Deep Cover- The Real Donnie Brasco: Legendary FBI Undercover Agent Joe Pistone Plays Undercover Tape of Mobster 'Lefty Two Guns' Ruggiero

When I first interviewed legendary undercover FBI Agent Joseph Pistone some years ago, he sent me a DVD of some of the undercover taped conversations he had with the New York mobsters he investigated when he spent six years undercover with the Bonanno Cosa Nostra crime family in the late 1970s. 

It made for interesting listening. 

Now one can listen to a tape of the late Bonanno Cosa Nostra soldier and hitman Benjamin “Lefty Two Guns” Ruggiero talk crime shop with Joe Pistone in his undercover role as “Donnie Brasco” and another undercover FBI Agent, on an episode of the podcast Deep Cover – The Real Donnie Brasco. 

Pistone notes on the podcast that he played the tapes of Ruggiero for actor Al Pacino, who portrayed the mobster in the film, Donnie Brasco. 

You can hear Ruggiero on the tape state his ludicrous claim that he is "known all over the world," which Pacino repeats in the movie. Thanks to the popular movie, Ruggiero is now in fact known all over the world.   

The podcast, hosted by actor Leo Rossi with Joe Pistone, can be heard via the below link:

Deep Cover: The Real Donnie Brasco | Podcast on Spotify

You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column with Joe Pistone:

Paul Davis On Crime: The Real Donnie Brasco: My Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat Column on Legendary Undercover FBI Agent Joe Pistone

And you can read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column with Leo Rossi (seen in the above photo on the left with Robert De Niro and Pat Cooper in the film Analyze This) via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat Column On Philly Native Leo Rossi And His ‘Deep Cover’ Podcast With Joe Pistone, '10th & Wolf,' and Other Crime Films 

Note: The top photo is of Ruggiero and below are photos of Joe Pistone and Ruggiero, Johnny Depp as Pistone and Al Pacino as Ruggiero in the film Donnie Brasco, and a photo of Pistone undercover and a photo of Depp and Pistone:   

       

Netflix Releases Trailer For Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ & The South Philly Connection

Netflix has released a trailer for its much-anticipated Martin Scorsese film, The Irishman, staring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel and a host of other fine actors.

The film, which will have a limited run in movie theaters (to be eligible for Oscar Awards) is based a supposedly true crime book called I Heard You Paint Houses, by the late Frank Sheeran, a Philadelphia hit man and Teamster official, and Charles Brant. 

You can watch the trailer, which features the technical “de-aging” of the actors, via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQ6tHK4yq8 

There is a South Philly connection to this story, as Sheeran is from Philadelphia and he received his first murder contract in South Philly from Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Angelo Bruno. 

De Niro portrays Sheeran, Al Pacino portrays former Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, Joe Pesci portrays Pennsylvania Cosa Nostra boss Russell Bufalino, Harvey Keitel portrays Angelo Bruno and Bobby Cannavale portrays South Philly Cosa Nostra captain “Skinny Razor” DiTullio.

I look forward to watching the film, as I’m a huge fan of Scorsese’s crime classics, such as Goodfellas, Casino and Mean Streets, but I’ll consider the film to be a largely fictional story, as I doubt that much of what Sheeran told Brant was true. 

I don’t believe he killed Hoffa. I don’t believe he killed Crazy Joe Gallo. And I don’t believe his involvement in President Kennedy’s murder or that he had any real knowledge of a bribery scheme between President Nixon and Hoffa. 

I interviewed former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss and federal cooperating witness Ralph Natale, and he said Sheeran didn’t kill Hoffa and he didn't kill Galo, as he was in Prison with two of Gallo's three killers. I confirmed the names of the killers with former law enforcement officers. 

You can read my Crime Beat column on the Frank Sheeran book via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html 

And you can read my Q&A with Ralph Natale via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/04/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-ralph.html 

The Vicious Real-Life Gangsters Behind Martin Scorsese's Chilling Mega-Budget Movie 'The Irishman'

Danya Bazaraa at the British newspaper the Mirror offers a short piece and some interesting old photos of the late Frank Sheeran (seen in the above photo), a Philadelphia mob murderer and the subject of Martin Scorsese's upcoming film, The Irishman.  

The much anticipated film is based on I Heard You Paint Houses, by Sheeran and Charles Brandt, and.will star Robert De Niro as Sheeran and Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel will also appear in the film.

You can read the piece and check out the old photos via the below link:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/meet-vicious-real-life-gangsters-9985023

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Frank Sheeran via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html

And you can read my piece on the South Philly connection to the story via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/05/scorsese-assembles-hollywood-dream-team.html

"Heat' At 20: Michael Mann On Making A Crime Drama Classic

Jennifer Woods at Rolling Stone offers a piece on film director Michael Mann's crime film Heat.

Michael Mann has been a driving creative force behind plenty of groundbreaking cops-and-robbers tales over the past 40 years, from TV’s "MTV cops" show Miami Vice to this year's bleeding-edge cybercrime thriller Blackhat. And while the 72-year-old writer/producer/director has done his share of tense true-story recreations and tough-guy classics, it's a certain steely crime drama starring two Seventies-cinema icons for which he might be best known.

Released 20 years ago today, Heat originated from the story of an obsessive detective's quest to take down a disciplined career criminal in the early 1980s, based on a real-life encounter that Mann's friend, Chicago detective Charlie Adamson, had with an ex-Alcatraz inmate he was trailing (and eventually killed). The filmmaker started writing a script about these two men on the opposite sides of the law in the early 1980s, but claims that something was not working with the structure, and eventually put it aside. "When something's not ready, it's like not ready," he says.

... By the way, this elite major crime unit that Charlie was in — one of the sergeants in that crew was Dennis Farina. I recruited him to be in Thief (1981), and because of that he decided he wanted a career as an actor because, as he said, he'd be known as "Dennis, the Dream to Work With." That's why people would hire him, he thought. Which was probably true … .

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/heat-at-20-michael-mann-on-making-a-crime-drama-classic-20151215

Scorsese, De Niro, and Possibly Pesci and Pacino, in New Mob Movie "The Irishman"

The online publication Deadline.com, along with many other Internet sites, reports that Joe Pesci and Al Pacino are signing on to the upcoming Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro film The Irishman.

The film is based on the life of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, a mob hit man who confessed to murdering union boss Jimmy Hoffa and many other people. His lawyer, Charles Brant, heard Sheeran's "confessions" and wrote I Heard You Paint Houses.

De Niro, who is half-Irish, is set to portray Sheeran, a Philadelphia native, and I'd like to see Pesci portray Jimmy Hoffa. Pacino could portray several mobsters from that era.

You can read the Deadline.com piece via the below link:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/old-and-new-goodfellas-gathering/

You can also read my GreatHistory.com piece on Sheeran via the below link:

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http://greathistory.com/i-heard-you-paint-houses-the-man-who-claimed-to-murder-jimmy-hoffa.htm

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Legendary FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone, AKA Donnie Brasco, Spoke to Civic Group in El Paso About His Life Undercover in the New York Mob

Legendary FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone (seen in the above photo) recently spoke to an FBI civic group in El Paso, Texas about his time undercover in the Bonnano crime family in New York.

 

Known as "Donnie Brasco" or "Donnie the Jeweler," Pistone spent six years undercover and his testimony put more than 100 mobsters in jail. (The photo above is of Pistone undercover as Donnie Brasco).

 

Pistone later wrote a book about his time with the mob called Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia.

 

Pistone spoke of his undercover years, the film Donnie Brasco, which starred Johnny Depp as Pistone, and how he would prefer to go undercover with Italian organized crime rather than the violent Mexican drug cartels.

 

The photo above shows Pistone undercover relaxing with "Sonny Black" Napolitano.

 

You can read about Pistone via the below link to The El Paso Times:

 

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15737526?source=most_viewed

 

Below is a photo of Benjamin "Lefty Two Guns" Ruggiero.

 

 

Above is a photo of Sonny Black with Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante. Below is a poster of the film Donnie Brasco.
 

Below is a photo of Johhny Depp as Pistone and Al Pacino as Ruggiero.


Below is a link to my review of Joe Pistone's book The Way of the Wiseguy, which appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/WayWiseguy.jpg

I interviewed Joe Pistone a while back. Below is a link to my column about Pistone:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/01/look-back-at-joseph-pistone-aka-donnie.html