More Podcast Stuff

 Today I have another podcast review of sorts, and you will be surprised at who the host is. 

It's Joe Rogan! Yeah- the guy who can suck his own dick. If you told him to go fuck himself, he at least has the foreplay covered. That guy. 

He can actually be a good interviewer, letting his guest tell their story at their pace. This morning, he had on Joe Pistone, an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated the Bonnano crime family in the late 70's. He was the real-life Donnie Brasco portrayed by Johnny Depp, in the 1997 film "Donnie Brasco". It is one of the better mob movies you'd ever want to see. Great cast including Al Pacino and the recently departed, Michael Madsen. It is a fascinating, true story that seems to not take too many liberties with reality as many films do. Pistone said the only major issue he had with it was that in one scene Donnie slaps his wife. Joe Pistone would never raise his hand to his wife. He made sure the audience was straight with that. 

You have to see the movie. Depp is an amazing actor. Must be a real good guy too as he and Pistone are close friends, 28 years later. I think that speaks volumes about both men.

Donnie Brasco infiltrated the mob by hanging out in a bar the mobsters frequented and just waiting to get noticed. He took his time, not wanting to look anxious. Undercover work is a process. You have to be somebody you aren't and make sure they buy it. Pistone, Italian, grew up in Patterson, New Jersey, surrounded by mobsters, so he knew how to behave like them. It's important to note that he never wanted to be a gangster. Law enforcement was the only path for him. He just knew from experience how to talk the talk and walk the walk of a gangster. 

Four years he was Donnie Brasco, gangster jewel thief. He blended in amongst killers, by not acting like a tough guy- though he was- and just being himself. Pretty much everybody liked him. I haven't seen the movie in a couple few years and I sorta recall a couple guys being cold to him in the movie, but he didn't really touch on that, so it appears he blended in well. He fit in so well in fact, that they wanted to make him. He was thisclose to being a made member of the Bonnano crime family. Imagine that- an FBI agent becoming a made gangster! But they had enough at that point to makes cases against a whole slew of guys with the Bonnano's and the Columbo's that they thought they better not push their luck, cool as that would be. What a coup! 

But perhaps the best tell, was after the arrests were made, the guys in his crew refused to believe he was a rat or an FBI agent like they were being told he was. Not Donnie! No way! And Sonny Black, who had just put up Donnie to be made and was going to pay for that with his life, called his wife and told her to get in touch with Donnie and (paraphrasing) and tell him there was no hard feeling towards him, "you were just better than us". This guy was going into a room that he wasn't going to walk out of, and he had no animosity towards his friend. Damn.

Again- check out the movie. And if you can stomach Joe Rogan for 2 hours, his excellent interview with Joe Pistone is well worth it. Don't fuggeddaboudit! It's not fugazi!

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