Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business: Shocking Declassified Details from the FBI's Greatest Undercover Operation and a Bloody Timeline of the Fall of the Mafia (paperback)

When an author first decides to write a book, I believe that one of the first things that he must decide: what will be the tone. I'm not convinced that Joe Pistone thought enough about this beforehand, or if he did, I think that he went in the wrong direction.This work seems to be somewhat on the snarky side; somewhat on the spike-the-football-in-your-opponent's-face side. Sure, he had the right to rub it in, as he put so many wiseguys on the bench, at least in their local prisons. Sure, he tackled more than one capo and humiliated them all in front of their Mafioso teammates. But when Barry Sanders scored a touchdown he just handed the ball to the ref and walked away as if that incredible back had been in the end zone before. And that's because he was.I think that a sports metaphor was correct in this review, as Mr. Pistone uses quite a few himself here. He played football and basketball in high school (and I believe college) after all, and supposedly, he was a pretty good "leaper." But it isn't much of a leap to say that his first book, "Donnie Brasco," was far superior.That earlier work seemed to take mostly a linear narrative for the most part, a narrative that is usually the easiest for the reader to follow. The same seems to apply here. But I felt as if he did a much better job explaining his day-to-day duties in that book, while he comes off more as an observer here. Furthermore, I started to feel as if he was just name dropping in this book, just rattling off a list of the bad guys that went down, one by one. I didn't much find that interesting at all. I would have preferred if Mr. Pistone would have actually included his own thoughts and actions here much more, as that would have made the book come alive.I'll admit, I quit reading after about two thirds of the way through. I just got tired of it all. And this is too bad, as I gave his first book a six. I guess this helps prove that, sometimes, it's best to just quit while you're ahead.

This book includes a lot of interesting details that could not be included with the first Donnie Brasco book. The author had several close calls and only his quick wit and ability to stay cool under fire kept in alive with mobsters who kill simply on the account of the wrong body language.The reader will have a better understanding of how the mafia operated under a centralized hierarchy called The Commission. It was the Commission, comprised of the leaders of the five major mafia families, that sanctioned violence and imposed a rigid discipline to prevent any young upstarts from trying to unseat older, established leaders. Bucking this Commission could get one "whacked". Numerous mob wars and civil wars within families broke out after all of the Commission members were convicted under RICO.Although the Sicilian Mafia is a shell of its former self, the Donnie Brasco operation forced the mob to change its rules to better weed out informers and undercover agents.I finished the book wondering if this operation really accomplished anything. It didn't eradicate organized crime by other ethnic groups. The power vacuum is being filled by even more ruthless organized crime gangs like the Jamaicans, Colombians, Asians and Jews from Russia and the Ukraine.

Excellent follow-up to his first book. The ensuing years allowed him to discuss more of the details that he couldn't in his first book. But, read the first book first.

I've read this book for a second time now, it was definitely worth it. Nonetheless if mob books interest you this book does give you an in depth look into the major bosses/capos of the mafia. This is a great addition to 'Killing the mob" by Bill O Reilly.

Very informative and fills in important parts left out of the first book. Easy to read and informative.Just wish there were more photos of important characters but the text alone is great.

This is a hard book to stay interested in. I have to say even though it has been years since I read the original book, it was pretty much the same. It has too many boring details and not enough interesting revelations to hold the interest. I have read a ton of mafia related books over the years but while I admire Joe Pistone's work and sacrifice, his books are not very interesting. This is probably because the truth is usually not as interesting as fiction. Even though I did not care for the books I would like to express my appreciation to Joe Pistone for everything he has done. I would suggest that other readers not use this review as an excuse not to buy and read this book since most people's tastes differ to either a minor or major degree. This is why they have chocolate and vanilla.

THIS BOOK WAS GREAT. IF YOU READ THE FIRST BOOK AND ALL THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED HERE BECAUSE IT IS NOW 20 YEARS LATER AND ALL THEM COURT CASES ARE FINISHED AND JOE PISTONE GETS REALLY IN DEPTH ABOUT HIS UNDERCOVER WORK TO THE PROBLEMS HIS CHIEF MANAGER IN THE FBI GAVE HIM TO THE MAFIA COPS, THE GASPIPE STORY, THE GREGORY SCARPA STORY THE KILLING OF SONNY AND EVEN THE FILMING OF THE MOVIE DONNIE BRASCO . THERE IS SO MUCH IN THIS BOOK THAT IT KEEPS YOU ON YOUR TOES. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK AND WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYBODY TO READ. THANKS

BETTER THAN THE FIRST. FIRST WAS GOOD, THIS WAS EVENBETTER. GOOD READ ,IF YOUR NOT A WISEGUY.WHAT I MEAN IS THIS BOOK IS : MAYBE THE BEST.

It really makes me wonder why anyone would go into law enforcement. These agents stick their necks out everyday with the risk of never coming home.Then they have to fight their own justis system and hope they don't go to jail.Agents to me are not respected enough and the criminals not punished enough

very good

Au début c'est très bien, on apprend quelques détails de l'opération Donnie Brasco, notamment que l'agent Pistone a dû se compromettre pour être puis rester crédible.Mais rapidement on bascule dans l'histoire des procès et là.... des centaines de noms, des anecdotes inintéressantes... Le livre devient vraiment indigeste.

Didn't meet my expectations

When I started this book, I devoured it. This book is a perfect conclusion to his original. The story is compelling as ever, and agent Pistone will always keep us wanting more.As the narration progresses, the author however retails cases into which he had little or no involvement and that's when it starts to drag (about at the 3/4 mark). I also found that the narration felt less polish. In some pages, the famous "Nothing for nothing" quote is used no less than 4 times. By the end of the book, that quote appears on every single page, which is very irritating. It almost feels like the editor gave up or fell asleep in the last chapters of the book.I am glad I bought this book. I will read it again in a near future, but not to the last page.