Joseph D. Pistone

Joseph D. Pistone
FBI surveillance photo of Donnie Brasco
Born	(1939-09-17) September 17, 1939 (age 77) Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	Donnie Brasco
Alma mater	Paterson State College, B.A. 1965
Police career
Current status	Retired
Department	Federal Bureau of Investigation
Allegiance	United States of America
Rank	Special Agent
Other work	Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia

Joseph Dominick "Joe" Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco, (born September 17, 1939), is a former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family and to a lesser extent the Colombo crime family, two of the Five Families of the Mafia in New York City. Pistone was an FBI agent for 27 years.

Pistone was a pioneer in deep long-term undercover work. The FBI's former director, J. Edgar Hoover, who died in 1972, did not want FBI agents to work undercover because of the danger of the agents becoming corrupted. But Pistone's work later helped convince the FBI that using undercover agents in lieu of relying exclusively on informants was a crucial tool in law enforcement.

Pistone was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Paterson, New Jersey. He graduated from Paterson State College (now William Paterson University) with a BA in elementary education in 1965, then worked as a teacher for one year before taking a position at the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Pistone joined the FBI in 1969; after serving in a variety of roles, he was transferred to New York in 1974 and assigned to the truck hijacking squad.

His ability to drive 18-wheel trucks and bulldozers led to his being chosen for what would become his first undercover operation, infiltrating a gang stealing heavy vehicles and equipment. His penetration of the group in February 1976 led to the arrest of over 30 people along the Eastern Seaboard - described at the time as one of the largest and most profitable theft rings ever broken in America. The name Donald ("Donnie") Brasco was chosen to be Pistone's alias.