Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American biographical crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche also feature in supporting roles. The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 memoir of Joseph D. Pistone. 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.