25 Quotes by Joseph D. Pistone

I rarely carried a gun undercover.

I was Donnie Brasco, the Mafia guy, in character. But in my head, I was a special agent. I never lost sight of who I was or why I was there.

A good undercover agent stays as close to the truth as possible, as close to your own personality and your own values as possible. This is the way you stay in character - you try to be yourself.

'Donnie Brasco' was 85 percent on the money. The only thing that they slanted was my feelings for Lefty and Sonny', and this idea that I didn't want to go through with seeing them in jail. I was never swayed. There was no conflict.

When you wear a wire, you're always in danger.

If you're an L.C.N. guy, you don't have facial hair and you don't have long hair. You have to be neat all the time. It's the rule.

I'm always leery about bumping into somebody. One time I was with my wife in a restaurant, I saw somebody from my undercover days, and I got up and we just walked out.

'The Godfather' is a great movie, but it gives them too much credit. What you don't see is what really takes place: the in-fighting, the lying to each other, the scheming against each other to get power.

In the actual story I got with the Bonannos, but I had dealings with other crime families and other criminals, using the Bonannos as my credibility.