Anthony Mirra - Biography - Operation Donnie Brasco and Death

Operation Donnie Brasco and Death

When Pistone was revealed as an FBI agent, "Sonny Black" Napolitano, "Lefty" Ruggiero, and Mirra were all on the firing line for initially allowing the infiltration. On February 18, 1982, his cousin Joseph D'Amico lured Mirra to a parking garage on North Moore Street and West Street in Lower Manhattan. Mirra, who had just recently been released from prison again, was keeping a low profile and was not meeting with anybody. D'Amico was the only person Mirra trusted.

As Richard Cantarella and his uncle Alfred Embarrato kept watch outside, D'Amico climbed into Mirra's burgundy Mercedes Benz and repeatedly shot him in the head at point blank range. Mirra was discovered hours later by a beat officer from the NYPD, who believed Mirra was a vagrant asleep in his car. Inspecting Mirra's right side revealed a stream of blood draining out of his head and into his jacket. So much blood had pooled inside of his clothing that when the coroner removed Mirra's clothes, his yellow boxer shorts at first appeared red.

Cantarella had been contracted to murder Mirra by Joseph Massino. The hit was in retaliation for the Donnie Brasco infiltration and rumors that he was an informant working for Brasco. After Massino had Napolitano murdered the year before, Mirra went into hiding, fearful he was next. Massino figured Mirra would trust members of his own family, which was why Massino gave Cantarella and Embarrato the assignment. "I was the only one who could get close to him", D'Amico later told investigators.