If you’re not careful, your gangland colleagues won’t just kill you. They’ll amputate parts of your body too.
That was the fate of mob captain Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano, who had to answer for FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone’s infiltration into his Mafia crew in the famed “Donnie Brasco” case of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano
As detailed in the 1997 movie starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, Pistone posed as jewel thief Donnie Brasco in order to penetrate the Bonanno crime family crew led by Napolitano.
Pistone, played by Depp in the film, was eventually accepted by the members of the Brooklyn-based gang, including mentor Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero, portrayed in the film by Pacino.
nws al pacino
In the “Donnie Brasco” book that Pistone wrote with Richard Woodley, he lays out how he was able to feed the FBI information about the inner workings of the Napolitano crew as well as the Bonanno family and affiliated mob organizations.
The agent’s goodfella act was so convincing that Pistone was able to vouch for other FBI moles as they infiltrated mob families in various operations around the country.
Napolitano, dubbed “Sonny Black” for his voluminous mane of dark hair, became so enamored of Pistone in the agent’s role that the skipper said he would sponsor Donnie Brasco to become a “made guy,” a full-fledged member of the Mafia.
The FBI had never had an agent so deeply embedded in a mob family.
But Pistone was pulled from his undercover assignment in 1981 when he was assigned to “make his bones” with the mob in the time-honored Cosa Nostra way: by killing a gangland rival.
Once Pistone was safely out of the picture, the FBI let Napolitano know that “Donnie Brasco” was actually an FBI agent and gave Sonny Black a chance to turn informant.
The boss rejected the offer out of hand.
Napolitano, played in the film by Michael Madsen, disappeared shortly after Donnie Brasco’s true identity was revealed to the mob.
Details of Napolitano’s fate are revealed in the book “Five Families” by Selwyn Raab.
Napolitano in August 1981 was picked up in at the Hamilton House restaurant in Brooklyn and driven to a home in Eltingville where he was told a mob meeting was to take place in the basement.
But Sonny Black was pushed down the stairs as he was led to the cellar and was shot by a waiting Bonanno gunman.
But the button man couldn’t finish the job because his gun jammed. Sprawled on his knees, Napolitano was said to have told his killer: “Hit me one more time and make it good.”
Napolitano’s skeletal remains were found a year later in a swampy area at South Avenue and Bridge Street in Arlington, on the West Shore of Staten Island.
Sonny Black’s hands had been chopped off, Pistone wrote, a symbolic punishment for violating Mafia security. Napolitano’s face was so badly disfigured that the onetime skipper had to be identified through dental records.
Napolitano is said to have had an inkling that he wouldn’t return from the Staten Island meeting, as he left jewelry, money and the keys to his apartment with a bartender at his crew’s Brooklyn hangout, the Motion Lounge.
“I’m going to a meeting and I don’t know if I’m coming back,” Napolitano said.
In his book, Pistone admits to feelings of affection and respect for Napolitano, writing, “Sonny was good at what he did. He wasn’t a phony. He didn’t throw his weight around. He was a standup guy. For reasons that are hard to explain, I liked him a lot.”
A key scene in the film, in which Brasco is “arrested” by the FBI before he can fulfill the murder contract, was filmed at Staten Island Boat Sales at Great Kills Harbor.
nws al pacino
Pacino celebrated his 56th birthday here while filming on April 25, 1996, a celebratory moment that was captured exclusively by the Advance/SILive.com.
nws al pacino
Read the original article on silive.com.