I realize that this might be a bit of a lame thread , but I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of sharing and comparing in regards to this topic .

As I've wrote on my previous thread , the main reason I got interested in OC was due to a childhood fascination with criminals . I was never a street kid or anything like that , however the fact that I grew up in an environment filled with criminal classmates very much lent itself to my current fascination with OC .

I was also given the assignment of field researching Appalachian crime networks for my journalism major in college and while I didn't succeed , the few stories I did pick up from former hangers on of that particular subculture piqued my interest even further .

P.S. I don't intend on encouraging anyone to post anything incriminating , so here is my disclaimer .

great question !
i guess that as a child the all 40s gangster style with the suits and tommy gun and all really excites me.
haha i think so

Pretty simple for me. I saw Godfather I and II for the first time when I was 26 years old. Been interested ever since.

When I was a kid my dad used to tell me stories about when he grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn in the 1930s. The names of Meyer Lansky, Lepke and Lucky Luciano always intrigued me and stories of Murder Inc and the Mob excited me.

I took my cues from my older brother. He is a Martin Scorsese fan. Through him, I got into Goodfellas. I'd say reading Murder Machine is what got me really obsessed.

Next door neighbor lent me "The Plumber"..that started the ball rolling,then he gave me "Blood & Honor" & I was hooked,that was it...but I mused at hearing my old man when I was a child talk about a man called Ange @ his union job @ Keebler cookies who my dad always liked,then as a late teen,while he was drinking a few Ortliebs, he hinted who this man was then told me to keep my mouth shut & go across the street & get a pizza w/ anchovies 4 him & whatever I wanted..I put 2@2 2gether in early 20s & figured I like this shit,it got even better but I cant get into that cause,whats the saying?,..2 protect the privacy of those still living..or some shit like that?,well & that's that.

Goodfellas
Casino
The westies book
The hot house book
In that order and then I was hooked

The heineken kidnap and the first dutch godfather Klaas Bruinsma who was shot dead in front of the Hilton Amsterdam.

Also the Capaci bombing in 1992.

My relative telling me about the Philadelphia Black Mob.

Personally knowing a lot of organized crime members in my city,always been interested in that stuff and listening their stories.

When I was a little kid I saw a Ghostbusters cartoon episode that had Al Capone. Fast forward a few years I saw the first episode of the untouchables with Forsythe. I was only ten years old, then my dad rented the untouchables movie. I loved the fedoras. My grandfather would let me wear a black and white one that was in the closet whenever I visited. I thought it was the coolest thing. He would never let me take it home. As time went on, I'd always watch the a&e sPecials and that was it. Hollywood portrayed the mafia like it had with the cowboys. I thought it was so cool. It's nothing but a ponzee scheme.But some of the old timers I'd trade lives with in a second.

Mostly stories my grandfather told me about old time mobsters.

My grandfather had a checkered past, spent a lot of time at the track in the 1970's and was rumored to run a Lebanese dice game for the Boston mob in the 40's an 50's.

Around holidays we use to go to the North End in Boston and get pastries.

One day when in Mike's pastry shop a old man walks in this was 1978, 1979 and my grandfather talks with him for about 10 minutes. I was 12, 13 years old and I ask him who that was when we left and he says that was the "boss" of the Boston mob.

If you spend time around football hooligans you learn a lot.

A friend of mine's father was a pretty notorious gangster in NJ in the mid 80's and growing up I'd hear stories about why he's in jail and what he'd done. Been reading every book I could get my hands on since.