Welcome to episode 46 of FBI Retired Case File Review with Jerry Williams.

I'm a retired agent writing crime fiction inspired by actual FBI cases.

In this episode we get to speak to retired agent Joe Pestone.

Now Joe served in the FBI for nearly 27 years, however he is primarily known worldwide

for the six years he spent infiltrating one of the New York mafia families as Donnie Brasko his undercover alter ego.

This was a mission so secret only a handful of agents in the FBI knew what Joe Pistone was doing and where he was as he secretly gathered vital intelligence on the mafia and its criminal ways.

The work Joe Pistone did was so on the mafia and its criminal ways.

The work Joe Pistone did was so incredibly dangerous

that it has been documented in numerous books,

documentaries, television shows, and the 1997 feature film, Donnie Brasko, starring Johnny

Depp and Al Pacino.

Once the undercover assignment was closed down, Joe spent the remainder of his

Bureau career testifying in federal court all over the country for mobrelated trials and at the FBI Academy helping to establish

the FBI's undercover program and training courses. Joe continues to this day to

travel overseas lecturing and training law enforcement officers how to go undercover.

I want to thank my FBI classmate John Legata, episode 21, for connecting me with Joe Pistone.

I emailed John and I said, do you think Joe, who he worked with undercover for a number of years would do the

podcast and he emailed me back he said Joe said yes he's going to give you a call and Joe called

he was gracious he was, we spoke for over an hour, and I am just

thrilled. I could die right now and go to podcaster Heaven based on this interview.

The only other interview that I aspire to after this is interviewing former FBI director Louis Free. So I'll keep working on that one too.

Joe Pustone is an FBI legend and the fact that he was willing to take time out of his day to do this interview is absolutely

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