Lefty Ruggiero, portrayed by Al Pacino in the film “Donnie Brasco,” was a real-life mobster who was betrayed by undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone, who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family using the alias Donnie Brasco. After the operation was revealed, Ruggiero was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but he was released after serving 11 years due to his poor health. He died of cancer in 1994.
In the late 1970s, the FBI initiated an undercover operation aimed at infiltrating the Bonanno crime family, one of the Five Families that dominated organized crime in New York City. Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent, went undercover as a jewel thief named Donnie Brasco and managed to earn the trust of several mobsters, including Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano and Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero.
Over the course of six years, Pistone gathered valuable information that led to over 100 convictions of members of the Mafia. Lefty Ruggiero, who had taken Brasco under his wing and vouched for him, faced severe consequences once the operation was exposed. The Mafia marked both Ruggiero and Napolitano for death for allowing an FBI agent to infiltrate their ranks. Napolitano was killed, but Ruggiero was arrested before a hit could be carried out against him.
Ruggiero’s trial exposed the inner workings of the Mafia and the extent of its criminal activities. His conviction was a significant victory for law enforcement against organized crime. Despite his criminal past, Ruggiero’s life and the betrayal he experienced were depicted with a degree of sympathy in the film “Donnie Brasco,” which highlighted the complex relationships and personal costs for those involved in the undercover operation.