Donnie Brasco Wiretap

I know the video/wiretap was taken down before, but I uploaded it again. It is divided into three parts and consists with Lefty and Joe Pistone (Donnie Brasco) talking about Rocky and Anthony Mirra.

Part 1:
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq4qgrfJlF4[/video]

Part 2:

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABde3H5wMP0[/video]

Part 3:

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUJiwrCS3CY[/video]

Enjoy!

Thank you,thank you!

In the book,Pistone quotes much of the dialogue in the tapes,but to hear the actual voice and personality of Lefty was great.From the book,we know what was going on behind the scenes of that call, and the drama and uncertainty come to life as you listen.
Very cool contribution,you made my day.

Dunno why, but to me Donnie sounds like a real American cop.

Some more, Pistone talking to Lefty and Booby about the lion in the bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OswY2bjuk2k

Is it general consensus that Mirra was an informant?

The commonly accepted motive for Mirra's murder was retaliation for the Pistone infiltration of the Bonannos.When Sonny was whacked,Mirra figured that he was next due to his association with "Brasco",so he laid low until Joe Massino found a way to get to him.
Although Mirra was duped by Pistone,just like Lefty and Sonny,Massino thought that Mirra was in on it from the beginning.
The feeling (incorrectly)was that Mirra was flipped before Pistone came around,and that he agreed to help with the infiltration,and work with the FBI by being Brasco's inside guy.
From what I understand,Mirra was never a rat,except in the imagination of the Bonannos.

That's what I initially thought, but don't the released FBI Mirra files show that he may have been providing info?

Not that I'm aware of,but someone else may know more about this. The only FBI files that I have seen on Mirra are heavily redacted ,but even with the censoring,there doesn't seen to be anything indicating co-operation.They mostly rehash what we do know about him,and there are some other interesting tidbits,but the rat jacket doesn't seem to fit.A lot of the content is information that others have provided. Maybe someone else can shed some light,or let us know if there were newer files released that would support the snitch theory.

Mirra is the last guy that would be an informant!
The lengthy sit downs that took place over who "owned" Donnie Brasco were known by all in the Bonnano family.
They figured that Mirra had played a part in bringing Donnie into the family and lets face it, NOBODY liked the guy, Massino had a legit reason to whack him.

Just as a side piece of info.
Got to 115 Maddison street on googlemaps and Mirra's former place the bus stop luncheonette is now a Chinese takeout.

Leftys old social club is a nail bar (43 Maddison street)

i don't see how massino or anyone else could have thought that mirra was in on it from the beginning and helped brasco infiltrate the family because when he got out of prison he had a series of sit downs over donnie brasco where he lied about brasco stealing 250k from him in a drug deal, the obvious motive being convincing the family that donnie should be killed. no informant would be dumb enough to do this to his FBI handler.

for this reason i (and probably massino and the rest of the bonnano higher ups) wouldn't believe that mirra knew that brasco was an agent, let alone brought him into the family as an undercover.

My knowledge on the situation is limited. Is this 250K the same situation that Lefty is flippin out about in his discussion of the Mirra sit down on the posted wiretaps?

I have my doubts as well...as Mirra seemed to be a gangster to the core. But, then again, so did Scarpa.

The way I understand it, Mirra lost the first sit down over "ownership" of Donnie.
So Mirra then concocted the Donnie stole 250K as a way of saying "If I cant him no one can" which caused the 2nd sitdown

The 2nd sit down was the one they were discussing in the wiretaps posted above though, right?

Yes

yeah he sounds like bacon

According to Pistone's own words in the book,the second sitdown(the one involving the $250,000)was also about Mirra putting in a claim on "Brasco". Mirra wasn't asking for a hit on Brasco. If he wanted him dead,all he had to do was kill him,since Brasco was a non-made underling. The meeting had to be called because it involved a dispute between two made guys (Mirra and Lefty)over ownership of Brasco and his potential future earnings ,therefore a formal sitdown would have been proper protocol.

The sitdown wasn't about killing Brasco. Mirra didn't need permission to kill a lowly associate.

i think he would need permission, or at the very least he'd catch a ton of shit for killing brasco. at the end of the day brasco wasn't made but he was close to lefty and napolitano, they liked him and he made money for them. if a guy like mirra clipped donnie over some bullshit i think there would be problems. especially since was universally hated within the family, there was probably a ton of guys dying for an excuse to hit mirra.

and i agree with gary, the first sit down was about ownership, mirra lost, then he made up some bullshit about donnie and another associate who coincidentally was an undercover cop fucking him over on a drug deal stealing 250k. basically his jealousy of donnie becmoing close with lefty and sonny paired with his "if i can't have him noone can" attitude is the reason for the bullshit 250k accusation. he wanted donnie to get clipped.

and although the people above obviously don't agree i don't believe that a made guy can ALWAYS just clip any associate just because of his rank, life is rarely that black and white, there's plenty of other factors to take into consideration. donnie was close with bonnano members far more powerful than mirra so no way he could just kill him and not catch a ton of shit or even get killed himself over it.

i'm sorry but i just don't buy that the rule is completely black and white that any made man can kill any associate and nothing happen about it. if the associate in question is well liked or a big earner then killing him is bound to piss off some members.

Brasco was "on the record" with Lefty (and not all associates are "on the record" with a made guy). All killings have to be approved by higher ups. It´s not like Mirra at will could go around killing associates, especially not guys who were "on the record" with the Bonannos, without any reprecussions. Anybody who thinks Mirra could do this, need to learn how to differentiate the Mafia from an ordinary street gang.
It was Lefty who officially had claimed Brasco, even though Brasco knew Mirra first. The sitdown was about Brasco secretly cutting up junk money with Rocky, another undercover cop, who was "close to" Mirra. Mirra wanted a portion af Brasco´s share, claiming Brasco belonged to him. The sit down ended in Lefty´s favor because it was determined that Brasco belonged to Lefty. If it would have gone in Mirra´s favor, Brasco would have been in deep shit, to say the least.

I don´t know what happened to Rocky. The guy is a mystory. How exactly he was persuaded by Mirra to go along with his scam is beyond me. Rocky was a cop but in this situation, he took a huge risk by letting himself be the cause of somebody potentially getting killed. (I doubt he knew Brasco was a fellow cop.) Talk about a bad day on the job! What was he thinking??? Somehow though, Mirra must have had his claws deep into him.

The files released on Mirra are heavily redacted. But one need to be blind not to see the very detailed accounts on Mirra´s wherabouts and business dealings from around 1981. Mirra, if an informant, could easily have been the source who provided the FBI with this detailed info. If not an informant, the info probably came from Rocky.

Never hear this stuff great find Lefty_Ruggerio.

Sorry for OT, but does "way of the wiseguy" add any value after reading the two Donnie Brasco books? Came to mind after reading this thread, specially as the copy I ordered had a CD attached with what I think is that scam discussion between Lefty and Donnie.

Mirra would have persuaded him the same way he persuaded everyone else! (fear)

Yea I agree there is no way Mirra could have whacked Brasco because he belonged to Lefty and Sonny Black. Actually in the book Brasco says himself he was closer to Sonny in the end than he was Lefty.

With Sonny being a captain and say Mirra clipped Brasco I'd imagine there would have been a huge problem in the family.

Yeah. You are most probably right. Mirra had a fearsome reputation.



If you listen to the tapes, you can clearly hear the frustration in Pistone´s voice while speaking to Lefty. He even snaps at him a couple of times. In the book, Pistone says that he was sick and tired of Lefty and found Sonny Black a more pleasant guy to be around.

Keep also in mind that Sonny Black was not "only" a captain. He was extremely close to Massino and Rastelli, while Mirra was not. In fact, at one point, Sonny Black became a member of a ruling panel temporary heading the Family, indicating how powerful he was at the time.

Good Point Hairy. I agree that Donnie(Pistone) was clearly frustrated. In fact in his book he mentioned taht one time Lefty chewed him out about the stupid air conditioning and donnie nearly blew his cover because he wanted to beat the crap out of lefty because of the way he treated him. As frustrating as Lefty was it was nothing compared to Mirra. Sonny Black and Donnie got along because they talked abut other things besides the mafia

Who was Mirra's capo? Sabella?

Mirra was under Mickey Zaffarano,a major earner in the porn biz. He got caught up in the FBI MiPorn sting and died from a heart attack while running from the agents who came to his office to arrest him.
After his death,Mirra was under Caesar Bonventre.

Joe Pistone said that Mike Sabella hated Mirra (he felt the same way as just about everyone else in the Bonnano family)

Pacino's impression of Lefty was spot on

to a T. ..in the end, i believe lefty ruggerio got a "pass" , even after the contract was out on him was out because he didnt talk . is that right?

It was more that they knew he was dying. Why risk the heat when you know the dude is about to die anyways?