What originally got you "into" the Mafia

By "into" I mean interested in. For me, it was The Godfather. I wasn't even into the real life Mafia (hadn't even heard of John Gotti) until I joined this board, and after a while I started reading posts in here. Now I am hooked. Even though I still don't have a clue who John Gotti is.

Mick

I've always been interested in true crime. I'd get lots of books from the library on all sorts of criminals, serial killers, arsonists, etc etc, this invariably led me to finding the 'Mafia' section too and once discovered I was hooked and fascinated by the whole trip!! (Those gory photos they showed of the bodies helped to horrify and fascinate too )
When I saw the fliks Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas etc it was the icing on the cake for me ha!!

FH

Definately The Godfather, I did like mob films prior to seeing that such as Goodfellas/Casino. But once I saw The Godfather my perspective on La Cosa Nostra changed forever. I watched it when I was 15 and had a little tiff with my then bird. Then I read the novel and went onto another Puzo book by poor chance that my parents owned. The Sicilian.

Never looked back since.

I'm pretty sure it was The Godfather.

Not only did The Godfather turn me into the Mafia, it also turned me into De Niro, Pacino, Brando movies.

I watched The Godfather, searched the net for some sites with background-info. And I came across this board and registered. After that I checked out "Organized Crime - Real Life" from time to time, and that's how I got "into" the mob.

The Godfather,and my grandpa used to tell me stories when I was younger about it.

for me it started when i saw the movie GoodFellas. followed by The Godfather then became interested in reading books . . .

GoodFella

I became interested after I rented both GF1, and GF2 awhile back. After watching both movies, I became enthralled by the mafia I wanted to know everything I could. I'm talking Names, Dates, Events, Places.

And I thought I knew quite a bit, that is until I came across this BB, and Turnbull in particular.

In the Sixties my father sent me to the corner to buy the New York Daily News. I saw a pretty rough guy on the front page. The headlines read "Valachi Sings". When I got home I asked my dad what the headline meant. He said..."This is the way things are..' He told me what he knew, what many New Yorkers knew; docks, trucks, unions..and through the years we're still learning.

My interest in gangsters started with The Untouchables tv show I guess; My parents would watch it every week and I became interested in it as well. Also I enjoyed some old Cagney and/or Edward G. Robinson movies (and others) when they'd come on tv.

However, GF re-enforced my interest in it to the point where 30 some years later, I actually went on line and joined a gangster BB!! And the rest, as the say is "History"!!!!

TIS

Ain't that the truth. Turnbull is a Walnut Tree in this peanut gallery.

Hey, I'm just one of many (mostly) nice trees that have taken root in this fertile ground.
What got me into the Mafia was the famous Profaci War of 1960-61. As I mentioned in other threads: the NY Daily News ran an unforgettable photo of Larry Gallo (Crazy Joe's older brother) with a big red mark around his neck, after a cop happened by and broke up an attempt to garrot him in the back of a bar on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn. Then (long-defunct) Look magazine had a feature on the Gallos on the mattresses in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The reporter came across a dwarf named Armando (Punchy) Iliano among the Gallo thugs on the mattresses. He asked Crazy Joe what Punchy was doing there. "He's our dwarf," said Larry, as if to say, "Doesn't your employer have a dwarf? Doesn't everyone?" I was hooked after that.

There are many elements that led me too my interest in the mob. Here are some that I will list

A. I am sure that many people are Familiar with Mobs in MARVEL Superheroes. One such man is the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk. A Spiderman (and DareDevil) villain. The Kingpin commands all the east coast Mobs. There is a sicilian gangster named Silvermane, who commands his own family. Both men are major enemies of eachother and spiderman.

B. Another element that got me into the Mafia was this. My favorite superhero from Hell:Spawn. Spawn began whacking Mob hit men in the dark alleyways of NYC. Mafia Don, Tony Twist, the boss of bosses in New York state, sent another batch of assassins to find out who killed them. When they began killing the Alleys homeless people in an attempt to find the perpetrator, Spawn intervenes making the hitmen where the heads backwords and neutralizing their bones. Tony twist was fed up with this that he called his connection with the Sicilian Mafia. The sicilian Mafia responded by sending their hulking murder machine named Overkill. Overkill is a half Human/Cyborg. Tony Explains to Overkill about his situation and promises to pay Overkill top dollar. Overkill finds Spawn in the Alleys and a battle goes on. Spawn not only has to fight Overkill but protect the Homeless who may be caught in the middle. Overkill has the abilities to shoot missle from his arms as well as firing a machine gun from his stomach. When Overkill shot Spawn does some damage to Overkill's circuits which ticked off the hulking monster. Overkill Shoot 6 missles at one and Spawn is weakened by the fray with 1 step getting closer to hell. Instead of using his hell born-powers to destroy Overkill he decides to use Military weapons. He breaks into a facility and steals some. He finds Overkill and uses the guns. Overkill is reduced to metal scrapes and tattered flesh. Spawn warns Tony Twist to stay out of the Alleys. Now that Overkill is destroyed Tony has to answer to the Sicilian Mafia

My family's history.

I have always had a thing for Mafia movies. They are like none other.

i got into it by watching real documentaries of the history of organized crime from lucky luciano to al capone to john gotti (just a few of my favorites)

In 1964, when I was 15, I made a bet with the counterman in a bowling alley where I hung out (note to TB & SC: Kenmore Lanes, Church & Flatbush) that Cassius Clay would beat Sonny Liston. I got 7-1 odds from the guy, and won $35. That was a fair sum back then, and this guy wanted a chance to win his money back, so he invited me to play poker with him and his "friends" in a game above a garage (Snyder Ave or maybe Parkside Ave, definitely between Bedford & Rogers Aves.).

The place turned out to be a mob run poker club (not an "executive" game, tho), and the guy running it didn't have any scruples about letting a 15 year old play. Turned out to be a good place to hang out when cutting school (Erasmus), and since I played a decent game of poker even at the tender age of 15, I was able to while away many pleasant afternoons there.

The characters I met there, you wouldn't believe. Presumably the guy running it was at least an associate, and I could tell by the deference shown a couple of the players that they were made guys. I've been fascinated ever since.

Godfather...that did it for me

Then it was Goodfella's...

Then it was Scarface...

Then it was Road to Perdition...

Then I found this place!! I'm only 16, but thanks to you guy, I now more about the Mafia/Mob life/Orgnized Crime than my Social Studies/History Teacher!! (who claims to know all on these subjects.) Thanks again for all the info.


-Ethereal

Great story, plawrence! But you didn't say how you made out in that game...
--Turnbull (veteran of Nevins Lanes, where they still used human pinspotters)

I remember definitely winning that first time. Even back in the early stages of my poker career I tended to be careful against players I didn't know, and the competition was rather weak. And for a 15 year old, I think I played a fairly strong game.

I spent many summers at a bungalow colony back then, where the main activity among the men was card playing. All the husbands would arrive from the city on Friday night, and after dinner a poker game would start that, with different people coming and going, would last until late Sunday. While other kids were on the ballfield or at the swimming pool, I was busy watching seven card stud and gin rummy. And there were some good players there. The same guys were consistent winners, and I learned a lot from watching them.

The last summer there, I was a junior counselor in the day camp, and at the end of the season there was a counselor's poker game, with everyone playing with their tip money. I pretty much cleaned everybody out. I remember when the game was over, I had about $300, and wanted to play in the "big" game with the men, but of course they wouldn't let me.

How did I get "in"? Well I always wanted to see the Untouchables, but I live in the UK and I had to wait about 30 years. (When the shows arrived I discovered they were about the FBI not gangsters!)

I'm a Fraud Office by profession, and thus have an interest in crime, but mainly I love Italy and everything (yes, EVERYTHING) about it. I'm also a military historian and a big fan of Pacino.

Sooo, take a bit of Italy, a touch of violence, mix it with Organised crime and, Bada Beep, Bada Boop I was in.

"My whole life all I ever wanted to be was a gangster" - quote from where?

Probably the fact that my grandpa and uncle were great friends with Anthony Spilotro (Joe Pesci portrayed him under a new name, Nicky Santoro, for Scorsese's Casino). My Grandpa has pictures of him and everything, and says aside from his business, he was a really good guy. Unfortunately, he got buried alive in an Indiana cornfield in the mid 80s.

After my Grandpa told me about all this, I really started getting into mob movies and viewed The Godfather Trilogy (I'd seen them before, but I was too small to remember) and then proceeded to view all the other great mobster movies (GoodFellas, Scarface, The Untouchables, Casino). Now I love em all! And coming from a Sicilian family makes me appreciate them more, I guess.

Cool story P. Lawrence!!! Where you ever fearful at any time? Were any of these "made" members intimidating at all? Do you remember any of their names?

TIS

We're talking almost 40 years ago. I'm lucky I even remember the story.

But there was this one guy, Sal, who worked there and took care of the fish tank. I swear.

P. Lawrence,

I didn't mean to imply that this is just a " story "! (as in made up). You italicized it so, I didn't know if you took it the wrong way!

Anyway....just to clarify!


TIS

It was definitely the Godfather. I don't think I would have had any interest at all if it weren't for the Godfather. I first saw the films shortly after Part III came out. I actually had become a huge Andy Garcia fan, and someone suggested I go rent Part III. Then I rented Part II and Part I (in that order!!) and I was hooked, mesmerized. I started reading non-fiction on the mafia and renting other Al Pacino films and a few mob movies also. I'm not quite as interested as I was 10 years ago, but it still a very interesting part of history to me....

I got into Mafias because when I was 11 this nice guy that would always give me 5 dollars to go to the candy store and buy candy got shot point blank in the face with a gun while he was in his car. I was playing basketball and he was driving in the car with his girlfriend and this guy ran up with a bandana around his gun and shot him in the face twice and ran. I asked his brother why it happend and he said "He messed with the wrong people" and then in the news paper it said he had Mafia Connections and he stole a motorcycle from this one mobster and gave it to this other mobster and one of the mobsters friends found out who stole the bike. I was tramatized for a year and then I watched Goodfellas and then it led from there.

I guess I've always had this unconscious love for the mafia, when I played GTA3 for the first time I really loved the part where you work for the Mafia, and when a mafia film once came on, don't know what it was, I enjoyed it. When I heard that the tapes labelled 'The Godfather' that I had observed on my living room shelf since I was 4, and could read, were great films about a mafia family, I decided to watch them.
Bing!

The Godfather & Grand Theft Auto. Also, I like history starting mainly post 1865 so...

Definitely The Godfather. One weekend when I was 16, my mother and brother had gone to a soccer tournament, so I was home with my dad, and he said, "Why don't we go rent a movie?" One of my closest friends is really into the Mafia, and was always telling me how wonderful The Godfather is. So I told my dad, "well, I've never seen the Godfather." His response was "Really?!?!" So we rented GFI and GFII, and about a week later, GFIII. I was completely hooked. So I went to the library and started checking out books on the Mafia, and one day when I was bored, I ended up here. And it continues to feed my obsession!

A close friend of mine's uncle joined us on a drinking binge in Ft. Lauderdale and shared some insane stories about his "alleged" connections. You know how some people make shit up when their drunk; I dont know if any of it was true, but it was the most entertaining collection of stories I've ever heard. Been hooked ever since.

Goodfellas,I probbaly saw that movie 30 times before I saw The Godfather once.

The Godfather 1&2, and the library books i've read on organized crime.

i started playing games like GTA:3 and Vice City and all of that kinda got me into crime and stuff. so i had seen Scarface before but i wasnt really paying attention (it was my friends and i, we were mostly just talking). so i rented Scarface and i loved it after watching it alone and paying attention. so i rented The Godfather and i loved that also and thats about it.

i had heard about these great movies, that were classics so i decided to rent them and watch them. first i saw goodfellas, then scarface, and then the godfather. after that i was hooked and wanted to learn everything about the mafia. i watched more movies like donnie brasco, casino, gotti and more. then i found this site and learned even more. then i started getting into mafia books. i don't know what it was but the mafia just interested me so much, i guess it was the fact that people actually lived a life of crime that fascinated me. especially after i saw goodfellas i was like "wow i can't believe this is a true story!"

Scarface. I watched it and was impressed! That's what hooked me. Then, I read Omerta and got into the Godfather and that showed me the Italian mob and then from then on, anything about the mafia and organized crime has got my full attention! This 'phase' has lasted about a year!

For me .... it was Al Pacino I had always seen the Godfather films. My Father had them on all the time. But I never paid close attention to it, that is until three years ago my dad had it on again and I saw Al Pacino !And then a year after that I realized that over half my family is involved so then I got serious about it. But at first it was all about the Pacino.

GTA: Vice City

For me, it must have been Scarface... I played lots of GTA before, but never got really involved... After i saw Scarface i started wtching them others big gangster films

I myself have always been interested in high crime. Not the pathetic little shootings that happen on the street. The mafia has always been a true source of crime, passion, loyalty, and honor; a mix that you can find no where else in the world of crime. Fictionally, the Godfather really got me hooked. I also found the auto-bio of Bill Bonnano--the model for Micheal, and although I havent had a chance to read it, im sure that it will give me a great insight into the world of the Mafia.

That's easy - growing up Italian !

Well, I as many Saw The Godfahter and Was HOOKED!

Its my Coffie

scarface. what a movie. that's why i didn't like the godfather as much. it didn't have as much action and swearing.

um its kind of embarrising because a soap opera got me into it. my mom watches this soap opera called general hospitle.she told me there was this guy who was a mobster(get the name:sonny carenthos) on it so i started watching it. apperentally its just known that he's a mobster, he never proves it. So i went in search of some more violent mobsters,heard about the godfather,researched al capone and it got me where i am today.

First i got into gangster movies like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Then started watching Casino and Goodfellas. After that I saw the first 2 godfathers and that did the job for me. I still havent seen the third one though, apparently its not all its cracked up to be........

Haha, look at that post up there. That was my first one! I was reading some of my oldest posts for the hell of it and I came upon this one. I am usually against bumping threads, but this one was really interesting to me and we have a lot of new members.

Goodfellas

At first, I was totally uninterested in the Mafia, and anything that had to do with it. I then decided to take Criminal Justice classes in college, and we had to do a section on the mafia, the begining of a lack thereof. That's when I started getting more interested in it.

I had always been pretty interested in crime, never petty stuff or "gangsta garbage" butorganized crim and corruption. And yes, I knew of the mafia and knew a little abou it. But it wasn't until I saw the Godfather that I was a mafia fanatic. When I am into something, I have to find every little bit of info there is, and thats why Ive joined this BB.

The Godfather also made me realize Al Pacino, the greatest actor Ive ever seen on screen. I am a struggling actor and Pacino has really inspired me to work hard. Of course The Godfather is home to many other wonderful actors, Brando, Cazale, Keaton, De Niro, and many others.

My Italian family is also very, mafia-ish, though they are legit people, the opening wedding scene in GF is a perfect representation of my family, of course without the FBI checking license plates.

The Godfather films introduced me to the mafia and now I'm always interested in reading any information I can get on the mob.

what got me hook on the mafia was the Godfather after that I start finding books about the mob wacthing t.v. about the history of the mob then finding movies on crimes.

The godfather
Goodfellas
Mafia the game
books about the new york mafia

I don't remember how it happened but I believe this is it...
My pop's was watching the godfather (this ws probably 10 years ago) and I was mocking the dialogue with my little bro and sis. We'd play Mafia games (it was better thn cops and robbers) and as I got older I was fasinated. True Story. So it was The Godfather...

I can't really recall an exact moment when I got interested in th Mafia. I remember, a couple years ago, I was always on crimelibrary.com, reading stories on serial killers and outlaws. Then I saw a picture of this guy, in a white fedora, who looked strangely familiar. I clicked it, and it was the biography on Al Capone. I read it, and found it vaguely interesting. I remembered some of the names mentioned in the story, and I did some research on them. Now my grandfather had always had the Godfather videotapes, and I always asked him what it was about, and he'd tell me not to worry about, its not something I would like. Well years later, I kept asking my mom and dad to buy me the DVD boxset of The Godfather films, but they told me they weren't gonna spend $120 on something that I probably won't like. Now you have to understand, up to this point, I hadn't seen them, but I knew that they had to do with the Mafia. So one day, I was at my aunt's house, and we went out to rent some movies, and I asked her if we could rent The Godfather, cuz I had never seen it, and I heard how good it was. Well it was her favorite movie, so we rented it, and I watched it. I was completely mesmerized. Marlon Brando completely floored me as Don Vito Corleone, Pacino, Duvall, Cazale, and Jimmy Caan had a similar impact on me. From there, I was completely hooked. Since then, I've seen every Brando film I can find, I've seen Goodfellas, Casino, etc. I've read The Godfather Legacy, every Puzo book, I've got a book called American Mafia, I've read Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, and so many more. And I've read every story there is to read on crimelibrary.com about the Mob. It's a very fascinating topic, and while not the ideal lifestyle, you gotta admit, there's something about mobsters that makes you wanna be one.

...location, location, location...

tony b.

What got me into it was me being italian. My father used to tell me storys about LaCosa Nostra.
Then i started going to the library and readin g books about it. Then watching the movies just help cement it all.

well my my grandmothers family(i am 4th generation italian) and my grandmother spoke of the "Black Hand" which it was what the italians called the mafia in italy. I heard about it then wacthed goodfellas then read WiseGuy and so on.....

probably the fact that a family friend is italian who came over from italy and being around him and his family learning of italy's hsitory including the mafia which was the most interesting then having the godfather part 2 on tape and part 1 on dvd helps

One word, Goodfellas. Had me by the balls ever since...

I was watching a movie called little Little Nicky, and it had a scene from scarface in it. It looked really cool so i rented it out and i loved it. Then I got into gangsters and stuff, then my grandma told me about The Godfather. I watched that and got into the Mafia.

I went to see The Godfather as a kid. We took my grandfather for his birthday to dinner and then the opening of The Godfather in Manhaten. Back in those days it was a treat to go to manhatten for a dinner and the opening of a movie. The Godfather was my grandfathers favorite book at that time so when the movie came out my family, including myself, took him to see it. I fell in love with the movie and then read the book. After that the rest was history as I started to read all kinds of gangster books.


Turnbull,

I met Armando aka punchy as a young teenager. What a character that I will never forget! At least with us he was a very funny guy who made everyone around him laugh and have a great time. My father was a Vice President of a Teamster Union Local, and my aunts husband was from President street. They both did some business together and we used to go to the fights ( boxing matches ) with Albert " Kid Blast " Gallo and many times Armando used to accompany Albert to the fights with us. Unfortunately I never got to see the infamous " Lion " that they used to keep in the basement.


Don Cardi

Scarface is not about the mafia

Scarface is not about the mafia [/b][/quote]Don Vincent,

He was not saying that Scarface was about the Mafia. He was just saying that he didn't like The Godfather as much as Scarface. Not that I agree with him, but he is entitled to his opinion. Oh jeez, what am I doing sticking up for one of Patrick's posts? PATRICK: Don't take this post the wrong way. Just because I have come to your defense on this one DOES NOT mean that I won't continue fueding with you on your other views!


Don Cardi

President Street in Brooklyn?

I grew up around there. Crown Street between Bedford and Rogers. Right around the corner from Ebbets Field.

President Street in Brooklyn?

I grew up around there. Crown Street between Bedford and Rogers. Right around the corner from Ebbets Field. [/b][/quote]Plawrence,

I am talking in the area of President & Columbia St. Van Brunt St. area.I believe that you are speaking more towards what is now know as the east new york area. Am I correct?


Don Cardi

I was hooked after hearing my family talking about one of my relatives (still trying to track down which one) had connections and was killed for "looking mean" (long story) but since then I was hooked and have been reading/watching everything I can about the mafia.

Yeah, the area I grew up in is Crown Heights, just west of East New York. That's where Turnbull grew up, BTW.

But President Street continues on the other side of Prospect Park, all the way down to the water.

I should have known when you mentioned it....that side was all Italian. The Crown Heights side was all Jewish

I bet Frank Vincent knew which side of the park you came from :p

Good one.

He's originally from Jersey City, I believe.

And if I keep going to that restaurant that we went to that time, I know I'm gonna run into him again some day.

Another little known Frank Vincent fact:

According to his website, he started out in a comedy team with Joe Pesci.

Being from a sicilian family, my father owns like every dvd movie that features an italian actor, and I was attracted to films like godfather 1 and 2, (GF 3 ) and goodfellas, got into the Sopranos as well.

Very nicely put. Thats the funniest "putdown" on Part III that I've ever seen.

This is my very first post, be nice to me im a rookie..
Believe it or not, i got interisted in organized crime because of...well, my church.
In the mid 80's my church got a new pastor, he was a former member of the Columbo family in New York who had been adopted by Joe Columbo upon the death of his natural father.
Aint that sumthin..lol church got me hooked
DB out

Mine's a little weird. When I was young, like seven or eight, we had this poker game for DOS where if you ran out of money, you could borrow some from a guy named "Guido the loan shark." I asked my dad what a loan shark was, and then I was hooked.

Goodfellas helped a lot too.

The Simpsons got me hooked. The character Fat Tony is great.

Believe it or not, it was a book called American Pharaoh. It's about Chicago's previous Mayor Daley. (The current Mayor Daley - or "da Mare" - is his son) The book eluded slightly to mob ties, but didn't go into them very much. I was very much in a civic pride frame of mind and reading as many books about Chicago as I could. Then I read the book "The Outfit" by Gus Russo. From there I just went nuts with it.

"Hizzoner Da Mare uh duh fine city uh Chicagah."

Gus Russo's book is exceptional. Captive City by Ovid Demaris is another good look at the outfit in Chicago during the late '50's and early '60's. Robert Cooley's book, When Corruption Was King, detailed the mob's control of the criminal court system in the '80's.

Welcome to the boards!

tony b.

Well..after I figured out a couple years ago that my family is Mafia lol...I really wanted to know more about it.

When I was 7 I saw 'Goodfellas' on fox.
Im 15 now, and have been hooked for the past 8 years

I always liked the GF movies but they just never seemed like a reflection on the mafia. The movie Goodfellas made me wunna be a gangster and I still do wunna be a gansgter but I can never be made cuz I'm half Irish.

Plaw, if you see him there, are you going to tell him to go home and get his shine box?


Don Cardi

Tom -

Funny that you should say that. I recently read an interview with Joe Piston aka Donnie Brasco, and he boldly stated that Goodfellas was the best and most realistic portrayal of how Mob life really was!

Don Cardi

I was at a friends house and we where fliping there the channels and we came across The Godfather. It was the sence where Michael asks for permission to date the mans daughter, just from that sence i went out and bought the movie and now i cant stop thinking about every topic coverd in that movie and book

The Godfather.

If im not mistaken Henry Hill is Half Irish,he could never be "made" though

Join The North Siders, of Chicago.

^^^ Still not the mafia

For me it was The Godfather and other mafia movies. And I'm addicted to True Crime books. Then my friend told me about this site, and I've been hanging out here ever since then.

Reading THE GODFATHER. Then watching The Godfather films, then going on JGeoff's Godfather site, and finding out about Gangster BB...

Seems to be the stock answer but it was the Godfather for me too..
When i was about 10 i noticed it was on & asked my old man if i could watch it. He said no cos it was too violent.
How is it violent? i asked with youthful curiosity! What's it about? i also asked...
I swear my Father looked over his shoulder (we were in our lounge at the time) & whispered "The Mafia!"
Whats the Mafia? i whispered back to him.
A secret society he whispered back.
The intrigue was too much for me to bear. I managed to persuade him to let me watch it & needless to say i was hooked.
Thanks Pops

It would have to be The Godfather for me aswell. I'm new to the whole thing as I have just not long seen the films. But for me I think Goodfellas made me want to find out more about the real mafia. The message board has also made me more interested as you hear other people views. I just finished watching the 1st series of The Soprano's aswell. Its good.

when i was in Italy at the age of ten, cause we got these mob guys that live across the street from us in Italy and i remember going to there house for dinner and they had so much cool shit, and im like i wanna be in the mafia,

When I was a little boy...way back when...my great uncle had died. I was maybe about 11. I was always really close to him, but it seemed to be just another old guy dieing, until I found his name in the newspaper. I remember the exact words "Reputed mobster found dead in trunk of car..." Now, at 11, I knew what a mobster was but knew NOTHING about the Mafia. So, to clear things up, I asked my mother. It was then that I learned that my uncle was a made man in the Mafia.

Now, the Mafia is not something to be proud of, but is something to get excited about when you find that your loveable uncle killed people on a regular basis. Well, from there, I would go on-line juist to find out a little more about the Patriarca Family (seeing as how I live in Rhode Island). Well, from there, my fasination grew to all corners of the Mafia.

Then, there was the time, my mom dated a gangster. When I was very little, my parents divorced and I stayed with my mother. Every now and then, my mother would get involved with people, but there were only the exceptional few that she thought were good enough for me to meet. Well, when I was 13, my mother thought that she had found the man of her dreams. And, I can genuinely say that he was a really good guy.

As far as I know, he was really good to me and my mother and he really seemed like a great guy. Then, he was arrested under RICO charges. In that second, my mother broke up with him. Now, by now, I had learned a lot about the Mafia and I wondered if it was that easy just to ditch a mobster, but then my mother said something that sparked my curiosity. Something I'll never forget, she said "Honey, I don't ever want you to grow up to be a guy like that, but, trust me, we got a few more Uncle Nicky's (the earlier mentioned deceased great uncle)." Then she winked at me and smiled. And it was right then and their, that I knew that my family was deeper in the Mafia then I ever thought. Since then, I have learned a lot more about the Mafia, and about my family. While I am not exactly oober proud of it, c'mon its pretty cool to be on the good side of some well known badasses.

The Godfather I.

Scarface, which isnt really a mafia movie, but one thing eventually lead to the other.

My interest in gangsters started by watching The Godfather PART I....

I was probably about 5 or 6 when I found some book or magazine that my father had. (Snooping where I shouldn't have been, of course...I'm curious by nature, what can I say???) Anyway, I remember seeing pictures of people that were just absolutely riddled with bullet holes. I remember seeing pics of Capone, Dutch Schultz, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Of course, I didn't find out for a few years exactly who these guys really were...I just knew they wore cool hats and looked a bit on the dangerous side. Even then I had a thing for bad boys. heheheh. Then I saw The Godfather. Pacino, Caan and Brando...who could resist that??? The whole thing grew into a nearly rabid fascination with the mob and true crime in general. Just got a new book, actually. It's Bill Bonanno's autobiography. Pretty good so far.

I got interested first when my father told me that he lived on top of a Mafia club in East Boston and how he told me stories about my Great Uncle who was a bookie for the Mob. (all true)

I got "into" the Mafia because they eat good food, drink plenty of wine and make a lot of money. Who wouldn't want that life?

First watching GF.
Then coming to this BB.
Finding out my knowledge is nothing compared to Turnbull.
Trying to know as much as Turnbull.
Still doing that.

And having the person drinking wine right next to you kill you on order. Yeah, I would LOVE that life... :rolleyes:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=irony

I think I watched movies like Godfellas and The Godfather and Casino and I just thought they were cool and then I read a the book "Mafia Dynasty" and after that I was completly hooked



Joe Batters

After reading the Vinny Teresa book,i read it more than 20 years ago,and after reading it,i really got into it.Later on,i watched the GF movies,and read some more books:Wiseguy,Donnie Brasco,etc,now i have a real nice mob book collection,documentaries,and dvd's,and try to follow as much as possible on the NY mafia as possible...

And having the person drinking wine right next to you kill you on order. Yeah, I would LOVE that life... :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]why not? He is just honest

I got "into" the mafia by intersting for joing the real mafia and so I found this acceptable unique board.
and also Scarface; the 2nd Movie directed by Brian DePalma. Is not really a mafia-movie (i know, but it's nice, though)

From when I was a little guy, always wanted to be a freaking tough guy... Always loved the power and these feeling grew stronger when I was told my grandfather (Killed in 1982) was connected to the mob, off cors my family isnt connected to it but someone told me, and I felt like if my destiny was alredy writen... I still young, and truly sometimes I feel desires for being a capo, anyway im planning to be a good guy and dont get mixed with the real mafia.

I was into mafia from the point that John Gotti asked me whether I could be his Consiglieri or not.....

What was your answer??

Was that Jr. or Sr. who asked you?


Don Cardi

I told him that position was too low for me. I only wanted to be Don...he respected that and made me the new boss....it was Sr. btw....

And how many years are you serving now?

Don Cardi

I'm serving for around 15 years now. But the last five years I was promoted to capo di tutti capi of the Commission. But that was very boring....I still thought that was too low for me...so now I'm acting as GOD....ruling the world a bit....that's very funny to do...

What's the deal with that hospital burning down? All the lunatics have escaped somehow!

From growing up in my neighborhood. There were a lot of wiseguys around, I always heard about what these guys did, then I would be over their house playing with my friends. Then the bombing wars broke out and it all got crazy.

Alphonse