I'm not from the USA, but over here I grew up with quite a few guys who turned career criminal later on in their life. Most of them already had family members in the underworld back when they were kids so there were warning signs. Not to stereotype, but within many communities over here getting into organized crime seems to be a trade passed through the male members of a family. Italians, Turks, Kurds, Albanians, Moroccans, Assyrians...or just local Dutch and Belgian people who come from a "Traveller" background or who are involved in an outlaw motorcycle lifestyle...if they got family members in the life, there's a risk of them following in those footsteps. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the families in any of those communities consist of hardworking people.

I've done many legitimate favors for some down the road, like helping some find legit jobs when they got out of the can, helping out with translations and paper work when buying cars across border, etc...
I'm acquainted enough with some of them to know that you always have to keep your wits about you. Professional criminals, no matter which background, can be very easy to get along with, but at the end of the day most of them are prone to violence and care about two things first and foremost: themselves and their money. That's just the way it is.