They don't even know that themselves, not even a Freudian psychoanalist can figure that one out.

I don't understand that metaphor. Lots of people are horror movie aficionados. It doesn't mean they want to put on a hockey mask and start killing virgins.

I like Kiss. It doesn't mean I want to put on cat facepaint and start having threesomes with mother/daughter groupies.

You can find organized crime interesting as a topic and still operate with a sense of detachment about the whole thing.

I mean is anybody here honestly going to try and defend some douchebag who has - literally - lost count of how many people he has murdered?

What's worse is the relatives of scumbags like DeBatt and DiBernardo going on Diane Sawyer to whine about Sammy Gravano killing their loved ones as if they have the moral high ground when their loved ones sold drugs to children and distributed child pornography.

Don't take it personal Moe, you know you're my buddy..

But to be honest, I do not praise nor defend any criminal but I do find the history of organized crime, and the American and Sicilian mafia in particular, very fascinating.

So personally I find it strange and even a bit hypocritical to be morally outraged about the excact thing I'm clearly so fascinated with.

None taken, Billy.

And I can see it from that viewpoint too.

I've encountered this ridiculous line of thinking by more than a few on these boards over the years. In their misguided view, one apparently has to lose sight of right and wrong or root for career criminals and murderers to have an interest in the mob. That's really what it comes down to. We have people on these forums who apparently have the emotional level of an 8 year old and are surprised when not everybody worships mobsters like they do.

Who's worshipping anybody over here Ivy?? Or rooting for mobsters??

These are assumptions you make!!

That would be on one extreme end of the spectrum, the other extreme end is coming on these boards and constantly talking shit, saying they're all scumbags and must fry in hell and what not.

That shit gets old..

Perhaps not you but, believe me, in the 10 years I've been on these boards there have been plenty of posters who root for these guys and never miss a chance to defend them. Of course, when pressed, they will deny they do it because they realize how ridiculous they would look.

As for myself, I have no need to constantly talk about what kind of people mobsters are because that's obvious, or should be anyway. But apparently some do need to be reminded. Anyway, I've always been more interested in the mob as a whole than individuals.