Remember Donnie Brasco? For many, the name instantly brings to mind the Mafia and daring undercover work, thanks in part to the 1997 film of the same name starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
Perhaps less well known are the book behind the movie, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, and the book’s author, former FBI agent Joe Pistone—the real Donnie Brasco. Pistone’s story is one of incredible sacrifice, cunning, courage, and some impressive acting. Now Pistone has returned, partnering with veteran thriller writer Jon Land, to reprise his original role in fiction.
Capitol White, (Audible) releasing in audiobook format, continues the adventure of Donnie Brasco years after the true events behind his story. Brasco, a retired FBI agent, learns of a friend’s death, Paul Weinman, with whom he shared the unbreakable bond that grows between an undercover agent and his longtime handler.
Through a pair of agents still in the game, Brasco discovers Weinman may not have died of a heart attack, as the autopsy implies. Brasco is now on the outside, a position the agents feel will enable him to investigate what may be a conspiracy running all the way to Washington D.C.
Every clue, every careful step of his investigation, brings Brasco and his family closer to a shadowed enemy who kills without a thought. To win justice for Weinman and others, Brasco must return to undercover work and infiltrate the most powerful organization he has yet encountered.
Told from Brasco’s point of view in a first-person narrative style, Capitol White bears the feel of a hardboiled detective story worthy of Raymond Chandler. Whatever the deeper conspiracy, justice for the victim drives our hero. And justice for the murdered Paul Weinman drives Brasco to take increasingly dangerous risks until finally breaking the promise he made to his wife that he would never go undercover again. Engaged by a dive into Brasco’s psyche and past in the preceding pages, readers will feel his pain when duty leaves him no choice but to take this awful step.
Pistone and Land take us inside the mind of both the agent and the man as Brasco walks this tightrope between protecting his family and finding justice. Thanks to Pistone’s unmatched experience, we get an expert look at the investigative process. And thanks to Land’s storytelling skill, the suspense builds to an action-packed bang. A captivating blend of startling facts and explosive fiction, fans of Mafia stories, true crime, murder procedurals, and thrillers will all find something to love in Capitol White.
The audiobook of Capitol White is available for purchase.
About the Authors
Joseph Dominick “Joe” Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco, is a former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family and to a lesser extent the Colombo crime family, two of the Five Families of the Mafia in New York City.
Jon Land is an American author of thriller novels. His books include the Caitlin Strong novels about a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, and the Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea books, about a Palestinian detective and chief inspector of the Israeli police.
