Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia.

PISTONE, Joseph D. with Richard Woodley.

Item Number: 147160

New York: New American Library, 1987.

First edition, early printing of account of the true story of the author’s six-year undercover life as an FBI infiltrator in the Mafia, basis for the the cult film starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To June Iasac Landman Congratulations – Best of Luck Joe Pistone.” Fine in a fine dust jacket.

In 1976, FBI agent Joseph Pistone volunteered to go undercover in the Bonanno crime family, assuming the identity of Donald "Donnie" Brasco to infiltrate and report on their activity. What was initially intended to last for around six months became several years of informing which led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions. After the operation's end in 1981, Pistone composed a book about the experience in his 1988 'Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia,' the basis for the 1997 film starring Johnny Depp as Pistone and Al Pacino as Pistone's Mafia tutor "Lefty" Ruggiero. Now living in an undisclosed location, Pistone continues to publish books, participate in media coverage of the events, and consult with worldwide law enforcement agencies on matters of organized crime.