I was asked a question today, a question which I would have thought was easy enough for me to answer, but in fact had me pondering for almost the entire afternoon, so much so that I felt necessary to ask you all, my associates, the same question.

After various discussions this week with work colleagues about our interests I advised them that I had a fascination and interest in the Italian-American Mafia, in particular the five New York families. When asked why I found this subject so fascinating I wasn't able to give a difinative answer, just simply that it interested me for some reason.

So I ask this, what is it that we all find so fascinating about the Mafia? In reality the many men we discuss on these and various other forums are not to be admired nor glamourised, and I'm not suggesting thats what we're doing, but it has stumped me as to exactly what it is that I enjoy so much about reading and learning about the Mafia.

What is the attraction?

Maybe it's like looking at a fatal car crash. It's ugly but you can't look away...

If you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

This is a good topic. I admit I watch all the mob docs, read the books, and like to discuss with everyone here yet i am disgusted by these type of people since they murder and steal from innocent people. Im italian so maybe my attraction to the mafia deals with that too but its a hard to describe why the attraction. maybe because the lifestyle is so much different than our normal lives

I tried to figure it out by thinking about what else I read, and the only common denominator for me was I just do not read about "inspiring" people.

Besides the Mafia, I find the people I read about are:

Despots: (Hitler, Mussolini, Nicholas II, L. Ron Hubbard)
and failures: (Nancy Spungen, Mary Queen of Scots, Nicholas II again, and everyone involved in the publication of the Hitler Diaries)

I guess I can see the overlap with organized crime.

Thats right,agree.

Building on this approach, I can see the mob and OC in general as an extension of sociology and, to a degree, history. Im interested in all sorts of crime, and the mob being so structured and entrenched makes a fascinating example.

For me it's because it is so alien. These are some weird fucking people, you know? Cutting fingers and burning pictures of saints, killing other human beings for not especially large sums of money, etc etc. I've always been into weird shit and this interest in the mafia is just another instance of that.

Anyway that's my reason, carry on...

I think i'd have to agree with you Ivan. The life is so different to that of the everyday man, it fascinates me to think that there are people that extort, steal and kill as a profession. Also it amazes me the actual criminal activity that they are involved in, it's not just your standard smash and grab robberies but also some intelligent schemes, albeit mostly enforced still with violence.
Whereas the underworld on my side of the pond (London) is seemingly a dirtier, grittier means, La Costra Nostra is almost admirable because of the family structure and professionalisum, shown in the way the Commission was set up etc.

I think that the attraction(for me) is the robin hood sindrom,i dont think its an alien feeling because you can find organized crime almost(it depends on the country)every where and in any time,for exemple my friends grandfather who was working as a window fixer in the 1940's used to send his little son to break all the windows in the small town so later he could fix them,other ppl grandfathers used to be loansharks...so my point is organized crime in the world is a natural fenomenom,in the old days the "criminals" used to help a lot of ppl who didnt want fake justice given to them by the law,but its named crime by the states because they want tottal control!So i think that its nothin worng to be interested in organized crime...but its hard to defend todays criminals and drug lords

This is a good comparison. I've always been interested in history, particulary politics and wars, and I'm also fascinated by predatory animals. I guess there's an overlap too.

The difference between you and me on this matter is however, that I do love reading about inspiring people. Fanboyism that it may sound, The Godfather films are inspiring for me. And these films also triggered my interest in organized crime.

I'd have to confess I do have a certain admiration for the Mafia figures, of course I don't condone their actions, especially when innocent members of the public become involved. I think it's difficult not to admire, or envy, people of power regardless of how they achieve it.

Plus it is part of human nature to have a fascination with the unknown, the secrecy surrounding the Mafia world will always naturally interest people...Perhaps it just interests all of us alot more than everyone else.

Another aspect that draws me are the unofficial layers of power that the mob has influenced over the decades in so many different spheres. The rest of you guys are pretty dead on as well, though.

Same here. That is the most intriguing part of all.

Very good thread with some great responses.

Most of the "attraction" for me came as a kid hearing stories that were just plain exciting! Stories about card games and floating crap games that were "protected" by guys with machine guns....stories like a guy who owned a liquor store in Harlem who died. He owed the Mob $250,000 (and this was back in the 1950s) so the dead guy's wife had to operate the store (to pay the wiseguys back). She was afraid to do so, especially when the neighborhood started to go bad. The wiseguys sent two of their own, armed, to sit in the back of the store. They were just waiting for someone to try to rob the store. Hearing stories about the crooked cops left a bad taste in my mouth.... they were SUPPOSED to be the good guys.

As I got older I saw the bad side of these guys, but the younger admiration was a hard thing to shake.

No doubt, SC. I preach against them now for the sake of the younger members here, but the truth is, when I was younger I had a much more romantacized view of these guys. In my neighborhood they seemed bigger than life.

Yep. I think you get a different view of them when you see them up close and personal. These guys were always making a big deal of me as a little kid, buying me a soda, talking baseball, etc. They seemed to be happy all the time, and they were fun to be near.

I think that most of us have (or had at some point) a fascination for the Mafia, wether we want to admit it (even to ourselves) or not. But I think that all of us in here have a healthy fascination for it. Most of us know what kind of guys they are and what kind of crimes they are committing. They are horrible people. We know that.

How did the fascination start?
I think I was allured and mesmerized into it. And in my case I can easily blame it on the TV set, that damn devise everybody warned us watching it too much will not be good for our health. (Not to mention the eyesight.) But I remember an old TV show, "The Gangster Chronicles", which was cancelled after one season, but I thought it was great at the time! It was about Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky and their friendship and their rise to the top of the New York underworld.
The main characters were played by Michael Nouri, Joe Penny and Brian Benben. I thought they were cool.
The show was romanticizing the mob for sure, but what the heck did I know, a 13 year old kid at the time?

That was a GREAT mini-series, Hairy. I wish they'd release it in its entirety on dvd.

I thought I was the only one still remembering it.

Nope. Don Cardi and I are both big fans.

My brother has the whole thing on almost thirty year old vhs tapes. There's no sense in trying to convert them because the picture quality is faded at this point anyway.

Do you think that we would still find it to be a good watch, after 30 years?

I still like it.

My reasons are similar to others stated here. I enjoy reading all types of history but never had any real interest in reading about the mob. What sparked my interest is that I grew up in a mainly Italian neighborhood and became aware of a few well-known mobsters who lived in the area a couple of decades before my time. Through the years I would hear tidbits and vague stories, so I decided to read a few books and search the internet to find more info. That's how I stumbled onto this site.

The mob life was deemed luxurious, exciting, cinematic, admirable and fruitful in a certain areas, as previously mentioned, on the big-screen, cinemas and various movies and TV series to me.

So much so it had pulled me into a whole new world. I was fascinated with these dramatized, tall, dark, narcissistic mafia and organized crime figures. Researching and grasping a general concept of the mob life was almost exciting and intriguing.

Of course as the years past I was hit with the reality that organized crime is the dark Italian-American work ethic. It is an underground organization that should not be considered admirable or a future occupation. But in many senses, to this day, I still find myself asking the same question: How can an illicit underworld organization frowned upon become so interesting and intriguing?

I don't think there is a definitive answer, English. Perhaps it is down to perception? All I do know is that while the mob and OC is still around and kicking, I'm sure plenty of people will still be ready to purchase the next book, the next screenplay, read about the next indictment, the next mob death to hit our computer screens and wait for a general discussion to take place. And whether the discussion is here or on various other boards, people will still review organized crime with interest.

I used to always wonder why the older Italian family members of mine or just old paisani in general wouldn't comment when ever I brought up a mob subject, like John Gotti or something. The reason is the older ones lived in fear back in the days and were afraid to speak about mob members or anything to do with them. They were afraid if they said anything at all that they'd be confronted by a gangster. The old guys still walk away or change the subject when ever I bring up the mafia. Us young paisani are different, we are interested in learning the history.

What's not to be fascinated about? These men are predators that group together with other predators to pray on the world and each other. They reject society's rules but then bind themselves to other darker and harsher rules. They willingly inhabit a violent world where death is the price of weakness, mistakes or just plain bad luck.

They are the animals that you go to the zoo to look at but would never want to meet in the wild.

Exactly.

Good question, English.

For me, it's that the Mafia is a "secret society" that isn't really secret. So much of Mafia lore is right out there in public--movies, Sopranos, books, etc. The more you see, hear or read about the Mob, the more it draws you in. And, given the mediocrity of current mobsters, it's all the more interesting to look at the past and compare it to the present.

I like to think of them as an extension of US history and many events in the US that are historic and impacted every American from presidential elections to war. Allegedly the US Government and certain memebers of organized crime coexisted and in sometimes were friendly. Kennedy's dad was a bootlegger and his son became president. Then you have Kennedy, Sinatra, and some wiseguys rubbing elbows in private and not so private settings. Sports teams and personalities from Babe Ruth to members of the Philadelphia Phillies and Fleyers associated with organized crime figures for ebtter or worse. I think as many have stated because we walk the rights ide of the law, its always something we can think about what if?