The title tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Donnie Brasco is a firsthand account of Pistone’s six year-long stint undercover in the New York mob. Though first launched as a six-month project to take down a fencing operation, Pistone’s assignment changed unexpectedly when, in an effort to ingratiate himself enough to get evidence, he became a trusted figure with the Bonnano crime family. Ultimately he stayed undercover for six years, and by the time he was extracted he had nearly become a made man, a crownign achievement for an FBI officer.
One of the more surprising things to me aobut the book was learning that undercover work in the 70s was pretty much a new field, at least for the FBI. The organization had only started planting people a few years before, and much of the protocol was yet to be established. The upshot of this was that Pistone was constantly at risk, not just of discovery by the mob, but also of legal ramifications, since there were no clear lines as to what sort of behavioral was acceptable in order t oestablish his role.
Pistone tells the story in a plain, conversational way, making no effort to amp up the drama or embellish. The writing isn’t flashy, which works well. It almost seems like it could have been a recorded interview rather than a written book. Possibly it was. The story ends abruptyl, and though the last few pages provide some follow up, it doesn’t satisfy as a climax—however, since it’s a real story, I appreciate that it felt honest and unfabricated. There was no big reveal, no final tense conversation between him and Lefty. He was simply extracted one day, and that was the end of it.
Overall, it was an interesting story and an easy read. Not something to pursue for the language or style, but worth knowing.