Benjamin Ruggiero

Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero (April 19, 1926-November 24, 1994) was an Italian-American mobster who was a soldier for the Bonnano crime family.

Biography

In 1976, Lefty brought Joseph Pistone, whose undercover alias was Donnie Brasco, into the Bonnano crime family alongside his friend named Anthony Mirra. Anthony and Lefty were Donnie’s mentors, not knowing that his real name was Joseph or that he was secretly an FBI agent rather than a diamond dealer. Much like Anthony and Lefty, Joseph was part of the crew of Sonny Black. Lefty lived in an apartment with his wife and would enjoy watching PBS on the television. He even invited Joseph over to his apartment on several occasions. In 1981, the FBI arrested Lefty while Joseph went into the Witness Protection Program. Lefty was sentenced twenty years in jail but was let out in 1992. He died of lung cancer two years later in 1994.