I know at the end of the day they're thugs and killers, but do you think that there's a good side? Like Joey Merlino? I know what he's capable of, but I can still see his good side. Even the rat Michael Franzese. Gravano on the other hand I don't see many redeemable qualities.

Most thugs have a good side, but the bad kinda outweighs everything usually

I guess it depends. Like you said at the end of they day they’re criminals. Different personalities, some are more violent than the others. Franzese for example whether he was a rat you can make a case for either side but doesn’t seem like a horrible person. Obviously not a saint but compare to a lot of these other ruthless guys. Gravano we know was and always will be a scumbag that’s common knowledge. Like I said this genre interests me but I don’t respect these guys at all. I can tolerate some more than others.

Gus Alex's older brother Sam "RIP" Alex was a hitman and messenger for the Outfit for many decades but he also had a soft side.

Sam Alex owned a huge farm in Cassopolis, Michigan; which was taken care of by two couples, one Greek and one German who also lived on the huge property. The farm even had its own private lake. Sam lived under different name known as Sam Taylor or Herbert Taylor. Sam’s neighbors did not know who he really was because he never directly engaged in any type of criminal activity and has never been arrested over there. He was highly regarded in the community and had a very good reputation. Sam lived quietly with his wife and they had no children but that was no reason for them not to love the other children from around the neighborhood. With the huge desire for one day to have their own, Sam and his wife have done wonderful things for the kids in the neighborhood. For example, at Christmas time the couple had a practice of leaving huge boxes of toys at the doorsteps, “anonymously”, and when there was snow, Sam had the practice of hitching a sled to his tractor and taking children for rides around the school field. They also gave money to many troubled families from around the area and also paid for many medical interventions.

Sure, I think everyone has a good side or at least is good to those of that he holds in esteem, value, or love. It’s that the “other” side usually is more prevalent or that they engage in that’s the moral conundrum.

I can talk from my experience, i have met a few people that are involved in organized crime here, they have fucked up lives mostly, no parents or extremely bad relationship with parents, bad financial situation whole life, most of them started life of crime in their teens already.

But of course they have a good side, like everyone have a bad side and a good side, some of them are bad people , some are not , its like every other corporation and people working in them.

It's almost impossible not to bump into criminals here when you go out for example, just don't get involved lol.

Diamond Joe Esposito did stuff like any political Mafia boss from the old days because no child from around the West Side area was born or christened without receiving a gift from him personally. No wedding, no funeral, no street or church festival was complete without the presence of Esposito. On Christmas day no one was hungry, for in Esposito's famous Bella Napoli Café there were mountains of spaghetti and tons of hot bread which was all given for free. On Thanksgiving, Esposito and the rest of the gang passed more than 3000 turkeys to the poor Italian people around the Patch, which was one of the poorest areas on Chicago’s West Side at the time. Esposito sometimes even ordered for his guys to get dressed as Santa Claus and give presents to the poor children around the neighbourhood. Imagine guys like Ricca or Mops Volpe being dressed as Santa lol lol

Same here, it's literally impossible not to know people who are involved, it's not like we drink coffee everyday , but we meet and talk from time to time. Most of them are not killers , i am talking about people here, they will beat you up but most of them never killed anyone, there are guys who do that but they are minority.