I was a bit leery of this new book because I didn't really enjoy "Way Of The Wisguy", which I thought was really just an opportunistic rehash of "Donnie Brasco". But I was pleasantly surprised.
This new book covers the period from the summer of 81', when Pistone was pulled from Operation Donnie Brasco, till Joe Massino's plea deal last year. It covers alot of the stuff that "Donnie Brasco" couldn't because of the ongoing trials of the mid 80's, when the first book was published.
Especially memorable are the depictions of the murders of those held responsible for vouching for Pistone - Brasco.
From Tony Mirra, who was left out of the film, to Sonny Black to Lefty's death from cancer after being paroled. A must read for all of us on these boards.

When did this come out? I haven't heard of it.

According to what I've read online, the book (co-written by Pistone and Charles Brandt) isn't scheduled to be released in bookstores until January 30.

Perhaps pizzaboy has seen a pre-release copy?

Signor V.

Yes, I got an ARC paperback copy on EBAY for $12. It's a good option when you're really looking forward to a new book and don't want to wait.
As long as it's not anything by Winegardner !!

No wiser words were ever spoken.

cool i really enjoyed the donnie brasco book will get this new one very shortly,thanks

From Sunday's NY Daily News:

********************

Confessions of FBI agent

He beat and stole as mob mole

By Thomas Zambito
Daily News Staff Writer

Legendary FBI agent Joe Pistone is confessing for the first time that he broke the law during the years he spent undercover as mob wanna-be Donnie Brasco.

Warehouse burglaries. Beatings. Truck hijackings. And even a conspiracy to murder a Bonanno crime family capo.

In his new memoir, Pistone details the crimes he committed to prove his loyalty to the gang he eventually took down.

"Sometimes you have to do stuff you don't normally do, you wouldn't do," Pistone told the Daily News, which got an exclusive peek at "Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business."

For instance, there was the phone call that came in 1981 when Pistone and his mob buddies were playing cards in Brooklyn's Motion Lounge.

It was a tip that Bonanno big Anthony (Bruno) Indelicato, who took part in the infamous 1979 rubout of Gambino boss Carmine Galante, was camped out on Staten Island.

On the orders of his own capo, Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano, Pistone headed out to find Indelicato - with a .25-caliber automatic.

It turned out the caller had bum information, but the former lawman admits he would have pulled the trigger on Indelicato before jeopardizing his life or the operation.

"If Bruno's there, he's gone," Pistone writes.

"If I have to put a bullet in his head, I will, and I'll deal with the federal government and the Staten Island DA later. ...There's no doubt they both would charge me for murder. The Bureau would brand me a rogue agent and hang me out."

During his six years infiltrating Sonny Black's vicious crew, Pistone dug up enough evidence to put away nearly 200 mobsters, all while making life-or-death decisions on how far to take his role-playing.

Now 65, the New Jersey native lives with his wife in an unidentified location, but will come out of hiding for a book tour in the coming weeks.

Over the years, Pistone - portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1997 movie "Donnie Brasco" - has been cagey when discussing how he gained the trust of an insular gang of suspicious men because revealing more could have damaged prosecutions.

But his most revealing book to date details the incredible lengths he went to.

Take the beating he delivered on two druggies dumb enough to stick up Pistone and his mob pal Benjamin (Lefty) Ruggiero in the stairwell of a Little Italy walkup.

"You just saw two dead punks run down the stairs," Ruggiero told him.

At Ruggiero's urging, Pistone caught up with them a few days later near Little Italy and meted out the punishment.

"He hit the pavement as if I'd had a roll of dimes in my right fist," Pistone writes.

"I looked down at the kid on the ground and realized he was out cold and so I sprung suddenly and hauled off an overhand right on the other one and he went down...

"From the kidney blows they bled piss for weeks. And until the breaks healed they had no use of their fingers for such things as shooting a gun."

It was savage, but Pistone says the beating saved their lives.

"Otherwise they would have got killed," Pistone said. "Either I go take care of it or they [the mob] will. You don't stick up a wiseguy and live to tell about it."

He's quick to point out that the assaults he carried out always involved thieves or other wiseguys. "No citizens got hurt," he said.

Pistone also admits getting cuts of between $2,500 and $5,000 from warehouse burglaries he took part in but says he turned over the money to the FBI.

He doesn't offer details on the hijackings he carried out. But he admits that "my participation in Mafia hijacking has always been an open sore for me, something that I have hesitated to talk about."

Even after 30 years, Pistone is still angry that the FBI didn't let him stay undercover longer so that he could become a made man.

"Imagine if I had been made," Pistone writes.

"It would have been the biggest humiliation the Mafia had ever suffered. And it was the one chance the FBI would ever have to pull it off.

"Imagine the embarrassment for the Mafia from coast to coast and all the way to Sicily when the news got out that the exalted Bonanno crime family had made an agent."

********************

I have (and liked) Pistone's previous books; guess I'll put this one on the list.

Signor V.

I really liked it, it was right up there with the original and much better than WAY OF THE WISEGUY.
Pistone's ego is as big as ever, but in all fairness to him, that's probably what made him so good at his job.

Truth? Or just another attempt by Pistone to sell another book and make some more money?


Don Cardi

I agree with that DC. He is an opportunist of the highest magnitude. As I stated earlier, I hated WAY OF THE WISEGUY for that very reason. There was absolutely nothing new in the book. Just a retread to sell books and make money. How about his fictional books ? Horrible !
This one, however, is pretty good.

Probably a bit of both, I would imagine.

I think the first words of the article, where Pistone is referred to as "legendary", are very telling.

And, after all, he can say just about anything he wants to about his time undercover and who's going to challenge his story?

What was that they used to say, "Print the legend"?

But I would think that known facts regarding the people involved would support at least some of Pistone's story.

Signor V.

Oh, I personally believe a lot of what Pistone said in his original book. And for what it's worth, egotist or not, the man is a sort of a legend in that he infiltrated the mob deeper than any other agent had ever done before.

But I feel that he's milking this for as much as he can. Can't say I blame him though.


Don Cardi

Pistone is definitely an egotist, but his attitude is what makes you read his books.

Way of the wiseguy wasn't bad, it was just some stuff from the other book in a different order, it served it's purpose....it's a short read about how some wiseguys act in certain situations...also gives Pistone and the publisher more money.

He is an egomaniac, like any other federal I've ever meet or heard of in my a life. The think their sh..t dont smell like any other men's...Tha other day reading the "For The Sins Of My Father" book by Al DeMeo (Roy's boy) I was a horrified by the way these g men behave with a citizen... Wat ever happened to 'Innocent 'till proven guilty' huh?
And this Pistone fella, his milkin the image of wiseguys to make a his own profit, creating a stereotype that will continue to further damage the Italian American communities....

I reply with disgust!

I like his books, tough

Creating a stereotype? I don't think you can hang that one on Pistone!

Signor V.

I thinka maybe not creating but he definitely do no better

As far as stereotypes go, I'd say Italians have the best...