope

00:50:18.580 they could break open

00:50:19.560 the whole operation.

00:50:24.620 One of the things

00:50:25.680 that we in the FBI

00:50:27.060 and of course

00:50:27.460 all of our enforcement

00:50:28.260 wanted to know

00:50:29.160 was how were they

00:50:29.980 bringing the heroin

00:50:30.900 into the United States

00:50:31.980 at that time.

00:50:35.980 Over the next five years,

00:50:38.260 Russo and Rooney's

00:50:39.060 surveillance operation

00:50:40.100 evolved into

00:50:41.320 the largest investigation

00:50:42.600 the FBI had ever

00:50:43.900 undertaken.

00:50:44.500 finally, after recording

00:50:48.920 and translating

00:50:49.560 more than 55,000 wiretaps,

00:50:52.200 the team of 400 agents

00:50:53.960 worked out

00:50:54.620 how the mafia

00:50:55.420 smuggled heroin

00:50:56.300 into America.

00:50:57.100 they used their businesses,

00:51:04.480 furniture businesses,

00:51:07.520 construction businesses,

00:51:09.220 construction businesses,

00:51:10.260 marble,

00:51:11.300 things of that nature.

00:51:12.480 In particular,

00:51:13.300 the pizzeria business.

00:51:14.520 They needed the tomatoes

00:51:16.280 for the sauce.

00:51:19.060 The mafia had taken

00:51:22.880 over pizzerias

00:51:23.760 across the country

00:51:24.640 and given them

00:51:25.620 to immigrant Sicilians

00:51:26.760 to manage.

00:51:28.340 The operation

00:51:29.080 was controlled

00:51:29.760 by Sal Catalano

00:51:31.040 from his bakery

00:51:32.140 in Queens.

00:51:36.980 This footage

00:51:38.080 shows some

00:51:38.600 of the actual restaurants

00:51:39.760 implicated

00:51:40.400 in the pizza connection

00:51:41.380 trial.

00:51:43.180 Restaurants

00:51:43.520 just like these

00:51:44.440 were used

00:51:45.220 to distribute

00:51:45.780 heroin

00:51:46.260 around the country.

00:51:49.500 The heroin

00:51:50.340 arrived in the US

00:51:51.420 through all kinds

00:51:52.460 of routes.

00:51:53.860 Their methods

00:51:54.420 were often ingenious.

00:51:56.680 Cases of canned

00:51:57.420 tomatoes

00:51:57.920 or boxes of cheese

00:51:59.180 arrived from Sicily

00:52:00.200 stuffed with heroin

00:52:01.720 worth hundreds

00:52:02.760 of thousands

00:52:03.360 of dollars.

00:52:04.600 But the pizza network

00:52:05.480 was not a retail operation.

00:52:08.640 Mafia dealers

00:52:09.240 never sold the heroin

00:52:10.360 directly on the streets.

00:52:12.660 Instead,

00:52:13.500 the imported narcotics

00:52:14.840 were divided up

00:52:15.700 and sold

00:52:16.220 to smaller

00:52:16.860 street dealers.

00:52:18.780 That way,

00:52:19.260 the bosses

00:52:19.620 stayed well away

00:52:20.720 from the dirty

00:52:21.440 end of the business.

00:52:24.000 The pizza restaurants

00:52:24.840 had another use

00:52:25.680 as well.

00:52:27.320 Catalano

00:52:27.780 and his crew

00:52:28.440 could hide

00:52:29.380 their profits

00:52:29.920 by passing them off

00:52:31.080 as restaurant takings.

00:52:33.260 Pretty ingenious cover.

00:52:34.620 I mean,

00:52:34.780 you know.

00:52:35.380 Really smart, man.

00:52:36.500 Really, really smart

00:52:37.300 that these guys

00:52:37.880 were doing this

00:52:38.580 and getting away

00:52:39.060 with it for so long.

00:52:40.020 Making that big money.

00:52:41.500 Who figures

00:52:42.220 a pizza place?

00:52:43.880 You know,

00:52:44.440 you figure

00:52:44.820 she's some guy

00:52:45.520 slinging a dough

00:52:46.960 around making a pizza.

00:52:48.460 What's he going

00:52:49.080 to be involved in?

00:52:51.900 Mafia dealer

00:52:52.720 Henry Hill

00:52:53.520 regularly used

00:52:55.060 pizza restaurants

00:52:56.020 for his drug drop-offs.

00:52:57.860 It wasn't difficult

00:52:58.700 for me.

00:52:59.280 I used to go to

00:52:59.920 a pizza joint

00:53:00.760 in a shopping center,

00:53:02.840 leave my car there

00:53:03.660 and take a different

00:53:05.860 car home.

00:53:07.280 You know?

00:53:07.740 And I'd go back

00:53:08.400 four days later

00:53:09.320 and, you know,

00:53:10.180 sit there

00:53:10.580 and put the money

00:53:11.080 in the truck.

00:53:11.540 The evidence

00:53:13.600 the FBI found

00:53:14.700 led to the very top

00:53:16.240 of the...

00:53:16.500 Common tactic

00:53:17.120 in the drug game.

00:53:17.960 You don't really know

00:53:18.500 what you're transporting,

00:53:19.380 whether it's money

00:53:19.840 or drugs sometimes.

00:53:20.800 Then you go ahead,

00:53:21.480 bring the cars loaded,

00:53:22.380 you drop the car off,

00:53:23.340 you know,

00:53:23.560 you get a set of keys,

00:53:25.000 take another car,

00:53:26.080 and that's kind of

00:53:27.080 how you compartmentalize

00:53:28.720 the criminal activity

00:53:29.680 so that you can isolate

00:53:30.660 people from knowing

00:53:31.460 too much.

00:53:32.820 Mafia

00:53:33.240 and all the way

00:53:34.480 back to Sicily.

00:53:35.480 Salvatore Catalano

00:53:37.140 was aligned

00:53:39.740 with the Colionese

00:53:40.560 in Sicily.

00:53:41.960 That's where

00:53:42.360 the power came from.

00:53:44.160 It was

00:53:45.080 Salvatore Ina,

00:53:47.400 the boss

00:53:47.800 of the Colionese.

00:53:50.840 Salvatore Catalano

00:53:51.860 came here

00:53:52.360 with a purpose.

00:53:53.420 Purpose was

00:53:54.280 the Sicilian mafia

00:53:55.420 had a commodity

00:53:56.060 that was being sent

00:53:57.120 to the United States.

00:53:58.020 They needed people

00:53:58.700 here whom they could trust

00:53:59.680 and carry on

00:54:01.280 that activity.

00:54:03.200 The power

00:54:04.100 of the Colionese mafia

00:54:05.320 and their ruthless boss,

00:54:07.040 Totori Ina,

00:54:08.340 stretched all the way

00:54:09.400 to America.

00:54:11.020 Who knows how long

00:54:12.060 they had been doing this

00:54:12.880 before we stumbled

00:54:13.720 onto them.

00:54:14.760 And we basically

00:54:15.280 stumbled onto them

00:54:16.140 and I believe

00:54:17.280 what did it for them

00:54:18.600 and for us

00:54:19.720 was the Galante murder.

00:54:21.880 Without that murder,

00:54:23.000 I don't think

00:54:23.600 we would have

00:54:24.240 set our eyes on them

00:54:26.760 at the time

00:54:27.420 that we did.

00:54:30.720 Meanwhile,

00:54:31.520 keep in mind, guys,

00:54:32.340 you know,

00:54:32.540 Donnie Brasco

00:54:33.080 is undercover,

00:54:33.560 but it takes

00:54:34.100 a lot of time

00:54:34.960 and a lot of effort

00:54:35.900 to be able

00:54:36.220 to gather the evidence

00:54:36.880 and keep in mind

00:54:37.680 he wasn't a made guy

00:54:38.540 so he wasn't privy

00:54:39.440 in seeing all

00:54:40.200 the criminal activities

00:54:41.040 that these guys

00:54:42.360 were involved in

00:54:43.020 because until you're

00:54:44.080 a made guy,

00:54:44.580 you don't really see

00:54:45.060 the inner workings

00:54:45.740 of the mafia.

00:54:46.300 And even at that level

00:54:47.000 when you're made,

00:54:47.980 you're seeing

00:54:48.520 barely scratching

00:54:50.040 the surface.

00:54:51.180 So they were limited

00:54:52.080 in what they could see

00:54:53.360 through Donnie Brasco,

00:54:55.440 though he did provide

00:54:56.260 amazing insight

00:54:57.620 as to the hierarchy

00:54:58.520 and what the guys

00:54:59.080 were doing behind the scenes.

00:55:00.140 He couldn't verify

00:55:00.780 all of it,

00:55:01.220 which is why he was

00:55:01.720 undercover for so long.

00:55:03.560 FBI agent Joe Pistone

00:55:05.420 still had a problem.

00:55:08.160 How to escape alive

00:55:09.620 from his undercover role

00:55:11.360 inside the mafia.

00:55:12.920 Despite Galanti's murder,

00:55:19.160 Joe Pistone's dangerous

00:55:20.360 undercover operation

00:55:21.460 continued for two more years.

00:55:24.160 But in 1981,

00:55:25.860 his mission came

00:55:26.780 to a dramatic climax.

00:55:29.780 The head of Pistone's

00:55:31.060 mafia crew

00:55:31.700 was a hard man

00:55:32.540 called Sonny Black.

00:55:34.520 Over the years,

00:55:35.880 Black had been impressed

00:55:36.860 with Pistone.

00:55:38.500 Now Sonny decided

00:55:39.620 to honor Pistone

00:55:40.560 by making him

00:55:41.320 a made man,

00:55:42.540 a full member

00:55:43.800 of the mafia.

00:55:45.380 But there was

00:55:45.980 one big catch.

00:55:48.000 Pistone

00:55:48.520 would have to kill someone.

00:55:52.660 Again, guys,

00:55:53.380 I didn't watch this documentary

00:55:54.180 before pulling it up

00:55:55.280 for you guys,

00:55:55.700 but I know this stuff.

00:55:56.480 Why?

00:55:56.780 Because like I said before,

00:55:58.040 episode one,

00:55:58.840 go back and watch it.

00:55:59.800 On the mafia series,

00:56:04.360 I break this all down

00:56:05.380 as to what it takes

00:56:06.080 to become a made guy.

00:56:10.000 When Sonny Black

00:56:11.020 gave me the contract

00:56:12.360 to do the hit,

00:56:13.280 I mean,

00:56:13.620 you can't refuse it.

00:56:14.600 You have to take

00:56:15.180 the contract,

00:56:16.000 otherwise you're

00:56:17.120 the next guy

00:56:17.600 that's going to get killed

00:56:18.300 because that's just part

00:56:19.800 of being a mob guy,

00:56:21.600 a mafia guy,

00:56:22.400 is that,

00:56:23.640 because you don't

00:56:24.700 do hits

00:56:25.600 on a fee basis.

00:56:28.900 You just do it

00:56:29.640 because you're part

00:56:30.340 of that crew.

00:56:32.740 I accepted the hit.

00:56:34.760 Luckily,

00:56:35.880 the guy that I had

00:56:36.960 the contract on

00:56:37.740 was on the lam

00:56:38.420 because he knew

00:56:38.900 he was going to get killed.

00:56:43.900 But I went looking for him.

00:56:45.160 I went to Florida,

00:56:46.100 back to New York,

00:56:47.320 and couldn't find him

00:56:48.860 because he was in hiding.

00:56:53.440 In a twist of fate.

00:56:55.200 That would never get approved

00:56:56.160 by the FBI nowadays, man.

00:56:57.400 They are so bureaucratic

00:56:58.420 and so much red tape.

00:56:59.660 They were running

00:57:00.420 and gunning back then.

00:57:01.600 But nowadays,

00:57:02.240 that would never fly, bro.

00:57:03.200 They would have pulled

00:57:03.600 them off this case

00:57:04.260 way sooner.

00:57:07.760 Pistone was asked to...

00:57:08.820 They would have given him

00:57:09.420 the fucking...

00:57:10.260 You're coming back.

00:57:11.860 ...one of the men

00:57:12.720 who had assassinated

00:57:13.680 Carmine Galante.

00:57:18.440 But it was not to be.

00:57:20.380 The FBI could not allow

00:57:21.820 an agent to commit murder.

00:57:23.160 On July the 26th, 1981,

00:57:27.400 Pistone was pulled out.

00:57:28.700 Did the kids ask about him?

00:57:29.800 The FBI decided to tell

00:57:31.440 Pistone's mafia contacts

00:57:33.000 that he was an undercover agent.

00:57:34.500 Despite Galante's murder,

00:57:39.000 Joe Pistone's dangerous

00:57:40.180 undercover operation

00:57:41.300 continued for two more years.

00:57:44.180 But in 1981,

00:57:45.720 his mission came

00:57:46.620 to a dramatic climax.

00:57:49.620 The head of Pistone's mafia crew

00:57:51.540 was a hard man

00:57:52.380 called Sonny Black.

00:57:54.380 Over the years,

00:57:55.740 Black had been impressed

00:57:56.700 with Pistone.

00:57:58.360 Now, Sonny decided

00:57:59.480 to honor Pistone

00:58:00.380 by making him

00:58:01.160 a made man,

00:58:02.720 a full member

00:58:03.620 of the mafia.

00:58:05.220 But there was

00:58:05.820 one big catch.

00:58:07.840 Pistone would have to kill him.

00:58:09.760 He was in a body bag

00:58:10.780 and they had chopped

00:58:12.960 off his hands.

00:58:15.280 And that was an indication

00:58:16.280 that he had brought me around

00:58:18.860 to shake hands

00:58:19.680 with mob guys

00:58:21.420 that were of,

00:58:22.900 you know,

00:58:23.480 of status.

00:58:26.320 These photos of Lefty

00:58:27.880 were taken just after

00:58:29.440 he found out

00:58:30.180 Pistone was an FBI agent.

00:58:33.120 He knew he was

00:58:34.160 in big trouble.

00:58:36.020 The mafia would never

00:58:36.920 forgive such a mistake.

00:58:39.480 The Bananos put out

00:58:40.620 a contract

00:58:41.220 on Lefty Ruggiero.

00:58:43.220 But the FBI found out

00:58:44.880 and snatched him

00:58:46.000 into custody

00:58:46.620 before the killers

00:58:47.880 got to him.

00:58:50.060 Pistone gave evidence

00:58:51.060 against Lefty

00:58:51.800 and he was sentenced

00:58:53.120 to 20 years.

00:58:55.240 He died of cancer

00:58:56.180 on Thanksgiving Day,

00:58:58.000 1995.

00:58:59.440 At least Lefty

00:59:03.860 didn't get clipped,

00:59:04.620 you know.

00:59:05.120 He lived his life

00:59:05.960 in jail.

00:59:07.420 You know,

00:59:07.960 he got what he deserved.

00:59:09.140 I mean, you know,

00:59:10.100 I didn't make Lefty

00:59:11.280 a gangster.

00:59:11.960 I didn't make Sonny

00:59:12.620 a gangster.

00:59:12.980 I didn't make any

00:59:13.400 of these guys gangsters.

00:59:14.400 They were gangsters

00:59:15.080 before I got there.

00:59:16.900 They were gangsters

00:59:17.740 while I was there

00:59:18.700 and they were gangsters

00:59:19.620 after I left.

00:59:20.440 Joe Pistone had survived

00:59:27.260 undercover for six years.

00:59:30.660 But I mean,

00:59:31.060 you know,

00:59:31.220 that's a long time

00:59:32.200 to spend undercover

00:59:33.220 with that,

00:59:35.120 you know,

00:59:35.340 with a crew that's,

00:59:36.200 you know,

00:59:36.420 more than capable

00:59:37.660 of killing you

00:59:38.180 and taking you apart.

00:59:39.860 You know,

00:59:40.380 dumping your body's parts

00:59:41.720 somewhere

00:59:42.120 and to have those guys

00:59:43.460 trust you to a point.

00:59:45.400 I mean,

00:59:45.640 I never heard

00:59:46.360 an FBI guy

00:59:47.880 coming close

00:59:48.620 to getting made.

00:59:49.900 You know,

00:59:50.140 I mean,

00:59:50.520 they were looking

00:59:51.140 to make them.

00:59:54.780 Bullshit is his way

00:59:55.660 through it

00:59:55.980 and then he got

00:59:56.640 addicted to it

00:59:57.460 and it took the government

00:59:59.220 a lot of years.

01:00:00.720 You know,

01:00:00.940 I mean,

01:00:01.100 they got a lot of cases

01:00:01.820 out of it,

01:00:02.500 but it almost destroyed

01:00:03.880 his life,

01:00:04.680 you know.

01:00:05.740 And he thought

01:00:06.440 he was a wise guy,

01:00:07.680 you know,

01:00:08.020 and he thought

01:00:08.440 he was an FBI agent.

01:00:10.640 After being pulled out,

01:00:12.520 Pistone spent

01:00:13.180 the next five years

01:00:14.340 testifying against

01:00:15.420 his mafia buddies.

01:00:17.720 Then in 1986,

01:00:19.140 he left the FBI

01:00:20.020 to write a book

01:00:21.300 about his experiences.

01:00:23.780 But his life

01:00:24.700 would never be

01:00:25.240 the same again.

01:00:27.320 Even now,

01:00:28.180 he lives under

01:00:28.840 an assumed name

01:00:29.780 under constant threat

01:00:31.700 of assassination.

01:00:34.160 The mafia put a contract

01:00:35.300 out on me.

01:00:36.420 Oh, yeah.

01:00:37.140 I'm not surprised, man.

01:00:38.320 They definitely

01:00:38.740 want him gone.

01:00:40.260 I mean,

01:00:40.500 for five years,

01:00:41.660 he testified

01:00:42.220 on all the different

01:00:43.620 crime families

01:00:44.280 because, guys,

01:00:45.340 keep in mind that

01:00:45.920 obviously he worked

01:00:46.580 for the Bonanno family

01:00:47.500 the most,

01:00:48.280 but he also was involved

01:00:49.140 with the Columbos.

01:00:50.780 Michael Franzese

01:00:51.520 had met him before

01:00:52.220 or knew of him,

01:00:54.220 which we'll ask him

01:00:55.000 questions about that

01:00:55.640 as well.

01:00:56.420 But, yeah, man,

01:00:57.100 I mean,

01:00:57.400 when you're in this life,

01:00:58.640 you end up dealing

01:00:59.140 with guys from other families.

01:01:00.060 So he had extensive

01:01:01.420 knowledge and experiences

01:01:02.340 and he was able

01:01:02.720 to testify

01:01:03.220 against all the

01:01:04.580 different crime families

01:01:05.400 and ensure that

01:01:06.100 they went to prison.

01:01:06.940 So, yeah,

01:01:08.180 I would imagine

01:01:08.820 that he would

01:01:09.500 absolutely have a big

01:01:10.700 contract on his life.

01:01:11.660 after this undercover stint.

01:01:13.940 When the operation

01:01:15.560 terminated

01:01:16.140 and I surfaced,

01:01:17.040 my identity

01:01:17.560 showed up.

01:01:20.340 Am I worried about it?

01:01:22.580 I don't think

01:01:23.520 about it every day.

01:01:25.420 Just take precautions

01:01:26.760 and go about

01:01:28.780 living the way

01:01:29.380 I live.

01:01:30.000 And if it happens,

01:01:33.840 it happens.

01:01:34.540 And the best man

01:01:35.480 will win.

01:01:35.860 Thanks to the efforts

01:01:39.220 of law enforcement agents

01:01:40.600 like Joe Pistone

01:01:41.580 and Carmine Russo,

01:01:43.500 the Pizza Connection

01:01:44.440 investigation

01:01:45.080 seriously weakened

01:01:46.560 the American Mafia.

01:01:49.020 After years of making

01:01:50.400 vast profits

01:01:51.260 from narcotics,

01:01:52.080 it would take

01:01:53.340 much more than that

01:01:54.440 to stop them.

01:01:55.420 No one could have

01:01:57.880 foreseen

01:01:58.420 that in the coming years

01:02:00.080 the actions

01:02:00.900 of one Mafia boss

01:02:02.340 would change

01:02:03.160 everything

01:02:03.720 and bring the

01:02:05.020 American and Sicilian

01:02:06.260 Mafia

01:02:06.840 to their knees.

01:02:08.340 Bam.

01:02:23.800 Let's see here.

01:02:24.660 I think that was

01:02:25.280 at the end of it.

01:02:25.920 Let's fast forward here.

01:02:27.440 Oh, yeah, that's it.

01:02:28.460 So I ended up being

01:02:29.160 shorter than I thought.

01:02:30.820 Guys, yeah,

01:02:31.460 that was a documentary

01:02:32.440 on the Bonanno crime family

01:02:34.140 and quite a bit

01:02:34.800 of an insight

01:02:35.300 into the undercover

01:02:36.600 work of Joe Pistone,

01:02:39.520 a.k.a. Donnie Brasco.

01:02:41.180 But I hope you guys

01:02:42.140 enjoyed that one, man.

01:02:43.000 I'm going to catch you guys

01:02:44.100 on the next episode

01:02:44.980 of Fed It.

01:02:45.780 Make sure to go ahead

01:02:46.480 and like the video.

01:02:47.100 Subscribe to the channel.

01:02:47.840 Make sure to check out

01:02:48.400 the Mafia series

01:02:49.000 that we're currently shooting.

01:02:49.800 We'll probably do

01:02:50.240 the Genovese crime family next.

01:02:52.140 Love you guys.

01:02:53.480 Catch you on the next one.

01:02:54.840 Peace.

01:02:58.320 I was a special agent

01:02:59.180 with Homeland Security Investigations.

01:03:00.240 Okay, guys?

01:03:01.040 HSI.

01:03:01.580 The cases that I did

01:03:02.400 mostly were

01:03:03.000 human smuggling

01:03:04.020 and drug trafficking.

01:03:06.600 No one else

01:03:07.500 has these documents,

01:03:08.640 by the way.

01:03:09.000 Here's what Fed it covers.

01:03:10.740 Dr. Lafredo confirmed

01:03:12.260 lacerations

01:03:13.520 due to stepping on.

The Debrief With MyronGainesX - May 08, 2023

How FBI Agent Donnie Brasco INFILTRATED The Mafia & Bonanno Crime Family!

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