Here's something to ponder...

In history books and tv news shows, we are always taught to believe that the world of organized crime was a danger to society. But was it really a danger? Would the world today be the same had it not been for organized crime? How many important decisions and court cases have been made due to connections through the mob? Further more, from a moral/religious perspective were the actions by the corleone family and other actual mob families similar to them really so wrong? Vito Corleone was a product of his surroundings, there is no doubt that he wouldn't have become a crime lord had it not been for his early life in sicily, and new york. The Corleone family never killed for spite, and only killed those he either had it coming to them, or were bad people. Can one morally justify the actions of the mob as simply a way of life? The world was a better place because of the Corleone family, despite their methods of action. In other words to be blunt, would their actions send them to hell?...Just something I've been thinking about, and almost did a paper on in college.

We tend to sentimentalize Vito Corleone because he was a "good" father, was "kind" to others, rejected drug trafficking, etc. Let's remember that his regular businesses were hardly benign. The big money that he made in gambling wasn't through the odds favoring the house but through loan-sharking--a business of broken kneecaps or worse. And every dollar he took from his labor rackets was a dollar stolen from the pocket of some working stiff. He was against drugs not because he was concerned with the welfare of humanity but because he saw drugs as a threat to the network of corrupt cops and politicians he'd erected to protect his other illegal businesses.

It's true that organized crime exists because society wants the things it provides. If people gave up drinking, drugging, gambling, whoring and the general quest for something for nothing, there'd be no organized crime. But exploiting society's weaknesses hardly makes organized crime socially beneficial.

Ah, the only reason in real life why the Feds shut down the Mob was because the government couldn't cash in. People would rather pay the Mafia protection money than pay the government anything, so they had all these garbage charges against the Mob. Technically no decisions the Mob made was wrong. If they killed someone, there was a damn good reason for it (like them being a traitor) which makes it justified IMHO.

Hi, guys. It's been a while. To me, crime is crime. All crime comes down to one person (or group) preying upon the vulnerabilities of another person or group. I see nothing noble about it.

What fascinates us about the Mafia is that, for the most part, the people who created it and perpetuated are colorful, interesting and powerful people who -- if they'd channeled their resources and energies into something less misanthropic than organized crime -- probably would have been resounding successes.

But face it. Powerful, colorful and interesting people are irresistable. We gravitate to them like flies on s***. So it comes as no surprise that we build these people up, and no surprise that someone romanticized the Mafia and created a sympathetic, almost beloved character in Don Vito Corleone.

We all crave power and respect. There is a huge amount of romanticizing of the mafia in media. It began in the 1930's when the first Mob films were made, the image of abberent, honourable gangster emerged. I agree that crime is crime, where the mob is concerned they may be a step up from normal criminals but there is only really a fine distinction. Every penny taken by the Mob is a penny taken out of the hands of the average hard working man.

The Godfather is a film of fine distinction. Normally, in movies, the relative moralism of the good and evil is so apparent that it's almost deafening. In the Godfather we have very fine distinctions. Honourable criminals amoung criminals and truly honourable criminals (the Corleones) amoung the honourable crimnals.

Additionally our society is built on checks and balances, allowing for a sort of power equilibrium to be maintained. In an almost dictatorial structure as you have with the Mafia, these checks and balances are replaced with a bullet and as such few people trust others in this structure. You always run the danger in a system like this for the power to be abused and it usually is abused. There also is alot of corruption. If you read any true mob stories, there is a huge element of betrayal and corruption as well as power abuse going on.

If you want to get into the issue of realtive moralism and ethics, I guess there is no absolute. At the same time however killing someone is almost universally thought of as an unacceptable thing in our society.

Also I think it's one of the underlying themes of the whole GF trilogy that two men like Michael and Vito Corleone who were so gifted and could have been politicians if they so wanted and/or could have been gifted business men, lacked the last thread of character necessary to make the transition away from criminal life.

The fact is, they kill, steal, lie, and cheat. But they do it all in a more dignified way.
Of all the crime that is around in this day amd age, the mafia is not nearly as bad as others.
There are serial killers, sexual offenders, some pretty deranged people. However, the one thing that makes the Mafia a dignified crime is the fact that no on dies because someone felt like killing someone. The mafia never rapes anyone. They always treat their friends good and their enemys bad. They just do this on a higher scale. If it was up to me, I would be concentrating on other, more imortant things. If the mafia was te one cause of all crime, then I would get rid of the mafia, but its not, they only kill the people who deserve it. I am not defending the mafia, I am just saying that it is more dignmified then some of the other crimes comitted every day.

I agree with eveything that has already been said. Bottom line is that the "mob" does criminal acts, and uses murder as way of doing business. What has given them some credence is that, and this basically applys to the "old mob", is that they usually kept the violence among themselves. Usually their activies were enjoyed by average people,such as "hitting the number". I know Las Vegas was more fun when the mob controlled it, before big business came in.

What sets the mafia apart from say the CEO of Enron who lost millions of dollars for everyone involved?

They are both liars, cheats, extortionists, etc...

Yet we tend to go easy on mafia hoods. Henry Hill is practically a celebrity, yet we all want to kill Kenneth Lay.

I agree with the poster who said that we will always be drawn to these colorful characters; it's a kind of voyeurism. We are looking in on a life that we could never be a part of, well unless we wanted to live with the risk of being killed or going to jail over petty things that would get us killed.

Which leads me to my next point - people never "deserve" to die unless they are serial killers or terrorists. Did Vito deserve to die because he rejected the Sollozzo offer? As mafia standard go - he did. But I disagree.

And we also never saw the civillian casualties. The kid standing on the street who was shot during a shootout, and we also never really saw the Mafia widow. Not to mention the victims of gambling, drugs, loansharking, etc...

The mafia has many victims on many levels, therefore, it is illegal. And even though the government did want it shut down because they weren't getting any money - it's rightfully so! The government is the government and shouldn't be cheated out of what is deserved them, taxes, commission and other things that mafia cheats them out of.

I love mafia movies. They are filled with some of the greatest themes in film: honor, loyalty, courage and betrayal. But that is where it ends for me. Mafia is crime. And crime should be stopped.

if mobsters really only killed bad people, and only made blood among their connections, as it theorically is, their actions wouldn't be bad for society, but the fact is they end up killing politicians for interest, business men for vengeance, walking people for accident and many other for other or even the same reasons.

Well theoretically if they only killed each other that would be true and it would also be true if they only extorted, stole, etc from one another, but crime always effects somebody down the line somewhere. Even if it's insurance fraud, that fraud is paid for by policy holders, so there is no victimless crimes.

As I've said before, the Mafia is a lot better than some of the street gangs or terrorists who hide behind hoods, but they are criminals.If it were truely as honorable as the movies make it out to be....whatever honor was in the mob had flown out the window.

Why do we all look up to Don Corleone?

He was a businessman involved in some let's say 'bad' situations.

Is he really any different that the Senators and congressmen Presidents and Prime Ministers around the World?

And I mean other than the Tax paying issue!

Is he different than the leader of a country who is there not through the will of the people in a democratic vote but by means of force?

I don't have the answers to the question. I do know that 32 years after it's release we're still talking about the Godfather.

Says something no?!

I believe every one agrees Organized Crime is much better than the gangs of the streets. In the mafia there is honor and the people who are killed are most likely people who were in the business. They kill each other and stay in a circle.
As Michael would say, if you think Senators, and governors dont have men killed your being nieve.

The lifestyle of crime, is ultimatly a self-destructive one and that is what FFC, I think, is trying to get across.

No matter how ruthless or powerful you are, it will still tear you apart and your family apart in some way. In the best case, you will have to live with the fact and the guilt that your kids are in the same racket that almost got you killed and you will be regretful about not having going legit or having the ability to go legit years before (Vito).