Paramount Plus' New Series Mafia Spies: A Look Back At The CIA And Organized Crime's Attempted Assassination Of Fidel Castro

I’ve watched the first couple of episodes of Paramount Plus’ new streaming series, Mafia Spies. 

The docudrama series covers the CIA and Cosa Nostra’s attempts to assassinate Cuban Communist Dictator Fidel Castro. Based on Thomas Maier's book, the look back at the nexus of gangsters, entertainers, politicians and CIA officers who conspired and failed to assassinate Castro is most interesting.

With talking head commentators and acting reenactments, the series is well done. 

I have a few complaints though. Most of the commentators are anti-CIA in general and although Cuban president Batista is called an evil dictator, murderer and torturer often, no such terms are leveled at Fidel Castro, even though Castro was a far more evil dictator and put many more people to death than Batista.

I covered the book in my Washington Times On Crime column. 

You can read the column via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Washington Times Review of 'Mafia Spies: The Inside Story Of The CIA, Gangsters, JFK, And Castro' 

The Life We Chose: A Look Back At Mob Boss Russell Bufalino And His Successor

 I’m reading Matt Birkbeck's The Life We Chose: William “Big Billy” D’Elia and the Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Crime Family. 

I wanted to read the book as I’m interested in Russell Bufalino, who was portrayed by Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and because part of the book is about the South Philly Cosa Nostra crime family. 

I grew up and still live in South Philly, and as a writer, I’ve covered the local mob for a good number of years. 

Veteran organized crime reporter and author George Anastasia’s review of the book appeared in JerseyMan magazine. 

Back in 1994 when John Stanfa was under indictment and headed for a life prison sentence, he asked William “Big Billy” D’Elia to take over as boss of the Philadelphia mob.

Big Billy said no thank you.

“I didn’t want to put a target on my back,” D’Elia said by way of explanation.

It was the smart move. But then D’Elia was nothing if not smart. By that point, he had been schooled for more than 30 years in the ways of the underworld by one of the masters of that universe. It was an apprenticeship like no other and he came away much the wiser.

D’Elia has now put it all on the record in an intriguing and entertaining new book written by journalist Matt Birkbeck.

The Life We Chose comes out this month. It’s the story of D’Elia’s coming of age in an underworld that was coming undone. The situation in Philadelphia in the 1990s was a prime example and it was captured perfectly in one of the most succinct and telling lines written by Birkbeck… D’Elia watched the murder and mayhem that racked the Philadelphia crime family for years and that reached a crescendo during the war between old-world mob boss Stanfa and the young and precocious Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.

D’Elia’s thoughts, according to Birkbeck: “The propensity for violence there reminded him of spoiled children with guns.”

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

The Life We Chose | JerseyMan Magazine

You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on George Anastasia below:

Reality Vs. Fiction: Joe Pistone, The Real Donnie Brasco And Legendary FBI Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated the Mob

I just listened to The Real Donnie Brasco podcast, which features actor Leo Rossi interviewing former FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone, the legendary undercover agent who infiltrated the Cosa Nostra Bonanno crime family in New York for six years. 

Pistone was instrumental in the prosecution of numerous mobsters. 

In the podcast, Pistone explains what was real and was pure Hollywood in the film, Donnie Brasco. In my view, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas and Casino are the most realistic films about organized crime.    

You can listen to the podcast via the below link:

Reality vs. Fiction Part 4, B.T.S. of Donnie Brasco - Deep Cover: The Real Donnie Brasco | Podcast on Spotify

I've interviewed Joe Pistone for the Philadelphia Inquirer and on other occasions, most recently in my Crime Beat column in Philadelphia Weekly.

You can read the column below:

 

I also wrote about Pistone in my 2010 online Crime Beat column. You can read the column below:

My Crime Beat Column: A Look Back at Joseph Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, 

and His Undercover Life in the Mob

My wife and I recently watched Donnie Brasco on cable TV. We’ve seen the film about four or five times, but we like it so much we watch it again every couple of years.

The 1997 film stars Johnny Depp as "Donnie the Jeweler,” Brasco, aka Joseph Pistone, the FBI Special Agent who went undercover in 1976 to infiltrate the New York Cosa Nostra Bonanno crime family.  

The film also stars Al Pacino as mobster Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero.

In my view, the film is one of the two most realistic films, along with Goodfellas, about organized crime. 

Depp is very good as Pistone. Who can forget Depp’s explanation of the New York all-purpose term ”fuhgettaboutit” to his fellow FBI agents?

Al Pacino is a great actor, but he often plays characters way over the top. In Donnie Brasco, he is understated and dead on in this role of a not particularly bright, low-level mob guy.

This role is the other end of the crime structure from the brilliant and evil mob boss Michael Corleone that Pacino portrayed so well in The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II and The Godfather, Part III.

I would have cast another actor in the important role of “Sonny Black” Napolitano, the Bonanno captain of the crew Pistone infiltrates. Michael Madsen and his perpetual scowl gives him a look of being constipated rather than tough. Imagine what a fine actor like Robert De Niro or Leo Rossi could have done with this role?

The film, like Pistone’s 1987 book that the film was based on, accurately portrays organized crime at the street level and debunks the popular myths surrounding the mob. There is little glamor or honor here. The film also accurately portrays the stressful and dangerous life of an undercover agent.

Pistone chronicled his extraordinary six years undercover in the book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, written with Richard Woodley. Pistone successfully infiltrated the mob using the cover of Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief. He went on to become an associate member of the Bonanno crime family and in the end he was offered the opportunity to commit murder and become a full “made” member.

He was subsequently pulled out by his FBI bosses and his evidence and testimony was responsible from more than 100 organized crime members going to prison.

I reviewed Pistone’s second book, The Way of the Wiseguy for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

As I wrote in the review, The Way of the Wiseguy is an insider’s guide to the world - or perhaps one should say, the underworld - of organized crime.

With stories and anecdotes that revel how wiseguys get their nicknames, how and why they are murdered and such minutiae as how they treat woman and what they eat, the book is everything you ever wanted to know about wiseguys, goodfellas mob guys and gangsters. Pistone’s blunt and colorful language adds to the book’s gritty realism.

“When you’re a wiseguy, you can steal, you can cheat, you can lie, you can kill people - and it’s all legitimate,” Lefty Ruggiero said to Pistone, explaining the tangible benefits of being a wiseguy.

I spoke to Pistone over the phone a few years ago and I met him when he came to Philadelphia on a book tour. He told me that he has many Philadelphia connections, including his close friend, actor Leo Rossi, who is from Philadelphia.

Pistone also worked for the Naval Investigative Service (now called NCIS) down at the old Navy Yard in South Philly and he also knows FBI agents assigned to the Philadelphia office.

Pistone, who still looks like he can handle himself in a tough situation, comes across as a regular neighborhood guy. He grew up in Paterson, New Jersey and he knew wiseguys growing up, but law enforcement officers interested him far more.

“I knew a couple of cops and detectives and their lives intrigued me,” Pistone told me.

He said he became an FBI special agent because of the officers he met and not by the influence of TV or films.

Pistone said that Cosa Nostra has lost much of its power because of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act and the strict federal sentencing guidelines.

“At one time, you’d get 3 to 5 years in prison,” Pistone explained. “The standard line among wiseguys was I need to go on vacation - three squares a day, I work out and get back in shape. Now, with the guidelines, the judges don’t have much wiggle room in their sentences, and they get 15 to 20 years. And you’re going to the time in the federal system.”

Pistone noted that in the Commission Case they convicted all of the New York mob bosses and they received 75 to 100 year sentences. Now, he said, when wiseguys are convicted they know they will never see the light of day again, so they make deals with prosecutors.

I mentioned to Pistone that being part-Italian and having grown up in South Philly, the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey mob, I can recall when mob guys looked at their time in prison proudly, in much the same way I view my time in the U.S. Navy. Their time incarcerated was considered a rite of passage and they were proud that they didn’t become a rat and they did their time “like a man.”

Pistone said that one does not see that attitude too often with today’s wiseguys.

Many people look at the mob and see a sense of glamor in the criminal lifestyle with their money, girls, clothes and cars. I asked Pistone if during his six years undercover he saw this as a glamorous life.

“No,” he replied. “You see the cars, the nice clothes and the guys don’t work, but what you don’t see is the inter-workings of mob life, the killings and stuff.

“Every day is spent scamming, scheming and wondering how are they going to make money,” Pistone explained in his gruff, street-wise voice. “It’s a stressful life. The two things these guys worry about are going to jail and getting killed.”

Pistone went on to explain that there is a lot of tension in mob life, especially when there is a war going on in the family. A mob guys worries about getting killed or who they will have to kill.

“What kind of life is that?” Pistone asked. “Every day is a struggle. You’re worried about money coming in, money going out, who’s cheating you and who are you going to cheat.”

I told Pistone that what I especially liked about his book and the film was the accurate portrayal of the scheming and the tension he mentioned, and I also liked that the protagonist - thinking Pistone might be uncomfortable with the term hero - was a law enforcement officer rather than a criminal like Henry Hill, Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone. I further liked that the protagonist was an Italian-American law enforcement officer.

I recalled that in 2004 TIME reviewed Pistone’s earlier book and Henry Hill’s book, Gangsters & Goodfellas together. The reviewer stated that Pistone “ratted out” the Bonanno family. For the record, Pistone was not a rat. He was an FBI special agent on official duty. Hill, on the other hand, was a criminal informant. TIME did not see the distinction between the two.

“They didn’t see the difference between an undercover agent doing his job and an informant, a criminal,” Pistone said. “I get that all the time in interviews, and I have to correct them.”

I asked Pistone what he believed his primary accomplishment as an undercover agent, and he replied that he was able to show that the mob could be penetrated by law enforcement.

“We broke the myth about the mob being honorable and all these other fantasies.”

I mentioned the TV program Wiseguy (1987-1990) to Pistone and I said that I truly liked actor Ray Sharkey, who looked and acted like many of the South Philly guys I grew up with. The undercover FBI agent in the show, Vinnie Terranova, portrayed by Ken Wahl, came to be fond of Sharkey’s character Sonny. Terranova knew he was a wild and violent criminal and murderer, yet he saw likeable human qualities as well.

I asked Pistone if he, like his TV undercover FBI counterpart, had those same conflicting feelings for any of the mob guys he knew.

“Yeah, it’s funny,” Pistone replied. “I felt that way with Sonny Black Napolitano and even Lefty Ruggiero, who was a hardcore mobster. You see these guys every day for 10-12 hours and you see a side of them with their kids and grandkids. Yet, here is a guy who loves his grandkid, but a half hour later he goes out and whacks a guy he has known for 15 or 20 years.

“This is the subculture and mindset of mob guys,” Pistone said. “One of the questions you’re asked when you get made is would you kill your brother or cousin if you had the contract? The answer has to be yes or you’re out.”

In addition to Donnie Brasco and The Way of the Wiseguy, Pistone has also written another good book on organized crime called Unfinished Business: Shocking Declassified Details From the FBI's Undercover Operations and a Bloody Timeline of the Fall of the Mafia.

If you’re interested in organized crime, I recommend all three books, as well as the film Donnie Brasco.

The Real Sopranos: My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column On FBI Undercover Operative Giovanni Rocco's Life With The Mob

Philadelphia Weekly published my Crime Beat column on Giovanni Rocco's life uncover with the real Sopranos.

You can read the column via the below link or the below page (click on it to enlarge):

The real Sopranos - Philadelphia Weekly

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

Philadelphia Weekly published my Crime Beat column on legendary undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone.

Joe Pistone discussed his Philadelphia connections and Deep Cover - The Real Donnie Brasco, the podcast he does with Philly native actor/writer/producer Leo Rossi.

You can read the column via the below link or the below pages (click on them to enlarge):

  The real Donnie Brasco - Philadelphia Weekly

You can also read my previous online column on Joe Pistone via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Beat Column: A Look Back at Joseph Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, and His Undercover Life in the Mob

Before There Was A Tony Soprano, There Was Richie The Boot, Sam The Plumber And Vinny Ocean. Jersey's Real-Life Sopranos

Ted Sherman at NJ.com offers a piece on New Jersey mobsters.

David Chase, who brought to life the fictional tale of a New Jersey crime family in “The Sopranos,” has a new story to tell. 

Said to be a prequel to his HBO series of mob boss Tony Soprano, “The Many Saints of Newark," is set in the 1960s, during the Newark riots. It is right around the time there was a real godfather by the name of Ruggerio “Richie the Boot” Boiardo, who many believe inspired “The Sopranos.”

He was no saint. 

Back in the 1960s and 70s, Boiardo was a ruthless and feared mob boss operating out of Newark. He had his hands in everything from gambling and loansharking to politics and labor unions, and had his hooks into the administration of Democratic Mayor Hugh J. Addonizio, who would be ultimately taken down in a major federal corruption investigation.

An associate of the Genovese crime family, the Boot was believed he was the model for the character Don Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo's book The Godfather. 

But there are obvious nods to the Boiardo’s life that show up in the world of Tony Soprano.

Boiardo lived on an estate in suburban Livingston in a custom-build mansion that Life magazine once described as “'Transylvania traditional.” Tony lived in suburban North Caldwell, where he ambled down the long driveway in the morning to get The Star-Ledger. 

The Boot’s top enforcer was a lieutenant known Big Pussy. His son, Anthony, was referred to as Tony Boy. Tony’s guy was Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero.

But Boiardo may not have been the only Jersey guy to spark the characters created by Chase. There are those who believe Vincent “Vinny Ocean” Palermo was the prototype for Tony Soprano.

In fact, New Jersey has a long history of being married to the mob. 

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

https://www.nj.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/02/2c3248019b4776/before-there-was-a-tony-soprano-there-was-richie-the-boot-sam-the-plumber-and-vinny-ocean-jerseys-reallife-sopranos.html

You can also read my Washington Times review of Garden State Gangland via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2018/03/garden-state-gangland-rise-of-mob-in.html 

The New Mob Is Wising Up And Keeping Quiet

Brad Hamilton at the New York Post looks at the new, quiet lowkey Cosa Nostra.                         

Meet the new mob — same as the old mob.

Thirty-three years after John Gotti carried out his audacious hit on crime boss Paul Castellano, which flouted Mafia rules and brought a wave of devastating prosecutions under the Dapper Don’s brash reign, New York’s five crime families have reverted to their old-guard ways.

They’re keeping quiet.

No more press conferences or TV appearances. No more weekly meetings with capos at favorite restaurants or social clubs. No more shootouts between warring factions. No more wire rooms for taking wagers.

Instead, gangsters try to keep their heads down and earn as they’ve done for decades, with drug dealing, loan-sharking, running strip clubs and protection rackets and skimming from union construction jobs, cops and prosecutors say. Bookmaking is still a lively trade, but most of it is done online using offshore accounts, not at smoke-filled gambling dens.

Crimefighters say the new old way is aimed at avoiding police scrutiny and preventing turncoats from selling out their fellow wiseguys.

"Everybody’s a rat,” said an ex-NYPD detective who continues to track mob business. “You can’t trust anybody anymore.” 

Lieutenants and soldiers avoid gathering in groups so as to be less vulnerable to the wiretap or surveillance photo. And with suspicion permeating all activity, families have turned to veteran, low-profile leaders, including geezer gangsters Carmine Persico, 85, and John “Sonny” Franzese, 101, who hated Gotti’s gabby flamboyance. 

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

https://nypost.com/2018/09/29/the-new-mafia-is-wising-up-and-keeping-quiet/   

Deep Undercover: Former Legendary FBI Undercover Agent Joseph Pistone Introduces Netflix True Crime Series

I met and interviewed legendary former FBI undercover agent Joseph Pistone (seen in the above and below photos) some years ago and I wrote a Crime Beat column about him.

Pistone infiltrated the New York Cosa Nostra Bonanno organized crime family for six years posing as jewel thief Donnie Brasco. He wrote a book about his amazing experiences and a popular film based on his book, Donnie Brasco, starred Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Donnie Brasco is considered to be one of the most realistic organized crime films.

Now Joseph Pistone introduces stories of other undercover cops and agents who brought down drug kingpins and other criminals in the Netflix series, Deep Undercover. 

You can watch the dramatic and interesting series via the below link:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80201750

You can also read my Crime Beat column about Joe Pistone via the below link: 

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

And you can watch a documentary about Joe Pistone’s undercover operation via the below link:

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

On This Day In History Cosa Nostra Crime Boss Salvatore Maranazano Was Murdered By Charles "Charlie Lucky" Luciano

As History.com notes, on this day in 1931 Cosa Nostra crime boss Salvatore Maranzano (seen in the below photo), who proclaimed himself to be the Capo di Tutt’i  Capi, the “Boss of Bosses,” was murdered by mob boss Charles “Charlie Lucky” Luciano (seen in the above photo). 

This murder led the way for Luciano to organize the American Cosa Nostra and associated gangs into a national crime syndicate.

Salvatore Maranzano is shot and stabbed to death in New York City by four men working for Charles “Lucky” Luciano, one of the flashiest figures in organized crime. At one time, Luciano was living at the Waldorf Astoria and taking in over a million dollars a year, while declaring only a small income. He was always seen with a Broadway showgirl on his arm, although he reportedly had a fondness for prostitutes in private.

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

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/crime-boss-salvatore-maranazano-is-murdered?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2017-0910-09102017&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=237969664&kx_EmailCampaignID=14579&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2017-0910-09102017&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

You can also read more about Luciano via the below link:

http://www.history.com/topics/lucky-luciano 

South Philly Connection To Scorsese's Upcoming Organized Crime Film, 'The Irishman," Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci & Harvey Keitel

Martin Scorsese directed three of my favorite crime films.

Goodfellas is the best crime film ever made, in my view, and Casino and Mean Streets are not too far behind. Even Raging Bull, the greatest boxing film ever made, has a strong organized crime element to it.

So I'm glad that The Irishman may finally be in the works. And Scorsese will present a stellar cast that features Robert De Niro and other veteran actors from his great crime films.

The film will be based on I Heard You Paint Houses, a true crime book about mobster Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, who claims to have murdered Jimmy Hoffa.

The story has a South Philly connection, as Sheeran, a Philadelphia native, was given his first murder contract in South Philly by Cosa Nostra boss Angelo Bruno.

He was also urged by a Philadelphia Monsignor to confess his sins so he could be buried in a Catholic grave yard, which led to his second confession to a writer.

Bruce Golding at the New York Post offers a piece on the upcoming film.

Martin Scorsese is putting the old gang back together — and swearing in a new member — for a mob movie green-lighted through big-bucks deals struck at the Cannes Film Festival, according to reports Sunday.

“The Irishman,” which has been stuck in development hell for years, is set to star Scorsese stable-mates Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who both played key roles in the director’s classic gangster flicks, “GoodFellas” and “Casino.”

Reports said it would also reunite Scorsese with Harvey Keitel, who last worked with Scorsese on 1988’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” and co-starred in the director’s 1976 legendary “Taxi Driver.”

The instant Oscar-bait film would also mark the first collaboration between Scor­sese and legendary “Godfather” star Al Pacino.

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

http://pagesix.com/2016/05/16/scorsese-assembles-hollywood-dream-team-for-new-flick/

You can also read my Crime Beat column on I Heard You Paint Houses via the below link:

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

Note: The above photo shows Martin Scorsese and his actors from Goodfellas.

Ex-Mobster John Alite: Gotti Family Ordered Cyber "Hit" On Me

Gary Busio at the New York Post reports on a new kind of mob war.

He’s no Facebook friend of ours.

Instead of using brickbats or Berettas, relatives of notorious Mafia boss John Gotti are delivering a beatdown to a former Gambino enforcer the 21st-century way — on the Internet.

“U go to war with one of us u go to war Witt [sic] all of us simple as that,” declared John “Junior” Gotti’s son John Gotti Jr. on Twitter March 25.

The tweet is just one example of an escalating and bizarre online barrage — which includes phony Twitter accounts, altered Wikipedia pages and doctored YouTube videos — targeting John Alite, who says the Gottis have relentlessly bullied him online ever since he was featured in a book titled “Gotti’s Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia,” which came out Jan. 27.  

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

http://nypost.com/2015/05/03/ex-mobster-gotti-family-ordered-cyber-hit-on-me/

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of George Anastasia's book on John Alite via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/02/my-philadelphia-inquirer-review-of.html