Lefty Ruggiero

Ruggiero was born on April 19, 1926, in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and grew up in the Knickerbocker Village private housing development in Little Italy, Manhattan. Ruggiero joined the Bonanno family organization as a young man, serving as a street soldier under caporegime Michael Sabella. Ruggiero soon became successful in bookmaking, extortion and loansharking rackets.

He lived in an apartment on Monroe Street in Manhattan in the same building as his 'friend' and Bonanno soldier Anthony Mirra. Ruggiero reportedly owned a cigarette boat that he kept docked on the East River in New York. Ruggiero became good friends with future family boss Philip "Rusty" Rastelli and Mirra. Ruggiero became the part-owner of a fishery in the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan. As a part-owner, Ruggiero was able to put himself on the company payroll with a $5,000-a-month "no-show" job. During the 1970s, he purchased a social club in Little Italy.

Around the time Ruggiero became a member of the Bonanno family, he met Mafia associate "Donnie Brasco" (undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone). Anthony Mirra introduced Brasco, posing as an expert jewel thief, to Ruggiero.[4] Pistone's original mission had been to infiltrate truck hijacking and fencing rings. However, the friendships Pistone developed with Mirra and Ruggiero gave the FBI the chance to infiltrate the Mafia. Brasco started working for Ruggiero, placing bets and helping him make collections for the bookmaking operation in Ruggiero's social club.

Ruggiero mentored Brasco and eventually promised to sponsor him for membership in the family. Ruggiero developed a close friendship with Brasco, which caused friction with his old friend Mirra, who had originally introduced Brasco to Ruggiero. Brasco served as best man at Ruggiero's 1977 wedding and frequently advised Ruggiero on handling his son Tommy's heroin addiction.

Ruggiero once nearly discovered Brasco's true identity. Ruggiero and Brasco were in a Miami Beach, Florida restaurant as Ruggiero read a Time magazine containing an article about the infamous Abscam scandal and detailing how FBI agents posed as rich Arab businessmen to catch U.S. Congressmen taking bribes. What caught Ruggiero's eye was a picture of a white yacht that the FBI used to entertain the congressmen. Ruggiero recognized the boat as it was named the Left Hand, as the same boat Brasco provided several months before for a party. Brasco was able to convince Ruggiero that he did not know the boat's owner was related to the FBI.[5]

During an earlier criminal enterprise, Ruggiero met Frank Balistrieri, the Mafia boss of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ruggiero admitted to Pistone that he felt threatened while in the presence of Balistrieri. In 1979, Ruggiero converted his social club into a candy store and gave it to one of his daughters to manage. At the same time, Ruggiero and Brasco started a bookmaking operation out of the store. However, Ruggiero was soon dropped from the partnership because he was unable to provide the initial required investment of $25,000.

In 1979, Bonanno boss Carmine Galante was murdered, creating a power vacuum in the family. After Galante's murder, Philip Rastelli took over, running the organization from prison. However, one faction, led by Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, rebelled at Rastelli's leadership. At this time, Ruggiero joined the crew of Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, a strong Rastelli supporter. On May 5, 1981, Indelicato and two other rebel capos, Philip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera, were lured to a meeting and murdered.[6]

After the deaths of the three capos, the rebellion against Rastelli was squashed. According to Pistone, the murderers were Napolitano, John Cersani, Joe Massino, Sal Vitale, Joseph DeSimone, Gerlando Sciascia, Nicholas Santora, Vito Rizzuto, Louis Giongetti, and Santo Giordano. Ruggiero and Cersani were lookouts and were sent in after to clean up the massacre and dispose of the bodies, along with Napolitano, James Episcopia and Robert Capazzio.

Ruggiero relished life as a mobster. In front of Pistone, he once explained: "As a wiseguy you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, you can kill people – legitimately. You can do any goddamn thing you want and nobody can say anything about it. Who wouldn't want to be a wiseguy?"[5] Ruggiero was the epitome of a wiseguy and had the respect of other mobsters. He had a reputation as a killer but on a daily basis was not prone to violence. Ruggiero had never served time in prison; he had been arrested many times, but never jailed. Ruggiero earned his nickname "Lefty" from tossing dice left-handed while playing craps. He got the nickname "Two Guns" because when he went out on a hit, he liked to use two guns.

By the 1970s, Ruggiero had acquired a gambling dependency. He was betting and losing heavily on horse races. Soon he was borrowing money from Nicholas Marangello to cover losing bets. By 1977, Ruggiero owed Marangello $160,000. The Bonanno family told Ruggiero that he would have to repay Marangello before he could become a made man. By 1977, Ruggiero had paid most of his debt to Marangello and the family accepted his membership. However, by 1978, Ruggiero was back in debt again to Marangello. To settle the debt this time, the family arranged to transfer the revenues from part of Ruggiero's criminal operations directly to Marangello. Due to his gambling problem, Ruggiero was always trying to hide his few assets from his creditors Marangello and Sabella.

On July 26, 1981, the Donnie Brasco operation came to an end.[5] FBI agents visited Napolitano's apartment on top of the Motion Lounge and informed him of Brasco's true identity.[5] After the Bonanno leadership learned the truth, they immediately went after the men who brought Brasco into their midst. Mirra and Napolitano were murdered shortly afterwards.[7][8][9] On August 29, 1981, the FBI intercepted and arrested Ruggiero.[10]

In November 1982, Ruggiero, along with Santora, Antonio Tomasulo, and Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito, was convicted in a six-week jury trial for racketeering conspiracy, and received a 15-year prison sentence.[5][11] Ruggiero refused to believe that Donnie Brasco was a special agent in the FBI and not his associate. Ruggiero told his lawyer "He'll never go against us." However, after Pistone testified against him, he later said, "I'll get that motherfucker Donnie if it's the last thing I do."[5]

In April 1993, suffering from lung and testicular cancer, Ruggiero was released from prison after serving almost 11 years.[3] He died on November 24, 1994.[nb 1]

In the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, Benjamin Ruggiero was portrayed by Al Pacino. Ruggiero's granddaughter Ramona Rizzo appears on the TV show Mob Wives on VH-1.[12]