Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family - Joaquin "Jack" Garcia

[Saluki]

 

This was a really fascinating book that sounds like the Donny Brasco / Joe Pistone story, but more. After the Donny Brasco infiltration the Mafia was a lot more guarded about letting people who they didn't know get close enough to infiltrate them. But Jack Garcia, who was Cuban, not Italian like Pistone, was able to infiltrate the Gambino crime family and become the right hand of a powerful mafia Capo. How powerful? It was Greg DePalma, who is in the infamous picture of Frank Sinatra surrounded by Mafia members. The man next to the man on Sinatra's right is Carlo Gambino. The man on the far left is Paul Castellano. Sinatra has his arms around two men.  The one on the left is Greg Depalma.

 

What's fascinating is that Pistone grew up in the area and spoke Italian, which made it easier for him to fit in and be trusted. Garcia was Cuban, from Miami, and had to be taught the mannerisms, like wrapping your cash in a broccoli band instead of using a wallet, and how to pronounce Italian dishes "mannigot, not mannicotti". He quickly gained DePalma's trust, was given a pinky ring by DePalma to signify that he was officially "on record" as one of DePalma's associates, and eventually proposed for membership , to become "a made guy", in the Gambino family before the operation was ended. What makes the story even more amazing is that Pistone was in deep cover and that was his only assignment, but Garcia didn't have as much support from the FBI higher ups and managed to achieve all this while still working other cases involving drug dealers, counterfeiters and money launderers, while juggling many cell phones and answering in different names with different fake identities. 

 

 

A really fascinating story that deserves to be made into a movie.  

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