- 7 months ago
Documentary, Inside the American Mob S01E01 Stayin' Alive in the '70s
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00:00I was born and raised in Brooklyn from the time I was about four or five years
00:06old I was introduced to the American mob through an uncle of mine I go to
00:12Manhattan I meet this guy say listen you know what Johnny Dio says you owe him a
00:15favor you got to go to Miami here here's an address and here's a name and this is
00:19what he wants done and I look and I listen I say hey no problem a couple of
00:25days later I get a plane I fly down to Miami Beach I meet another guy down there
00:30guy says come with me I drive over to a little garage he says here's a key to
00:35that truck he's asked what you're gonna drive when you go to this house he opens
00:39up a drawer and he says now take this with you I look down and it's a Sheffield
00:44knife he says and you know what you got to do
00:49the girl opens the door and I say take me to the back he's at the pool it's a
00:59young guy like 30-ish okay let's go get him she goes to the back of the house
01:04opens the door says John I tie him to the pool table and I sit her down I say you
01:11got to watch this I said what are you gonna do took the Sheffield knife stuck
01:19the knife under his testicles and sliced him she screamed he yelled went back to
01:26New York and never talked about it and that's how wild and crazy the mob was in
01:30the 70s I'm laughing I mean I'm sure the guy didn't die and I'm sure he didn't
01:35sever his testicles but it was some blood on the pool table and I left and that was
01:40the story
01:46in Brooklyn a low-level mobster is put to rest shot dead in broad daylight days
01:53later another reputed gangster snuffed out execution style
02:04it seems incredible but not so long ago in America a hidden empire of crime
02:09violence and money ruled large parts of this country these men are witnesses
02:15stepping forward now to tell their story firsthand if you stay in the shadows for
02:23personal safety fearful of an organization that most Americans know only as legend
02:29it's true name
02:31it's true name
02:33Cosa Nostra
02:35how would you describe the mafia what is the mafia you know what is the the mafia
02:41the Cosa Nostra as we call it here in America Cosa Nostra is a cult the secret society it's a
02:47brotherhood among men everything that they do is about making money illegally the mafia is much more
02:53like a pack of rats that eat anything in their path including each other it is the most enduring
02:59powerful and venal organized criminal organization to exist and to continue in America
03:05so in many ways you almost had a shadow government that controlled huge amounts of economic activity
03:12in a totally unaccountable way
03:14the golden age of the mafia was the beginning of the 70s when they had the strongest grip on
03:23legitimate business in the United States of America
03:26in the 1970s they controlled trucking the ports the garbage business and a lot of the meat produce and fish markets
03:36much of the building trade is in their hands the carpenters and electrical unions
03:41they have judges on their payroll and police in their pockets
03:45no criminal organization in the history of our country has ever infiltrated legitimate institutions of society
03:52the way the mafia was able to do
03:54the bosses untouchable
03:57they were sitting on thrones
03:59no one could remove them
04:01no one in law enforcement is going to do anything to hurt them
04:04the FBI did not have the tools to deal with a major criminal enterprise like that
04:09by 1970 law enforcement faces an overwhelming challenge
04:15how do you take down a secret criminal organization with such deep roots
04:20so much power but so completely hidden from sight
04:24we were faced with a mammoth challenge
04:27and that was
04:28how do you deal with this enterprise
04:30how do you actually have an impact on it
04:32that enterprise is divided into five families
04:35Genovese, Lucchese, Gambino, Bonanno, and Colombo
04:39Mr. Colombo
04:42are you a boss of the mafia?
04:44no I am not
04:46is there a mafia?
04:47no there is not
04:48but Joe Colombo is lying with the confidence of a man who believes he's untouchable
04:56there is a mafia in 1970
04:58and he is one of its most powerful members
05:01the boss of the most violent of the five families
05:04the Colombo's
05:05and a vicious killer in his own right
05:07in his twenties
05:08he already was involved in a minimum of 15 hits
05:12he was credited for at least 18 or more murders
05:14so he did a lot of work for the family
05:16a lot of work being killing people
05:22and Colombo presides over an army of psychopathic killers
05:25chief among them, this man
05:27one of his capos
05:28crazy Joe Gallo
05:30he was a predatory hood
05:32he was good at breaking legs
05:34shooting people
05:35in the basement
05:36he kept a chained cub lion
05:39and the idea was
05:40he brought people down there
05:42to show them that
05:43if they got him angry
05:45he might feed them to the lions
05:47but Gallo answers to the boss
05:49and that boss makes a big impression
05:51on everyone who meets him
05:52how did you first meet Joe Colombo?
05:56I met Joe Colombo as a kid
05:58he had a farm upstate
05:59that we would go to
06:01and I just knew him as Joey
06:03he was a dapper kind of dresser
06:05and people respected him
06:07and he was just a nice guy
06:08so I met him at an early age
06:10you know, before I really realized who he was
06:12let me tell you something
06:14Joe Colombo was a mixture of old world and new
06:17like other bosses of the five families
06:19he's a master of murder and corruption
06:22but unlike the rest
06:23he's no immigrant
06:24he's a second generation Italian American
06:26born in the United States
06:28and comfortable in the public eye
06:30he sees himself as a new generation of boss
06:36and he believes he's being harassed unfairly
06:39of course he's an Italian American
06:41and he also sees a great opportunity
06:44that he can become sort of a civil rights leader
06:48I thank God that I was born of Italian birth
06:54In 1970 he started the Italian American League
06:58which was supposed to be an organization
07:02that showed that Italians are being discriminated against
07:05he begins attracting attention
07:07TV interviews, magazine interviews
07:10I had just come home from school
07:12and we got a phone call
07:13Joe Colombo's son, Joey Jr. got arrested
07:15we're gonna be picketing the FBI building
07:18I said great, I'll be there
07:19Colombo, you know, was so incensed
07:22that his son had been arrested on a federal charge
07:24that they actually started picketing
07:26the FBI office at 69th and 3rd in Manhattan
07:30we'd walk out of the office there
07:32and they'd call us names
07:33I had a rock thrown at me
07:34it would just miss my head
07:35and bounced off a firebox
07:37Colombo and his legions
07:39take the fight to the very doors of the enemy
07:42I start walking the line
07:44some guys drive by in a car
07:46and they yell out to me
07:47you Guinea, whatever they said
07:49you know, something
07:50and the cop was standing there
07:52and he said, hey, shut your mouth
07:53and get across the street
07:54and I got arrogant with him
07:57Before you know it
07:59I've got a bunch of cops on top of me
08:02and they hit me with the sticks
08:06they picked me up
08:07and they put me in a paddy wagon
08:08Joey, I remember, as I'm leaving
08:11he puts his head in and he said
08:12don't worry about it
08:13we got everything under control
08:14he said, just go with them
08:15we'll take care of it
08:16you know, it was a tremendous impression
08:19because I saw the power
08:20that Joe Colombo had at that moment
08:22it was a good moment for me
08:23You've had a number of successes, haven't you?
08:25for example, you managed to get the Justice Department
08:27to drop the word Mafia entirely
08:28was that your doing?
08:29it was the voice of all the Italian people
08:32around that time
08:35the producer of the Godfather
08:37came to visit Joe Colombo
08:39he sent for him
08:40and Joey actually looked at the script
08:43of the Godfather back then
08:44he took any reference to the word Mafia
08:46he pulled it out of the script
08:48getting the Justice Department of the United States
08:50to ban the use of the word Mafia
08:52that's pretty good political power
08:56that is pretty good political power
08:58the one thing that the bosses in the 70s
09:01did not want was publicity
09:04but against the tradition of the five families
09:07Colombo loves the attention
09:09and doesn't seem to know when to stop
09:11Joey started to get a little bit too out of hand
09:15the old-fashioned bosses don't like the spotlight
09:19he's beginning to draw too much attention
09:22these are people who like to be in the shadows
09:25I knew it was starting to become an issue
09:27all that meant was trouble
09:30well, the second unity rally in Columbus Circle
09:36somewhere around 50,000 people attended that rally
09:40the usual hoopla, the vendors
09:42and people waving the banners
09:44and talking about how great it was to be an Italian
09:47I had an argument with my mother that morning
09:50she did not want me to go
09:51so she had a dream that something bad was going to happen
09:54and I said, I'm going
09:55I am lost by the unity of campus
09:59that has drawn us together
10:00we arrive at Columbus Circle
10:02they had a big stage set up
10:04there's police protection
10:07the TV cameras are there
10:09thousands of people are milling around
10:11we're in a van with a periscope taking pictures
10:16to see who's who and what's what
10:18but then what
10:19took pictures
10:20saw enough people
10:21I was on my way back to the office
10:22I remember Joey
10:24called me over
10:26and I walk up the steps to the stage
10:30he hands me some brochures
10:32and he says, Michael, I want you to give these out
10:35around Lincoln Center
10:36and I said, okay, Joey
10:37I turn around and walk away
10:40and as I approach the steps
10:42suddenly
10:44one cameraman gets close to him
10:46and instead of taking a photo
10:48fires a gun
10:50I hear boom, boom, boom
10:52the place went crazy
10:53please do not
10:54please, ladies and gentlemen
10:56there's so much more happened already
10:59we plead with you
11:01stay back
11:02please, ladies and gentlemen
11:07this is the type of thing you can't do
11:10there's so much bad happened already
11:13we plead with you
11:14in June of 1971
11:16mob boss Joe Colombo is shot
11:18at his own Italian-American civil rights rally
11:20in New York City
11:21and all hell breaks loose
11:23Colombo lies unconscious in the ambulance
11:25transporting him to the hospital
11:27while the big questions start to emerge
11:29who would dare to gun down
11:32one of the most powerful figures in the mafia
11:34what kind of condition did he appear to be in?
11:36he looked pretty bad
11:37I mean, I don't know
11:38I've never seen anybody shot before
11:40but he was down on the ground
11:41and there was a spot of red on his right sheet
11:45in unity, we pray to our father
11:48that Joey Colombo makes it
11:51our father
11:53Joe Colombo isn't dead
11:56but he's in a coma
11:57and shows no sign of waking up
11:59everybody was in a state of shock
12:01it didn't take as long to find out
12:03that a black man by the name of Jerome Johnson
12:05was the actual shooter
12:06who himself was killed there
12:09by members of the Colombo family
12:12give us a stay our daily bread
12:14and forgive us our trespasses
12:17as we forgive those who trespass against us
12:21and our biggest concern then was
12:23who did it?
12:24someone had to give the orders
12:26and lead us not into temptation
12:28but deliver us from evil
12:31amen
12:33Joe Colombo's chief aides
12:35they knew right away
12:37where the finger of suspicion pointed
12:39it pointed to Crazy Joe Gallo
12:47Crazy Joe Gallo is a captain in the Colombo family
12:50he has a knack for violence
12:52and no sense of loyalty
12:54do you know anything about a gang war?
12:56are you trying to protect yourself?
12:57Dave, Dave, what kind of gang war?
12:59there's no gangs, there's no wars, there's nothing
13:01crazy Joe Gallo epitomized
13:06the predatory street thug of his era
13:10he always shot for the top
13:12Joe Gallo was an enemy of Joe Colombo's
13:15was resentful of the fact that Colombo was the boss
13:18and he wasn't
13:19Joe Colombo will lie in a coma for years
13:22and eventually die of his wounds
13:24but in the meantime
13:26Joe Gallo has his own problems
13:29Gallo had to clear it with the commission
13:32because a cardinal rule
13:34which is a self-protection rule
13:36which you can't kill a boss
13:38to understand what happens next
13:43you have to understand how the Mafia began
13:46the structure of the organization
13:48is the brainchild of this man
13:50Charles Lucky Luciano
13:52he could be aptly described
13:55as the criminal version of a Bill Gates
13:57or a Warren Buffet
13:59he was a genius
14:00he wrote the constitution for the American Mafia
14:03a bible that still continues till today
14:06he had a vision of what this life should be
14:09and he implemented that vision
14:11Luciano's idea was to set up a organization nationwide
14:17not unlike the Roman legions of Italy
14:21in 1931 Lucky Luciano incorporates
14:24five New York City street gangs into a single unit
14:27these gangs become the five families of the modern Mafia
14:31we know today
14:33Gambino
14:34Colombo
14:35Bonanno
14:36Genovese
14:37and Lucchese
14:39they're governed by a gangster board of executives
14:43known as the commission
14:45the commission
14:48the five mob families board
14:50gets to say who lives and who dies
14:52and that's where Joey Gallo comes in
14:56no question about it
14:59you don't kill a boss
15:00without permission
15:01and hope to get away with it
15:03it's a contract out on Joe Gallo's life
15:05and he knows it
15:07his 43rd birthday comes around
15:09only 10 months
15:10after Joe Colombo
15:11is shot and paralyzed
15:15it's 4 a.m.
15:16and they go into Little Italy
15:18and there's only one place opened in Little Italy
15:21there's a restaurant that's still there today
15:24called Umberto's Clam House
15:26and Crazy Joe Gallo
15:29was sitting there having a spaghetti dinner
15:32they were sitting at a rear table
15:36when a man walked in from the back door
15:43and fired three shots
15:47his face fell into the spaghetti
15:50he manages to stagger out on the main street
15:56falls on his face
15:58and is dead
16:00revenge has been done
16:02the shooting of mob boss Joe Colombo in 1971
16:08and the murder of Joe Gallo in retaliation in 1972
16:11marked the beginning of a new era for law enforcement
16:14and the American mob
16:16a younger generation of federal agents and gangsters
16:19are about to go head to head
16:21some of the cops are Italian Americans
16:23and most of the gangsters are like Joe Colombo
16:26born in the USA
16:27not immigrants like their fathers
16:29young guys like Michael Francis
16:32who is standing near Joe Colombo when he's shot
16:35the shooting that day really impacted me
16:38when I said you know what
16:39something's really going on here
16:41that I don't quite understand
16:43so Francis turns to the one man
16:46who can answer his questions
16:48his father Sonny
16:49one of the most notorious figures
16:51in the entire history of the American mob
16:55Sonny Francis is somebody who was a legendary figure
16:59in the world of organized crime
17:01very powerful
17:02law enforcement said he killed at least 30 people
17:04back then
17:05now it's I think it's 60
17:07which I don't believe
17:0860 people
17:09I mean come on
17:10growing up Michael worships his father
17:14and despises the cops who shadow him
17:17one day I was playing ball in the street
17:18I think was eight or nine years old
17:20ball sailed over my head and rolled down the street
17:23the detective stopped the ball with his foot
17:26and when I got close to him
17:28he pulled over his jacket and he had a gun in there
17:32and he said this is for your father
17:34he's gonna get it one day
17:35and I just looked up at him
17:39I'll never forget
17:40and I said you know can I have my ball please
17:42he kicked the ball roughly past me
17:44and boy I hated that guy at that moment
17:47you know I always say if I was lost when I was a kid
17:50the last person I would go to would be a cop
17:55I always looked at my dad as the hero
17:57and them as the enemy
17:59at the time of Joe Colombo's shooting in 1971
18:02Sonny is in prison serving 10 years for bank robbery
18:06Michael pays him an urgent visit
18:08it was that we first really had a discussion about the life
18:13first he got angry with me
18:15he said I told you not to be involved here
18:17you got to go to school
18:19I said I'm not going to school
18:21it's over I have no desire
18:23I'm part of this
18:24I got to help you out
18:25he said is this what you want to be part of
18:28and I said whatever I got to do to help you out
18:30I don't even know what I'm really a part of
18:32you never sat down and explained anything to me
18:34but it's time
18:36he says if you had to kill somebody could you do it
18:39I thought about it
18:42and I said you know if the circumstances were right
18:45I think I could
18:47and he said to me well that's the right answer
18:49somebody's going to be in touch with you
18:51he said you do whatever you're told
18:54that was it
18:56and that was the extent of the discussion we had
18:58in asking me that question he gave me a choice
19:01and I made my decision right then and there
19:06before mob boss Joe Colombo is shot at his own rally in 1971
19:19he provides American law enforcement with its first big break against the mafia
19:23Joe Colombo organized a meeting in Columbus Circle for all his Italian American cohorts
19:30legit and illegitimate
19:32he steps out of the shadows long enough for the FBI to photograph him and his associates
19:37it's a key moment in the government's fight against the mafia's five families
19:41a new generation of FBI agents and mobsters are about to go head to head
19:46we photographed everybody at that rally
19:49and it enabled us to identify a lot of the organized crime members who was close to Colombo
19:53who was made in the Colombo family
19:56the last thing La Cosa Nostra needed is the type of public disclosure that Joe Colombo did
20:06but in the early 1970s the FBI still faced a major obstacle in trying to nail the bosses of the five families
20:14organized crime families have a code it's called omerta and basically it's the code of silence
20:23and at that time omerta really lived
20:26the code really had some substance to it and people abided by it
20:31which meant that if you were prosecuting the mob if you were investigating the mob
20:35you really didn't have access to anybody in the inside
20:38Colombo as as well as the other bosses they knew they were well insulated
20:42they had all these soldiers and all their underlings to do their criminal bidding
20:45and they were completely untouchable
20:46omerta has kept this gang hard to infiltrate so it was almost impossible
20:52but just as there is a new generation inside the mob
20:55second-generation Italians like Michael Francis
20:58there's also a new generation of agents joining the FBI
21:03and they're Italian-American as well
21:05one of them will change history
21:07this guy Joe Pistone
21:09who's about to go deeper inside the American mob than any FBI agent before him
21:14how did you get into America?
21:16I always wanted to be a cop I always wanted to be a police officer really
21:19I figured if I'm going to be in law enforcement I might as well be with the best
21:23I applied to the bureau to the FBI got appointed as a special agent in 1969
21:29Pistone and fellow agents like Steve Salmeri are the FBI's secret weapons in the 1970s
21:35we were all basically inner-city kids
21:38and we basically made a career being Italians from the inner city
21:42even though we hung out on the corner with the mob guys growing up
21:47it all went back to your upbringing
21:50I can always remember my dad, you know, saying
21:54you never take another man's money
21:56you always be fair
21:58and it's always stuck with me
21:59and I think that's why, you know, seeing these guys
22:02seeing the flash and the cash
22:04you're impressed, but it wasn't like
22:06geez, I want to be like that
22:08Pistone and Salmeri join the FBI at a low point in its battle with the mob
22:13agents have a hard time infiltrating mafia neighborhoods
22:17what they were doing and watching FBI's agents on the street
22:20they all dressed the same
22:21everybody had the same hat, the same suit
22:23it was easy to spot them
22:25organized crime knew what police could or couldn't do
22:29and at different agencies they knew like the FBI wasn't working undercover
22:34and back then it was a very closed society
22:38they could have worn a breastplate
22:40or a sign that said FBI agent
22:43and given their name
22:44it was so simple to make them
22:48so the FBI changes strategy
22:50they send in the neighborhood guys
22:53without a rule book
22:54when I first started doing undercover in the FBI
22:57there was no training
22:58it basically was guys that were street guys
23:02before they came in the bureau
23:04we really didn't have guidelines
23:06we had no training
23:07and other than we knew that
23:08what was right and what was wrong
23:11street guys like Pistone and Salmeri
23:13know that to be credible in the mob
23:15you have to have a specialty
23:16he and I were sent to a jewelry school
23:19we took the same course together
23:21and I learned all about diamonds, precious gems
23:24but the newly minted jeweler
23:26now needs a solid cover
23:28when you're going into undercover
23:29you need to have an identity
23:31back then you pick a name
23:33the government was able to provide you with a birth certificate
23:36took a driving test like anybody else
23:39and got a driver's license
23:41as the name of Donnie Brasco
23:42he made up social security numbers
23:44he didn't give me a real name
23:45he knows how they operate
23:47and he knows what the dangers are
23:49with Pistone's alias established
23:52Operation Donnie Brasco slowly begins
23:54the bureau targets mob hijackers
23:57as Pistone's weigh in
23:58and Donnie Brasco hits the New York streets
24:01when I first hit the streets
24:03in the operation
24:04we had restaurants and bars picked out
24:06to where I would go
24:07and get my face seen
24:08and hopefully get into conversations with people
24:14went probably six months
24:16not having any illegal conversations with anybody
24:20the bureau spent a lot of time
24:22and gave them time to actually infiltrate
24:24which is was the key
24:25because they were so used to something fast
24:29to build your persona
24:30your best bet is being yourself
24:32you have to convince these guys
24:34that you are who you say you are
24:37after about six months
24:39I'm in there one night
24:42this young lady gets up
24:43goes to the ladies room
24:44on the way back to the ladies room
24:46she says hello
24:48and I say hello
24:49the bartender catches this
24:51I call the bartender over
24:54and I said I want to go on record
24:56well it's a mob term
24:57I want to go on record
24:59I didn't initiate conversation with that young lady
25:03there was three basic reasons to get killed in the mafia
25:06cause either A you were an informant
25:08B you disobeyed your boss
25:10or the third possibility was that you slept with a maid member's wife or daughter
25:15that would get you killed for sure
25:17he just nods his head
25:20if you want to talk to her talk to her
25:22her friend went bye-bye
25:24well
25:25he didn't go to Disneyland
25:27that meant you know
25:30but now the guy knows
25:32that I'm a street guy
25:34his credibility established
25:36all Pistone needs now is the right invitation
25:39and he gets one from the bartender
25:41when he asks him if he likes to gamble
25:43I said after I close up
25:45he said you want to come out
25:46he said I'm going to a couple after hours joints
25:50so I said yeah
25:56it's a gambling joint run by all the families
26:00this bartender introduced me to different mob guys from different families
26:05it's the breakthrough Pistone's been waiting for
26:08the chance to get right into the gambling dens of Cosa Nostra
26:11where no FBI agent has ever penetrated before
26:15they've never had somebody inside the Mafia
26:20listening to them
26:22now they do
26:24the 1970s are the golden age of the mob
26:32and the five families of the New York Mafia
26:34operate with impunity and raking millions
26:36but things are starting to change
26:39undercover agent Joe Pistone
26:41under the alias Donnie Brasco
26:43has infiltrated the mob for the first time ever
26:45it's an operation so secret
26:47most in the FBI don't even know it's happening
26:51very few agents knew what he was doing
26:54he answered only to one or two guys and that was it
26:57and everybody else there was no there was no discussion of it whatsoever
27:00I mean I had to be informed and the people that were covering had to be informed
27:03but there certainly wasn't general knowledge in the FBI office
27:08you have to know who you're infiltrating
27:10you have to wait for the right you know the right moment
27:14Joe Pistone starts at the bottom rung
27:16in the mob everybody starts out as an associate
27:21now an associate is a crook
27:24a guy that has the ability to make money
27:27and how do you do that by showing that you have the ability to be an earner
27:31traditionally to get involved in the Mafia
27:33I mean you would be an associate at first
27:35you'd be a maid guy would use you
27:38in the beginning maybe you're a golfer
27:40maybe you're running errands
27:41maybe you're picking up some money
27:43taking money here to there
27:44maybe you're collecting sports bets
27:46we did the grunt work for the mob bosses
27:48or the upper echelon mob guys
27:50if they gave you an assignment
27:52you couldn't refuse and you had to do it
27:54you could tell by being around the guys
27:56who had you know for lack of a better word
28:00who was intelligent
28:01in other words some guys were there to do the work
28:04they were kind of the thug guys
28:06and other guys were more looked up to
28:08to you know bring the family forward
28:10my background helped a lot
28:13because I know you don't walk into a place
28:15that you know there's mob guys
28:16and you walk up to the mob guy and say
28:18hey I'm Donnie Brasco
28:20I'm a jewel thief
28:21I want to you know
28:22I want to start running with you guys
28:23it's like
28:25it doesn't happen
28:27and you got to remember
28:28the god of organized crime is money
28:30just got older in Italian
28:32and if you had something that they were interested in
28:35that they could use you at
28:36that's what it is
28:37what are they looking for
28:38and then you furnish it
28:40we figured that being a jewel thief
28:42was a good one because you
28:43you could do it alone
28:48so I got a pack of diamonds
28:50and I put the envelope on a bar
28:53and I say charge it
28:54I need X amount of money for this package
28:56I don't tell him what's in it
28:58he takes it
28:59couple weeks go by
29:00one night I come in
29:02and then he says somebody left this envelope for you
29:06sorry
29:07I said okay put it in my pocket
29:09we go out get back
29:10and what I asked for is in there
29:12so now the guy knows that you know
29:14I'm a little shady
29:16but the deeper piss stone goes
29:18the more dangerous the operation gets
29:20especially when he wears a wire
29:22there were times when we felt that we had to have close protection for him
29:26we dedicated one particular surveillance team
29:28that became very familiar with Joe
29:30and they developed all kinds of signals
29:33and modus operandi
29:35Agent Joe Pistone is gaining credibility
29:37as a criminal on the street
29:39while mob descendant Michael Francis
29:41is about to begin his own career
29:43in Cosa Nostra
29:45one of my dad's soldiers called me
29:47and said meet me at the JB lounge
29:49which was on Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn
29:51we go see Tom DiBella
29:54Tom was acting boss for Persico at the time
29:57who had taken control of the family
29:59and Tom says to me
30:00I got a message from your father
30:02he said you want to become a member of our life
30:04is that true?
30:06and I remember saying
30:07yeah if that's what my dad wants
30:09that's what I want
30:10and he said I didn't ask you that
30:12I said is this what you want?
30:14and I said yes it's what I want
30:17Michael
30:18he said well here's the deal
30:19from now on 24 hours a day
30:21seven days a week
30:22you're on call to serve this family
30:25if your mother is sick and she's dying
30:27and we call you to serve this family
30:29you leave your mother's side
30:30and you come and serve us
30:31from now on
30:32we're number one in your life
30:33before anything and everything
30:35I'm putting you with Andrew Russo
30:37he's your captain
30:38you do whatever Andrew tells you
30:40I said okay
30:41Andrew looks at me
30:42he says you're gonna be busy from now on
30:44he says meet me tomorrow night
30:45on Carroll Street
30:46and wear a suit
30:48that was it
30:50Michael Francis is now a Colombo family associate
30:54his education begins and ends with one lesson
30:57how to make money for the boss of the family
30:59as an associate
31:01if you made a score
31:02you had to make sure you sent something up to the boss
31:04a couple hundred dollars in an envelope
31:06most guys that are associates not made members
31:08they always have to kick up to their boss
31:10if you get involved and you become an earner
31:13somebody who can be trusted
31:15you become a higher associate
31:17had to be a good earner
31:18I wanted to be the best possible mob guy I could be
31:23I made a score at one point
31:25some guy came to me with a load of meat
31:29if I remember
31:30six or seven thousand dollars worth of meat
31:32let me show you
31:33so I said Andrew I got this load of meat
31:36he says make sure when you get the money you turn it in
31:38great
31:39so I bring it I turn it in
31:40it's like seven grand
31:41and he takes it
31:42and after a day or so
31:44he gives me back six hundred bucks
31:46I said wait a second
31:47I say seven thousand
31:48I get six hundred
31:49I don't like the math here
31:50you know
31:51I saw my father the next time
31:52and he said to me
31:53what did you turn it all in for?
31:55he said rule of thumb
31:56twenty five percent goes to them
31:58he said you keep the rest
31:59it's really on the job training
32:01I mean nobody prepares you for this stuff
32:04Francis soon finds a much bigger way to earn
32:07a gigantic scam in overseas shipping
32:10for a cut of the take
32:11a friend who works for a shipping company
32:13sends Francis fake work orders to repair his containers
32:17Francis doesn't actually repair the containers
32:20but builds the company anyway
32:22and they would cut me a check
32:24we were doing twenty thirty thousand dollars a month
32:26and all he did was submit a work order
32:30and I submitted a bill
32:31and that was the scam
32:32he became the biggest earner
32:34not only in the Colombo family
32:36but probably on an individual basis
32:38among all the made guys in the five families
32:41it was only a handful of us that were making real money
32:44he's so successful at earning
32:46that the highest honor in the mafia is within his grasp
32:49he's on the verge of becoming a made man
32:51even though I didn't know the time or the place
32:53or when the event would happen
32:55I knew that things were starting to heat up
32:57because a couple of guys were all of a sudden being made
33:01so I kind of knew my time was coming
33:04it's 1975 and Michael Francis an associate in New York City's infamous Colombo family
33:19is on the verge of achieving the highest honor in the mafia
33:23becoming a made man
33:25my dad never told me about his particular induction
33:28you know he said you're not gonna know when it happens
33:31but when it happens
33:33you're gonna feel good about it
33:35it's a very serious situation
33:36and you're gonna get on a high afterwards
33:38and he was right
33:41I'm in bed
33:43one morning it was early
33:44and I get a call from Andrew
33:46and he said
33:47meet me on Carroll Street
33:49such and such a time
33:50he said dress up
33:53happened to be Halloween night
33:55and it was 1975
33:56night I obviously can't forget
33:58we end up in Brooklyn at Anthony Colombo's catering home
34:05then I started to realize this is it
34:08you know this is my time
34:11to become the made guy
34:12you have to participate in the murder
34:14you were 100% Italian
34:15and you were sponsored by two official members
34:18you qualified
34:19and you had to go in and take this oath
34:21that you were never supposed to reveal the secrets of the organization
34:24you can refuse it all you want
34:26if they want you to become a made guy
34:28they're going to force you to become a made guy
34:30it is a lifetime contract
34:31respect and honor
34:33is a whole life
34:35the only way out would be death
34:42it was very dark
34:44it was a couple of candles lit
34:46I walked down the aisle
34:48and I stand in front of Tom DiBella
34:51Tom was acting boss for
34:53Persego at the time
34:55who had taken control of the family
34:57and this initiation starts
35:00and it's very intense
35:04and Tom looks at me
35:06and he says
35:07are you ready?
35:08and I said
35:09I am
35:10and then we went through the ritual
35:11Andrew had a little knife
35:14and he cuts my finger
35:16and some blood drops on the floor
35:18and I remember him gripping my hand very firmly
35:21and I remember looking down and seeing blood spots there
35:25so this was a place I knew that had been used before
35:33I took a picture of a saint
35:35put it in my hands and lit it a flame
35:39and then Tom started to say to me
35:41tonight Michael Francis you're being born again
35:43born again
35:44I'll never forget those words
35:45he said you're being born again into
35:47a new life
35:48our life
35:49La Cosa Nostra
35:52you swear to give your life to this
35:54to a La Cosa Nostra
35:55I said yes I do
35:56if you violate what you know about this life
35:59betray any of your brothers
36:01you will die and burn in hell
36:03like this saint is burning in your hands
36:09and he said
36:11you're a friend of ours
36:12and he hugged me
36:15Andrew hugs me
36:16and then all the captains line up
36:18and they all give me a hug
36:19and welcome me
36:20kiss on the cheek
36:22as Tom said
36:23from now on wherever you go in the world
36:25you'll have a brother there
36:26don't ever worry about your mother
36:28your sister your daughter
36:29we're gonna protect them
36:30and you know I got your back
36:33you got mine
36:34that was exhilarating for me
36:36to know that okay I made it
36:38I'm here
36:39and now it's up to me to really prove
36:41that I'm worthy of the life
36:43as Tom said
36:45let this be a lesson to all you
36:46we don't earn for you
36:48you're gonna earn for us
36:50it's all about earning for the family
36:52and doing for us
36:53and he looked at me
36:54want you guys that are earners
36:55to get out there and earn
36:56and then we ate
36:57we had a celebration
36:58and then that was it
37:01and it was
37:02I went home that night
37:04after we talked
37:05and I was very exhilarated
37:06and I understood
37:07that once you're part of that life
37:09you're a new creation
37:10within that life
37:15Michael Francis is now a made man
37:17in the Colombo family
37:18moving up from associate
37:20to soldier
37:22but undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone
37:24is still knocking on the same door
37:26trying to get in
37:27under the alias Donnie Brasco
37:29he gets his first invitation
37:31from a Colombo hijacker
37:33named Jilly
37:34he had a club up in Brooklyn
37:36so I go up there
37:37and I start hanging out
37:38with Jilly
37:41when you're with
37:42a particular mafia crew
37:44they go to their social club every day
37:46and you hang out with your crew
37:48every day he walks a line fraught with danger
37:51you're playing cards
37:53they're talking about
37:55if they got a book making operation going
37:58they're talking about
38:00if they got a club
38:01a bar
38:02a go-go joint
38:03all their illegal activities
38:05that they have going on
38:07they're talking about problems within the family
38:09how are we going to make more money
38:12be a good investigator
38:13to be a good agent
38:14that's one of the things
38:15street smarts
38:17you have to be convincing
38:19he's got to be able to carry out the acts that they want him
38:22the proof that he's a loyal dedicated member
38:25and that he'll do what he's told
38:27because one mistake
38:29the slightest error
38:31mob guys
38:35suspect
38:36that you're
38:38an undercover agent
38:39or you might be an informer
38:42you're through
38:43they never hesitate to kill
38:49undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone
38:51has finally penetrated the Colombo family ranks
38:54under the alias
38:55Donnie Brasco
38:56he gets his first break
38:57with a Colombo hijacker named Jilly
39:00when I was with Jilly
39:02I had to learn about
39:03how to steal cars
39:09I had to learn how to get under the car
39:11disarm the alarm system
39:12punch a door lock
39:15punch an ignition key
39:20and we'd actually go on lots
39:22and take the cars
39:24this was the first time that I stole anything of high value
39:28where I actually stole it myself
39:31but not everyone in Jilly's crew likes or trusts the newcomer Donnie Brasco
39:35and his attempt to become an associate within the Colombo family
39:38hits a roadblock
39:39I got into a beef
39:40I got into a beef with two of these guys
39:47Frankie and Patsy
39:48they came out of the can
39:49they wanted to start making money
39:51being that I was a jewel thief
39:54they wanted some information on different things
39:56they come up with some crazy schemes of rob places
40:02I tell them look
40:03you got an alarm system in this place that you know
40:06you can't defeat
40:07or how do you expect to crack that safe
40:10I'm being negative
40:11I'm telling them no
40:12you can't do it like that
40:13you can't do this
40:14and this kind of ticked them off
40:15Patsy was a maid guy
40:17and Frankie wasn't
40:19Patsy puts a gun on the table
40:24and basically what he says to me
40:26he said Donnie
40:27if you don't convince me
40:28you're as good as these guys say you are
40:30the only way you're going out of here is rolled up in that rug
40:33you're Joe Pistone
40:39and you're wise enough to know
40:41that on any moment
40:43any mistake
40:45the slightest error
40:47could be a death sentence for you
40:49he said Donnie
40:50tell us where you were before New York
40:52tell us who you robbed with down in Miami
40:54these guys you're dealing with
40:56are stone cold killers
40:58and they don't want to take any chance
41:01as a street guy
41:06you don't give up other guys
41:07that you did
41:08supposedly did scores with
41:10you try to turn the conversation around
41:12how do I know
41:13that you didn't become an informant in jail
41:15a lot of dope
41:18finally after about five hours
41:20it's all over
41:22as a street guy
41:24if I go to shake his hand
41:25and say look
41:26you know
41:27I understand that you know
41:28you had a concern
41:29but let's forget about it
41:30that's a red flag in somebody's mind
41:32because
41:33why isn't Donnie mad?
41:35we just basically called him out
41:37the only thing they understand in this situation
41:39is force
41:41I turn around
41:43and I hit Frankie
41:44why?
41:45he's not a maiden guy
41:46I can't hit Patsy
41:48now Patsy's punching the hell out of me
41:50but I can't do anything
41:51you lay your hands on a maiden guy
41:54that's cause to get killed
41:55so
41:56that's another notch in my credibility
41:58because if I was bad
42:00you know
42:01I wouldn't do that
42:04so Pistone survives the sit down
42:06and successfully proves himself to the Colombo family
42:09and for the first time
42:11an FBI agent has been fully accepted into the world of the American mob
42:15law enforcement work requires infiltration
42:18the Pistone case was a big big breakthrough
42:22because it filled in a lot of the blanks
42:24it identified a lot of the people
42:26that's absolutely vital
42:27to any kind of successful effort
42:29to deal with any kind of organized criminal enterprise
42:32but it's only the beginning of this extraordinary effort by Joe Pistone
42:35to get inside the American mob
42:37this undercover case was the beginning of the unraveling of the Mafia in America as we knew it
42:47now as he gets even further inside
42:49the job is about to get far more dangerous
42:52even though he's established himself inside the Colombo family
42:55an even greater opportunity opens up in the most vicious of all the five families
43:00the Bananos
43:02the Banano family controlled gambling and loan sharking back in the day
43:05but those days were over and they had to find other ways of making money
43:08the Banano family can be fairly characterized as ground breakers
43:13when it came to drug trafficking
43:15they would smoke drugs, rob drug dealers
43:17and they were wild guys
43:19the Bananos were really at this period of time the worst
43:24the 1970s will see the historic rise of two men
43:28within two of the mob's key families
43:30undercover agent Joe Pistone with the Bananos
43:33when I was told you got the contract to kill Bruno
43:36I said okay sonny
43:37where do you think he is?
43:39and newly made man Michael Francis among the Colombos
43:43I had a jet plane, I had a helicopter, I had all the money I wanted
43:45I did whatever I wanted to do
43:47and usher in a vicious new era of bloodshed
43:50even my own father put a contract on me
43:52and put a contract on me
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