What is the mafioso mentality?

From various books I've read it is a deep psychological state where the person refuses to see anyone in life as superior or higher than him. What's your view on this? The way some mafiosos think interests me quite a lot.

IMO, they are called sociopaths

Mafioso of today in America? Picture a white kid listening to rap music, that's the level of their intellectual accomplishments. I don't even see the suits or expensive rings. All I see these assclowns in are jeans and tattoo sleeves. "There's no more honor, there's no love"- John Gotti

I don't quite see what a white kid listening to rap has to do with intellectual ability. I listen to rap from time to time and i work in computer programming and simulator design.

they think like any other hoodlum, they want money!

Forgive me let me elaborate. They listen to that crap you call music and try to imitate it in real life, which is basically going against anything LCN stood for.

You are right but I would add that they want money but don't want to work very hard for it. Also this younger generation has had their minds fucked up by TV and some music

Yet again, assumptions, you assume to know what I call music, and considering i listen to a range of stuff from the beatles to modern metal, as well as play and write music, i'm sure i know what music is. Modern rap is terrible yes but it wasn't bad at all pre 2004ish. Them not wearing suits and expensive rings is a smart thing, for the same reason street gangs like the bloods and crips have lessened how much their wear their respective colors, it makes them a target for law enforcement. A person who's legit stream of income is listed as average wage, if they list any at all certainly wouldnt be able to afford multiple expensive suits or expensive jewelry, it raises suspicions. Add to that the fact that a bunch of guys in $5k suits hanging around a bar, thats also gonna raise suspicions. As others have stated, their mentality is the exact same as its always been, get as much money by any means necessary.

from my own personal experience with a certain family member, its all about the dollar. thats all they think about. how to earn the next buck, and how they can scam someone out of something. there is always an ulterior motive when they help someone. its that favor down the road they can ask you for. the one person I thought was the greatest in the world when I was younger, I learned was a total scumbag when I became an adult. there is no loyalty, only to the all mighty dollar. if you can help them get money, good, if you can't, well then you are useless. and they have no problem with putting you in harms way to meet their ends.

It really is a sad existence when you think about it. I almost felt bad for this family member of mine. thats all he talked about, and all he thought about. never any leisure time or even a hobby.

So they don't wear suits anymore because it raises suspicion? Is that what your trying to get across? God forgive a group of Italian guys wearing suits in a bar. Someone call the Feds, They have SUITS on!!! And please don't place hood rat bloods/crips in the same sentence as LCN, it's like comparing a high school football team to an NFL team.

Not really, both are organized groups, both are involved in drugs, money laundering, murder, robbery, both are international. And yea when you have a group of old Italian guys who have been watched by the feds for a long while, who wear nothing but expensive suits and only go to a couple places that that type of outfit isn't the norm, it attracts attention, which is why you see many mobsters now a days wearing regular style clothes, to blend in more. Comparing the bloods/crips to them in that regard is perfectly acceptable because they are both criminal groups, they're both targeted by law enforcement and they both have to adapt to new techniques being thrown at them.

Crips/Bloods an organized group & International ? Not quite. Yes, There are some sets organized but most are just collectives/networks. If you exclude our military bases overseas then you will hardly see any legit (as in a member went overseas to establish a network ) ties foreign crips/bloods have with American based. As far the clothes your right. There's videos/pics of crips/bloods in suits. I mean serious when it comes to dressing up they will do it in suits ( the older ones).

Crips and bloods are African-American gangs. They do not have a mafioso mentality. Even though some African-American (to meet the MODS standards) gangs are involved in some of the same type of crimes as the mafia or LCN is, and they rap about being mobsters in their rap craps (not songs) they will never be. Wannabe Italian Americans is exactly what they are! Don't get me wrong I love some hip hop and some of it can be considered music.

Actually, they have found sets and crews of them in countries like Holland and Spain, and no not on military bases. As to the dress, yea i know, i know some crips and bloods because i grew up in an area they were and someo f them would deck out in complete red or blue dickies work clothes or whatever, now alot of them will wear just regular clothes like jeans, black shirts and maybe a red hat or a blue pair of sneakers with a white hat so they don't seem out of the ordinary.

American LCN mafiosos most definitely have the "live for today" mentality, that's their most common characteristic IMO. In their mind they hope they will just keep on doing what they do and stay alive/out of prison, but subconsciously they know they can end up badly any day, particularly now when many of them spend decades in prisons. They're hedonists with no real work ethic, gamblers of sort.

One can mention greed and sociopathy as their characteristics, but there are different types of greed and sociopathic behaviour, it's too general.

I'm sure they feel some sort of isolation from the rest of society because they don't follow normal social rules/laws and live a different lifestyle. I think their sociopathy is in many ways related to this feeling. Most of them probably aren't born sociopaths but end up like this because of this particular subculture they were raised in. I also think some sort of loyalty exists precisely becuase of that (they sense that they and their friends/other crew members are different from the rest of society and have no value in this society outside of the criminal organization they're in), they do have a sense of comradery, this was also confirmed by Michael Franzese. The families wouldn't survive for a century if there wasn't some sort of loyalty.

I also think that about American Mafiosos. I think mentality plays a key role in the mafia. Falcone once said the mafia isn't just a criminal organisation but a state of mind. After centuries of invasions by Greeks, Romans , Normans , Arabs and Spanish with corrupt and brutal governments always exploiting the citizen it could be said that mistrust of authorities, self preservation and exaggerated pride and egotism was chiseled into the sicilian psych. This is I think, what makes the Sicilian Mafia much more powerful , secretive and brutal than the Americans who don't have the same culture.

I mean the Sicilian Mafia blew up motorways and whole apartment blocks just to kill Falcone and borsellino. They also went as far as to plan to blow up the tower of Pisa in their stategy of terror. Thats like the Gambinos blowing up the statue of liberty. So Although people say all They care about is money, i think the Two groups are very different simply due to culture and mentality.

The mafioso mentality is too get money,stay clear of police, take care of their family(both by blood and by mafia ties),and earn money for the family. I think now a days they have learned not be too visible and have become more covert. They have learned that longevity and BUSINESS is the most important. Ironically the mafia is more about dealing in drugs and petty capers now a days.


Crips and Bloods are not criminal network,they are just neighborhood groups.

This is exactly right. In Sicily, money is secondary to them. They are born into their families and honor and respect come first. They (like any sicilians, mafioso or not) have a mentality and a way of thinking that most other people wouldn't understand and can't be explained. It's not learned, they're born with it.

What the rest of you are posting is not mentality, but goals and characteristics of italian/american men that try and feel like they fit in with the sicilian mans way of thinking. Not even close.

"Crips and Bloods are not criminal network,they are just neighborhood groups." There are many convictions of Crips/Bloods that have operated drug networks statewide and regional. Therefore not all of them are just neighborhood groups.

Yes some of them but this is with a select few or several members of a set. Usually only several are in contact with the OT sets. But the links nationwide have slightly eroded in recent past years as opposed to the 90s.