On this episode of Our American Stories, growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey, Giovanni Rocco was surrounded by mobsters, outlaw bikers, and the kind of street culture that most parents hope their children never experience. He was, in his own words, a pretty "bad" kid. Those same experiences eventually made him one of the FBI's National Covert Operations Unit's most successful undercover operatives, culminating in Operation Charlie Horse.
Author, former undercover investigator, and Mob Museum speaker Giovanni Rocco (aka Giovanni Gatto) shares how he infiltrated the New Jersey Mafia family that inspired The Sopranos, earned the trust of a feared Mafia captain, came within reach of becoming a made man, and paid an enormous personal price to bring the organization down. His book, Giovanni's Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos, tells the remarkable story in full; be sure to check it out.
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