Publish date: 2023-12-15
Who is Lefty Ruggiero?
Lefty Ruggiero was a member of the Bonanno crime family in the United States. His friendship with and guidance of FBI undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone is well known. The FBI captured and detained Ruggiero on August 29, 1981, after Pistone’s operation came to an end on July 26, 1981.
Lefty Ruggiero bio
Ruggiero was born on April 19, 1926, in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen and raised in Little Italy’s Knickerbocker Village private housing complex. As a young guy, Ruggiero joined the Bonanno family organization and worked as a street soldier for Michael Sabella. Ruggiero quickly achieved success in the loan sharking, extortion, and bookmaking industries.
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Lefty Ruggiero family and wife
In order to avoid any ties to the rest of the family, Benjamin Ruggiero’s estranged brother changed his last name to “Reggero.”
Three daughters and a son were born to Ruggiero and his first wife during their marriage. He separated from his wife in the late 1950s and moved in with Louise, whom he later wed in a private ceremony at New York City Hall in 1977.
Lefty Ruggiero later life
The mafia associate known as “Donnie Brasco” became familiar to Benjamin Ruggiero after he joined the Bonnano Family. He was unaware that Brasco was actually Joseph Pistone, an undercover FBI agent. Brasco had pretended to be a skilled jewel thief in order to enter the mafia world. Brasco was effective in winning over the trust of mafia figures like Anthony Mirra and Ruggiero by pretending to be a robber.
As Ruggiero and Brasco became good friends, the latter started to tutor the former as well, offering Brasco both safety and financial support for his entry into the Bonnano family. Over time, their relationship deepened, and Brasco was Ruggiero’s best man when he married Louise in 1977.
A notable occurrence occurred in Miami, Florida, where Ruggiero was on the verge of learning Brasco’s real identity. While at Miami Beach, the two ran found a TIME magazine. An story with details and images of FBI agents going unnoticed was published.
The yacht depicted in the story was the identical one that Brasco had rented out for a party a few months prior. Brasco, however, avoided capture by persuading Ruggiero that he was unaware that the owner of the boat might be connected to the FBI.
All the while, Ruggiero was still successful as a mobster. Ruggiero transformed his social club into a confectionery shop in 1979 and gave one of his daughters control of it.
Around this time, the Bonnano family experienced a significant power vacuum as a result of the murder of Bonnano chief Carmine Galante. Soon Philip Rastelli, who was incarcerated at the time, took over as the organization’s leader and began managing it from within the prison.
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato’s group, however, organized a mutiny against his rule. Ruggiero made the decision to stick by Rastelli, joining the group of Dominic “Sonny Black” Napolitano, another ardent Rastelli admirer.
After an episode in 1981 where three rebel capos were enticed to a meeting and ultimately executed, the insurrection against Rastelli was eventually put down. According to Joseph Pistone’s accounts, Ruggiero was the person keeping watch while the killings were happening, not a member of the group that actually committed the crimes.
Ruggiero developed a gambling addiction in the 1970s. He used to bet heavily on horse races, frequently losing. He started taking loans from Nicholas Marangello, the underling of the Bonnano family, and by 1977, he owed him up to $160,000.
He paid off the majority of his debt before becoming a “made man,” but he continued to owe Marangello money.
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Arrest, Trial, and Death
The FBI decided to take radical action against Benjamin Ruggiero in August 1981. They first revealed Brasco’s true identity to Ruggiero. Tony Mirra and Sonny Black were assassinated as a result of this revelation.
Ruggiero’s automobile was stopped on August 30 as it was being driven to a meeting at Marangello’s social club. Ruggiero was taken into custody on several charges by FBI agents when they rushed out of their cars and pulled shotguns.
Ruggiero was placed in protective custody following his arrest, and the FBI pushed him to sign up for the government’s Witness Protection Program. Ruggiero, though, meant business when he swore to keep quiet. He attempted to save himself instead of cooperating.
Ruggiero was tried in 1982, found guilty in both New York and Florida, and given a fifteen-year jail term. When Pistone publicly testified against Ruggiero’s misdeeds, he was reportedly able to embrace the truth and swear retribution against him as well.
At first, he could not even comprehend that Pistone was actually a double agent.
Ruggiero was freed from prison in 1992 despite having lung and testicular cancer at the time. Ruggiero, who was 68 years old, died of lung cancer on November 24, 1994.
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