Anthony Mangiaracina

Anthony Mangiaracini, 85, of Boca Raton passed away on Friday, June 19, 2015.

He was born on December 22, 1929. His was the last child of Mr. And Mrs. George Mangiaracina. They were immigrants from Sicily in the early 1900s.

In 1947, he joined the United States Navy. While serving with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, he met, and married his future wife, Yolanda Settegrani. He also more than likely met many who were involved in the smuggling of cigarettes and American dollars. Later, while working out of Rome, Italy these very same people would be available to him as an undercover operative of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

From the United States Navy, Tony joined the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1954, where he became one of America’s top undercover agents - roaming the streets and back allies of New York, meeting with drug dealers of different stripes - Black, Puerto Rican, and Italian Mafiosi.

Tony was then transferred to the Bureau’s main European office in Rome, Italy in 1959. From there he operated undercover in France, Lebanon, Turkey, Germany, Spain and Italy, following leads provided by informants, local police, or those developed on his own.

Prowling the streets and back allies of Paris, LeHavre, Genoa, Naples, Trieste, Venice, Palermo, Sicily, Bremerhaven, and Beirut, Tony experienced many things a tourist will never would.

An accomplished author, Tony wrote and published several novels based on many of his personal experiences while serving with the Navy and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

He died from various physical complications brought on by a massive heart attack he had suffered at the hospice center located in the Boca Raton Regional Hospital on June 19, 2015. He was 85 years old.

He is survived by his wife, Yolanda, his Son, George, his two daughters, Angela and Elizabeth, and his grandchildren, Michael, Bettina, Cassie.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:00 am on Friday, June 26 at St. Jude Catholic Church in Boca Raton.  A committal service with military honors will be held at 11:00 am at the South Florida National Cemetery.

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