On this day in 1981 Dominick Napolitano, better known as Sonny Black was killed by order of the mob for allowing an FBI agent to breach Mafia security.

He of course is well known to many through the film Donnie Brasco, in which he allowed FBI Agent Joe Pistone to become an associate in the Bonanno Crime Family during the 1970’s, and nearly getting him made.

The two developed a close friendship during Pistone’s infiltration, and they would often spend a lot of time together during the 6 year spell. It was only when Napolitano ordered Pistone to make his bones by killing Bruno Indelicato that the FBI stepped in and told Napolitano that Pistone was really an FBI agent.

Knowing that his time was up when he was summoned to a meeting in the basement of Ron Filocomo‘s house in Brooklyn, Napolitano decided to start making his plans…

He gave his jewelry to a bartender at the Motion Lounge, along with his keys so his pigeons could be looked after.

The Motion Lounge

Napolitano was then escorted by Bonanno capo Frank Lino and Steven Cannone to the house.

Bonanno capo Frank Lino

He was taken down into the basement and shot with .38 caliber pistols by Filocomo and Lino. However, the first shot misfired to which Napolitano shouted:

“Hit me one more time and make it good!”

Frank Coppa and Frank Lino both ended up turning informants in 2006, and Coppa explained to FBI agents that Napolitano:

“Died like a man”

He was 51 years old.

On this day in 1981, Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano met his end in the basement of a Brooklyn home, paying the ultimate price for one of the most catastrophic security breaches in American Mafia history. A respected capo in the Bonanno Crime Family — one of New York's infamous Five Families — Napolitano had unknowingly allowed an FBI agent to spend six years embedded deep within the organisation, an embarrassment of staggering proportions that the mob could never let go unpunished.

Napolitano had risen through the ranks of the Bonannos to become a powerful and well-regarded figure in Brooklyn's underworld, operating largely out of the Motion Lounge in Greenpoint. It was there that he first encountered a man calling himself Donnie Brasco — in reality, FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone, operating undercover in what would become one of the most remarkable law enforcement operations of the twentieth century. Over the course of six years throughout the 1970s, Pistone so successfully infiltrated the Bonanno family that he came within touching distance of being formally inducted as a made member, something that would have been an unprecedented humiliation for the entire American Mafia.

Napolitano and Pistone developed a genuine closeness during the infiltration, with Sonny Black acting as his sponsor and champion within the family. It was only when Napolitano ordered Pistone to carry out a murder — killing Bruno Indelicato as a means of making his bones — that the FBI intervened and pulled their agent out, revealing Pistone's true identity. For Napolitano, the moment he received that news, he knew his fate was sealed.

Displaying the stoic acceptance of a man who understood the rules he had lived by, Napolitano handed his jewellery and keys to a bartender at the Motion Lounge before leaving, asking that someone look after his beloved pigeons. He was then collected by Bonanno capo Frank Lino and Steven Cannone and driven to the home of Ron Filocomo in Brooklyn. In the basement, he was shot with .38 calibre pistols by Filocomo and Lino. When the first shot misfired, Napolitano reportedly growled, "Hit me one more time and make it good." He was 51 years old.

Frank Coppa, who later turned informant in 2006 alongside Frank Lino, told FBI agents that despite everything, Napolitano had "died like a man." Immortalised in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, in which he was portrayed by Michael Madsen, Sonny Black remains one of the most compelling and tragic figures in modern mob history.