Books, Arts & Manners: The Ambiguity of It All

ONE of the great, troubling problems is that even in the best people there is often something that is not good. And a yet more troubling problem is that even in the worst people there is often something good. This is the subtext of a very fine new gangster movie, Donnie Brasco, which, despite its genre, qualifies as a work of art.

It is based on a true story, the memoir of Joseph D. Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family for two years of perilous undercover work, which led to the breakup of that powerful mob. A thrilling enough tale of suspense is here made outstanding by the human element in which it abounds. Pistone, who pretended to be a jewelry fence named Donnie Brasco, gained the confidence of a minor, aging Mafioso, Lefty Ruggiero, who became his friend and sponsor, and came to regard him as his surrogate son. Pistone-Brasco, in turn, became deeply attached to Lefty, and tried hard to protect him from both the Mafia and the FBI.

JS

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John Simon

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ONE of the great, troubling problems is that even in the best people there is often something that is not good. And a yet more troubling problem is that even in the worst people there is often something good. This is the subtext of a very fine new gangster movie, Donnie Brasco, which, despite its genre, qualifies as a work of art.

It is based on a true story, the memoir of Joseph D. Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family for two years of perilous undercover work, which led to the breakup of that powerful mob. A thrilling enough tale of suspense is here made outstanding by the human element in which it abounds. Pistone, who pretended to be a jewelry fence named Donnie Brasco, gained the confidence of a minor, aging Mafioso, Lefty Ruggiero, who became his friend and sponsor, and came to regard him as his surrogate son. Pistone-Brasco, in turn, became deeply attached to Lefty, and tried hard to protect him from both the Mafia and the FBI.