"A folk hero in law enforcement circles and scorned within the underworld..."
Meet Ed
America has had its share of feared and famous G-Men and mob prosecutors, but at the height of the New York Mafia’s reign over New York City and beyond, arguably none was more successful than Edward McDonald. A folk hero in law enforcement circles and scorned within the underworld, Ed has become a well-known television personality. He is perhaps most recognizable for playing himself in the Oscar-winning blockbuster film GoodFellas.
Ed faced off against the fiercest mob bosses in history. The legal victories he achieved in the courtroom quite literally devastated organized crime and public corruption at their peak. His cases involved many of the most notorious mafia bosses in history, from Carmine and Allie Boy Persico, Joe Massino, John Gotti, and Paul Castellano to the “Yuppie Don,” Michael Franzese. He also prosecuted a U.S. Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey, and five Congressmen, Michael Meyers and Raymond Lederer of Pennsylvania, Frank Thompson of New Jersey, and John Murphy and Mario Biaggi of New York.
Here in the pages of CHASING GOODFELLAS, he takes readers inside two of those real-life investigations and prosecutions. First, he describes the electrifying details of the Lufthansa heist, at the time the largest cash robbery in U.S. history, and the campaign of murder waged in its wake. He then presents the inside scoop on one of the most famous college sports betting scandals in history, the Boston College point-shaving case.
Whether appearing in Goodfellas, being interviewed on Today, CBS Evening News or CNN, or being featured in The New York Times, Ed is a popular personality also known for his frequent appearances in mafia documentaries on A&E, ESPN, History Channel, NBC, Netflix, and more.
Background
Ed was born and raised in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. He attended Our Lady of Angels grammar school and Xaverian High School, and graduated with honors from Boston College and from Georgetown University Law School. He devoted an inordinate amount of his childhood and teenage years to basketball, playing for Xaverian for four years. He had the opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden three times and in the Catholic High School Championship Tournament against the then Lew Alcindor. He also made the freshman squad at Boston College.
Ed has not spent all of his time practicing law. For six years, he was an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School teaching Trial Advocacy. He has lectured at the following law schools: Colombia, Fordham, Hofstra, NYU, New York Law School, St. John's, and Yale. He has also taught a two-week course on American securities law at the University of Debrecen in Hungary.
Life in the Media
After appearing as himself in GoodFellas, as recounted in CHASING GOODFELLAS, Ed became a member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has appeared in the films Kiss of Death, alongside Nicolas Cage, David Caruso, Ving Rhames, and Stanley Tucci, again playing a prosecutor; At the Sinatra Club, playing a Catholic priest with a gambling problem; and in the pilot for a CBS series in the 1990s called Michael Hayes, playing a criminal defense attorney.
He has frequently appeared in television documentaries about his cases and other subjects relating to organized crime and corruption in sports. For his role in GoodFellas, Ed was cited in Film Comment, published by Film Society of Lincoln Center, as giving the third most memorable performance as a person playing himself. He was preceded on the list by the Beatles and the former senator turned actor Fred Thompson. He was followed by Babe Ruth, John Malkovich, and several other celebrities. Check out Ed in the Media!
Other Interests
In 1985, along with his wife Mary and several neighbors, Ed was a founder of the 78th Precinct Youth Council in Park Slope, Brooklyn. For several years, it was the largest youth basketball and baseball program in Brooklyn. Ed coached basketball and baseball for 12 years, including six years with a travel basketball team. Ed also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Xaverian High School, for 15 years.