4. Al Pacino as Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero – Donnie Brasco
Donnie Brasco is a movie based on the true story of an FBI undercover agent, played by Johnny Depp, who went after the Bonanno crime family in the 1970s. Brasco managed to befriend Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, played by Al Pacino, and the two became such good friends he was even invited to be the best man at his 1977 wedding. Lefty taught Brasco all about being a wiseguy. He explained, “Donnie, as a wiseguy you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, you can kill people – legitimately. You can do any goddamn thing you want and nobody can say anything about it. Who wouldn’t want to be a wiseguy?”.
In 1979, there was a power struggle within the crime family. Three rebel capos – high-ranking Mafia members – were brought to a meeting where they were murdered, beginning an outbreak of gang wars within the families. In 1981, the FBI began to fear that the turf war would end up killing those they needed to convict. They revealed Donnie Brasco’s true identity to the mobsters and called an end to the operation.
Outraged an informant had made their way into the family, the Bonnano family put out a bounty on the head of Lefty as they held him responsible for letting Brasco in. FBI agents arrested Lefty on his way to a meeting with the family and he was place under protective custody. It was believed that there was a set-up to have him killed at that same meeting.
After his arrest, Lefty was convinced that Brasco was his associate and that he was being told he was an undercover agent to make him confess. He still believed this as fact until Brasco, under his real name Joseph Pistone, gave evidence in court of his investigation. Lefty was sentenced to twenty years in prison; he served eleven and died aged 68-years-old of lung cancer.
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