With the Whitey Bulger trial, Jimmy Hoffa remains story AND now with James Gandolfini's passing, CNN has this story (some nice pictures too)

So, why DO we love the mob? Surely we don't condone the things that they do. Yet, we all love the stories or we wouldn't have joined this site right?

Wasn't sure exactly where to put this since the story has some real life and also fictional characters. Plus I thought more people might see it here. Anyway, just thought it might be an interesting topic.

TIS

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/22/justice/mob-week-bulger-hoffa-soprano/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Why TIS? Probably because we are able to sublimate our avarice through them: the guys on the screen act out our fantasies or a version thereof. But also because we usually only see them killing other bad people. Think of the Trilogy. Who do the Corleones murder?: Other gangsters and corrupt politicians, police, and ecclesiastics. Then too there's an immediacy to their actions. They have people to do their bidding and to do it quickly, to acquire money and material goods, and to exact revenge.

It's the classic Italian american culture, with the meatballs cooking in the Sunday sauce, the Sinatra music, wearing nice suits, being a classy gentleman....those kind of things. It's the reminiscence of a classical time.

I agree with caprese and olivant. There is a mystique, a romanticism about the mob, in both fiction and real life. Gunplay and crime aside, they are seen as an organization that brings order and “justice” to a situation where the law (government) is not necessarily to be trusted. Although the “justice” might be brutal, it is seen as fair, and the opportunity to advance in the organization is theoretically open to all. It’s sort of like the idea that anyone can grow up to be President, but in this case, becoming the Don might be a fairer process.

Like any outlaw organization, there are some good aspects that can be focused on and sin to be overlooked. In the Sopranos, the real genius of the show was showing the men in Tony’s circle to be complex, conflicted men who were more than the sum of their parts. It was possible to “like” them as people, even want to hang out with them and have a beer.

And that was the brilliance of the show. Because anyone who might make that mistake would be quickly and brutally reminded that they were in the midst of killers.

Complex and primal. A great mix!