FBI Vault, Operation Donnie Brasco, Part 01, viewer pp. 325-327 (August 1981)
A New York teletype reporting the FBI's interview of Benjamin Ruggiero on August 4, 1981. It says he "confirmed his association with UCA for the past six or seven years" and declined to call the FBI.
- Date
- 1981-08
- Kind
- case-file
- Source
- FBI Records: The Vault
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Rights
- A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The page image of viewer page 326 is stored here; the full scans are at the Vault URL.
Viewer pages 325 to 327 of Part 01 of the FBI Vault’s “Operation Donnie Brasco” file. It is a priority teletype in August 1981 from New York (183A-2515) to the Director, with copies to Brooklyn-Queens and to Tampa, “Attn: COLDWATER.” It refers to a New York teletype to the Bureau of July 31, 1981. Much of the text is redacted.
“Benjamin Ruggiero was interviewed at New York on August 4, 1981.” The agents showed him photographs, pointed out people “by undercover names only,” and told him that prosecution would eventually follow. Page 326 reads, from the page image: “Ruggiero was informed that his LCN associates would abandon him as the investigation progressed since he was the link to FBI UCA’s and therefore a district liability. Ruggiero confirmed his association with UCA [redacted] for the past six or seven years.” He “requested business cards from the interviewing SAs but declined to call the FBI.” Asked about the date in May “when Indelicato, et al, were killed,” he said, as the FBI recorded it, “What happened in May, I don’t known [sic] what you’re talking about.”
Page 327 says (correcting the text layer’s “Rusgiero”) that “within one hour of the interview, Ruggiero was en route to the Motion Lounge. The lounge was closed.” Ruggiero’s words here are as the FBI reported them. They are not testimony and not a finding.
