In many cases, family obligation plays a big part of somebody wanting to get in. Many of todays members have or have had older relatives (fathers, uncles etc) in the life. And then of course you have the wannabes who are intrgued by the local mobsters and sees them as some kind of a father figure.

I bet that after the movie The Godfather came out (in the early 1970s) thare were a bunch of Italian American kids who dreamt of being part of that life. Movies and pop culture in general romanticizes the image of the Mafia. The same can be said about confused kids who are growing up watching The Sopranos today.

Why are some kids drawn to become part of a street gang?