Canada - They don’t quote Shakespeare: ‘Donnie Brasco’ tells of Mafia hit

MONTREAL — The man who infiltrated the New York Mafia and inspired the movie ”Donnie Brasco” is describing how he saw the underworld take over the construction businesses using methods that would be familiar to Quebecers today.

Joseph Pistone, a legendary FBI agent who spent six years undercover as a Mafia associate starting in the late 1970s, told the Charbonneau Commission about the inner workings of the Mob in the United States during his testimony on Monday.

He described its control over labour unions and businesses that owned raw construction materials — so it consistently managed to claim a piece of the profit, even for public contracts where a Mob-linked company wasn’t ostensibly involved.

In one example he cited, Mafia-run construction companies would claim to hire more expensive unionized labour while actually paying cheaper non-union rates.

He cited different reasons for why the Mafia would have been allowed to become so powerful. First of all, he said businesses are making a grievous error when they allow themselves to get extorted by the Mob — because it will keep coming back for more.

Click to expand...

"Organized crime cannot operate without corrupting someone," Pistone said in response to questions about how New York's five Mafia families insinuated themselves into business and government.

And in the construction sector, that meant gaining control of labour unions — generally by having a Mafia man get elected president or business manager of a local, Pistone said.

"They'll start their own union, or there will be an existing union where they'll have their man, a Mafia guy within the union, become the representative of the union, become the president of the union," he testified.

Since most big construction projects use unionized workers, a Mafia family could then use its control of the labour force to extort the construction company's bosses.

"They would tell their members to slow down the job so the company's losing money every day," Pistone said. "If a legitimate company did get a contract and didn't play ball with the Mafia, that's what they would do until they finally gave in."

Click to expand...

MONTREAL - Most people know Joseph Pistone by the name of his alter-ego, "Donnie Brasco." And many of those who do, want to kill him.

A self-described "street guy" who became famous when he struck at the heart of New York's notorious organized crime families, the former FBI undercover agent's story enthralled moviegoers when it was chronicled in the 1997 movie "Donnie Brasco," starring Johnny Depp.

His knowledge of organized crime brought him to Quebec's inquiry into construction-industry corruption as an expert witness Monday; he testified from behind a divider and there was a media publication ban on his image.

Pistone tends to shun the limelight — and for good reason.

The Mob put a $500,000 bounty on his head after he skillfully infiltrated their ranks, posing as a bar-hopping jewel thief between 1976 and 1981.

Even the FBI, where he's a legend, only has an old, blurry surveillance photo of him on its website where it describes his pioneering undercover work.
Pistone, who noted Monday that his insinuation into the Bonanno and Colombo crime families led to 200 convictions over 20 separate trials, rarely sticks his head up. When he does, it's with his appearance altered and under tight security.

Click to expand...

The mob isn’t a fraternity of honourable men who wear expensive suits and quote Shakespeare, but a vicious and dangerous “plague on our society” that needs to be stamped out, the Charbonneau Commission heard on Monday.

In a thick New York accent, Pistone outlined for the commission how New York’s Mafia families were structured during his time within their ranks in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The traditions, rituals, rules and consequences that come with a life in the mob are the same all over the globe, he maintained.

“That’s why the Mafia has survived so long, because they have stayed the same as far as their rules and regulations,” Pistone testified. “They keep their members in line by fear and intimidation. If you get caught breaking one of these rules, you’re gonna die.”

Click to expand...

In Toronto, the ’Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra appear to coexist more easily, Amato said, and even assist each other — when it suits them.

“Obviously, at times there’s conflicts,” added the 25-year police veteran. “There’s murder, there’s violence, there’s bombings.”
Much of this internal strife is undetectable by law enforcement agencies, however, because the Ontario mobsters tend to stay “under the radar,” Amato said.

“Every so often, you might see that someone who was walking straight is now walking crooked. ... There is violence, but it’s undetected and it’s unknown to us.”

Click to expand...

In many ways, Amato’s testimony seemed to echo that of Italian scholar Valentina Tenti, who took the stand earlier in the week and gave the commissioners a crash course in the Italian mob, as it exists both in Italy and abroad. Amato confirmed Tenti’s assertion that over the years, Mafia organizations around the globe have become increasingly adept at infiltrating the legitimate business market, using restaurants, trucking companies, construction firms and other businesses as fronts for criminal activities behind the scenes.

“They do not operate in the dark, they operate in the light, among us,” Amato said. “You have persons who are accountants, bankers, bus drivers, in all sectors of public life.

“They need these legitimate businesses to launder their criminal profits. ... It also allows someone to explain their wealth.”

Click to expand...