"First time you kill somebody, that's hardest...."

In the film True Romance, a vicious hitman named Virgil (James Gandolfini) says:

"Now the first time you kill somebody, that's the hardest. I don't give a shit if you're fuckin' Wyatt Earp or Jack the Ripper. Remember that guy in Texas? The guy up in that fuckin' tower that killed all them people? I'll bet you green money that first little black dot he took a bead on, that was the bitch of the bunch. First one is tough, no fuckin' foolin'. The second one... the second one ain't no fuckin' Mardis Gras either, but it's better than the first one 'cause you still feel the same thing, y'know... except it's more diluted, y'know it's... it's better. I threw up on the first one, you believe that? Then the third one... the third one is easy, you level right off. It's no problem. Now... shit... now I do it just to watch their fuckin' expression change."

Couple of questions:
1) Have any real life Mafiosos ever expressed similar sentiments--that the first hit is hard?

2) Were there ever any truly sadistic Mafiosos who enjoyed watching their victim's "expression change" when they killed them?

3) Were there any vicious, truly sadistic Mafiosos who liked to torture or beat their victim before killing them?

I'm not talking about associates, I'm talking about made guys.

Check out Joey the Hitman by David Fisher. That goes into some pretty good detail about a hitman's exploits and isn't all bullshit like Kuklinksi. As for the other two points...you got plenty of those guys who seemed to enjoy it. Anthony Casso comes to mind as a sick puppy and Nicky Scarfo two. They were an underboss and a boss. Then you got the guys like Tommy Pitera, Mad Sam DeStefano, and of course Roy DeMeo. There's also Irish sickos who were pretty prevalent in the torture area like Whitey Bulger and Jimmy Coonan.

Abe "Kid Twist" Reles of Murder Inc had a similar sentiment. Below is an exchange between him and assistant district attorney Burton Turkus from the book Murder Inc.

One day, I asked Reles how he ever brought himself to take human life so casually. "Did your conscience ever bother you?" I inquired. "Didn't you feel anything?"
His agate eyes showed no expression. "How did you feel when you tried your first law case?" he countered coldly.
"I was rather nervous," I admitted.
"And how about your second case?"
"It wasn't so bad, but I was still a little nervous."
"And after that?"
"Oh...after that, I was all right; I was used to it."
"You answered your own question," the Kid rasped. "It's the same with murder. I got used to it."

Looks like number three gets you over the hump.

Fiore "Fifi" Buccieri was an enthusiastic torturer,as was William "Potatoes" Daddano. Supposedly Fifi did much of the blowtorch work on "Action" Jackson,and Willie would make guys in his crew take polygraphs from time to time. If they refused(not likely)or failed the test,Willie would torture and murder them on the spot. Willie Moretti was said to have enjoyed getting men on their knees and making them beg for their lives before killing them.On the New York side ,Albert Anastasia loved to have victims tortured for hours before being killed,and enjoyed having his men describe the particular tortures,the parts of the anatomy involved,and the volume of screams that were elicited. As a hobby,he would participate personally whenever possible. Neil Dellacroce supposedly liked to peer into his victims eyes and relish the horror as he described the way in which the victim would die. First he would shoot the knees to cause great pain,then a shot in the stomach as he described to the victim the agonizing path of the bullet ripping through the intestines. Then,if he was in a good mood,a final shot in the face.It was said that Neil liked to gaze into his victims eyes at the moment of death.

I read before about the first torturing, but what is source for Albert Anastasia having guys having guys tortured, and then having it described to him by those who carried it out? Same question on Dellacroce, who would know if he looked into people's eyes when killing them?

I remember seeing a black and white picture of a dead mobster that had it's face melted down by a blow torch but damn some of these mobsters are a lot more sociopaths that I thought. And from reading some of these damn, it seems some mobsters are a lot more cruel than cartel members. I have yet to witness someone getting blow torched in Mexico or getting tortured to death, the worst I have seen is a guy called Commodante Bebe getting hit by hit by a 2x4 in the feet then, getting his right ear sliced off and finally being electrocuted in the face and lip. But they didn't actually kill him with the shocks, he got beheaded at the end.

You kidding me? Those cartel members make american mobsters look like girl scouts when it comes to cruelty

Ive seen a video of cartel members chainsawing a guys head off while he still was alive

ive also seen a video of cartel members , one by one , taking an axe to 5 rival cartel members heads and then dismembering them and dropping their body parts in drums filled with acid....all on video


If youve read an account regarding american mafiosi that rivals or surpasses the above cruelty , then feel free to tell me

Mafia members can be just as cruel as cartel members in terms of torture. The videos about the cartels beheading their rivals with machetes or chainsaws, axes to the head,...are certainly disgusting but the pain the victims endure doesn't last as long as an all-out torture session with a blowtorch and a pair of pliers. While the live beheadings with machetes are incredibly shocking and seem to go on for ages, the victims pass out once their neck is cut.
Things other gangs have done were just as cruel as what the cartels do. It's rather the scale of it in Mexico that is pretty unseen.

This was from a time magazine article. I included the link to it for you. His name was Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross," and he took pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death," a federal agent once said of the Mafia chieftain.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960415,00.html#ixzz2VKj4Bqua.
Also ,if you go to Google Books and type in "World's Greatest True Crime" and go to the preview, you can scroll down to pages 24,25,and 26. It also includes some other pretty grim stuff.
As far as the Anastasia"hobby",I'm sorry I can't give you a specific source,it's something that I remember reading,possibly in a Capeci or Volkmann book. I am quite a voracious reader, especially on OC topics,and sometimes I'll remember something long after the book has left my hands.
I appreciate the reply, as I'm fairly new to these boards,and it's good to get in the habit of citing sources before posting.