Customer Reviews
Excellent book - By: Nick, 17 Jul 2008 
I like many people have watched the film before reading the book. Like the film this book is excellent & goes into a little more detail. Highly recommended.
Far Better than the Movie - By: C. Lambert, 05 Jun 2008 I Came across this story first as a side line in many Mafia/Mob based books & then the Movie. This book far outshines them alll. It has to be one of the best, most truthful portrayals of the American Mafia I have come across. The book has the added advantage of being written by someone outside the mob going in. Pistone shares our values & curiosity for detail where it matters. This is no egotystical mob defector this guy is an ex FBI undercover officer. It covers 6 years of undercover work during the late 70s & early 80s infiltrating the Bonanno family amongst others. This book shines a light on the lesser, street mob characters but infinately more interesting such as Ben "Lefty" Ruggiero & Sonny Black. ITS A MUST READ for any Mafia fan.
Remarkable. He nearly became a made man - By: L. M. STOCKLEY, 25 Feb 2008 The journey of Joseph. D. Pistone aka Brasco is extraordinary. to have been undercover for 6 years & then nearly getting initiated into the mafia must have meant having nerves of steel. This book is a must for those interested in the decline of the Bonanno family, although it came back strong under Joey Massino, & the mob in general. Gives you a good insight in to Dominick 'Sonny Black' Napolitano & his interraction with Brasco. If you think the film is good then get a load of this.
I'm a girl and yet shock horror I still liked it! - By: blurgirl74, 07 May 2007 
This ia a reallly good read for most of the time. It is fascinating true life story of agent Joe Pistone who infiltrated the mafia & helped bring about over 100 convictions, he was so good he was within a whisker of being made a 'made' guy, an actual mafia member. Some reviewers seem confused by this book (see below) & seem to think it's fiction stating that Donnie Brasco wouldn't have survived 2 seconds...ummm...he was undercover for 6 years, it's true story you idiot! Anyway apparently 'one for the lads' but will be enjoyed by anyone who likes reading about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. My few minor quibbles are that after a while the endless scores & neverending list of badguys names becomes confusing & a bit boring but overalll the story itself is so strong that it carries it off.
Who does he think he is? - By: Cornisle, 05 Feb 2007 
This book starts off reallly well. But the more you read, the more you realise he is only involved with the lower end of the mafia scale. In every chapter he sets up the "big score" or "the big deal" but then fails to follow through because he is an agent of the FBI. In one chapter he pretends to want to buy some heroin, but instead buys some cannabis, in Miami. Fair enough. But why would he need somebody to fly from New York to verify the quality of this cannabis, at mafia expense? If he is so "connected" or so streetwise why couldn't somebody in Miami try it out??? Ridiculous, the whole book. He often goes back to his family, meets other agents in his hotel room, whilst alll the time other "wiseguys" are being followed by mafia people. The way Donnie Brasco behaves he'd be caught out in a second. And deservedly so! Garbage.
