Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 nonfiction book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley.

[4] The film is based on the true story of Pistone (Depp), an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief from Vero Beach, Florida.

As Donnie moves deeper into the Mafia, he realizes that not only is he crossing the line between federal agent and criminal, but also leading his friend Lefty to an almost certain death.

In 1978 New York City, Lefty Ruggiero, an aging enforcer in the Bonanno crime family, meets Joseph D. Pistone, a young undercover FBI agent posing as jewel thief "Donnie Brasco".

After the boss of the family is killed, Sonny Black is promoted to lead the crew; Lefty resents the decision, believing that his years of service make him more deserving.

When Lefty is called to a meeting with his crew, he puts his valuables away for his wife to find, knowing that he will be killed for letting an FBI agent infiltrate the Bonanno family.

[5][6] DiGiaimo brought it to Levinson's Baltimore Pictures, as well as producers Mark Johnson and Gail Mutrux, who turned to Paul Attanasio to write the script.

The site's critical consensus reads: "A stark, nuanced portrait of life in organized crime, bolstered by strong performances from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.[12] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "a sharp, clever encounter, overturning all manner of genre cliches and viewer expectations... and the best crime movie in a long while, is full of similar surprises as it leads Mr. Pacino and Johnny Depp through a fine-tuned tale of deception.

"[13] Entertainment Weekly called it a "wonderfully dense, clever, and moving gangland thriller", and gave it an A−, also praising Paul Attanasio's screenplay as "a rich, satisfying gumbo of back stabbing, shady business maneuvers, and mayhem".

He wrote that "the film had one of Pacino's best performances", and that Donnie Brasco was rare in depicting "two men who grow to love each other, within the framework of a teacher-student relationship".

[17] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a positive review and said that Donnie Brasco was "a first class Mafia thriller".