Lefty Ruggiero

Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (April 19, 1926 – November 24, 1994) was an American mobster in the Bonanno crime family.

He is well known for his friendship and mentorship of FBI undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone, who Ruggiero knew as Donnie Brasco.

Ruggiero was born on April 19, 1926, in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and grew up in the Knickerbocker Village private housing development in Little Italy, Manhattan.

His father, Fiori Ruggiero, worked as a truck driver, and his mother, Frances, was a housewife.

Ruggiero had two younger siblings named Dominick and Angelina.

Ruggiero joined the Bonanno family organization as a young man, serving as a street soldier under caporegime Michael Sabella.

Ruggiero soon became successful in bookmaking, extortion and loansharking rackets.

He lived in an apartment on Monroe Street in Manhattan in the same building as his friend and Bonanno soldier Anthony Mirra.

Ruggiero reportedly owned a cigarette boat that he kept docked on the East River in New York.

Ruggiero became good friends with future family boss Philip "Rusty" Rastelli and Mirra.

Ruggiero became the part-owner of a fishery in the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan.

As a part-owner, Ruggiero put himself on the company payroll with a $5,000-a-month "no-show" job.

During the 1970s, he purchased a social club in Little Italy.

Around the time Ruggiero became a made member in the Bonanno family, Anthony Mirra introduced him to Joseph Pistone.

Pistone was an undercover FBI agent posing as an expert jewel thief named Donnie Brasco.

Pistone's original mission had been to infiltrate truck hijacking and fencing rings.

However, the friendships Pistone developed with Mirra and Ruggiero allowed the FBI to infiltrate the Mafia.

Brasco started working for Ruggiero, placing bets and helping him make collections for the bookmaking operation in Ruggiero's social club.

Ruggiero mentored Brasco and eventually promised to sponsor him for membership in the family.

Ruggiero developed a close friendship with Brasco, which caused friction with his old friend Mirra, who had initially introduced Brasco to Ruggiero.

Brasco served as best man at Ruggiero's 1977 wedding and frequently advised Ruggiero on handling his son Tommy's heroin addiction.

Ruggiero once nearly discovered Brasco's true identity.

Ruggiero and Brasco were in a Miami Beach, Florida restaurant as Ruggiero read a Time magazine containing an article about the infamous Abscam scandal and detailing how FBI agents posed as rich Arab businessmen to catch U.S. Congressmen taking bribes.

What caught Ruggiero's eye was a picture of a white yacht that the FBI used to entertain the members of Congress.

Ruggiero recognized the boat, the Left Hand, as the same boat Brasco provided several months before for a party.

Brasco was able to convince Ruggiero that he did not know the boat's owner was related to the FBI.

During an earlier criminal enterprise, Ruggiero met Frank Balistrieri, the Mafia boss of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Ruggiero admitted to Pistone that he felt threatened while in the presence of Balistrieri.

In 1979, Ruggiero converted his social club into a candy store and gave it to one of his daughters to manage.

At the same time, Ruggiero and Brasco started a bookmaking operation out of the store.

However, Ruggiero was soon dropped from the partnership because he could not provide the initial investment of $25,000.

In 1979, Bonanno boss Carmine Galante was murdered, creating a power vacuum in the family.

After Galante's murder, Philip Rastelli took over, running the organization from prison.

However, one faction, led by Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, rebelled at Rastelli's leadership.

At this time, Ruggiero joined the crew of Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, a strong Rastelli supporter.

When Pistone's operation was ended on July 26, 1981, the FBI intercepted and arrested Ruggiero on August 29, 1981.

On May 5, 1981, Indelicato and two other rebel capos, Philip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera, were lured to a meeting and murdered.

After the deaths of the three capos, the rebellion against Rastelli was quashed.

According to Pistone, the murderers were Napolitano, John Cersani, Joe Massino, Sal Vitale, Joseph DeSimone, Gerlando Sciascia, Nicholas Santora, Vito Rizzuto, Louis Giongetti, and Santo Giordano.

In November 1982, Ruggiero was sentenced to 15 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy; he was released in April 1993 before his death from cancer.