You must evaluate two resources – investigate them and critically evaluate them.

I was thinking the Godfather (which of the Trilogy, I do not know, or maybe do all three as a trilogy.) And also, a book on Gangsterism and it’s history.

Which movie should I use? And also, are there any books on gangsterism you can suggest. Also, what would be a good question to ask to investigate between the two.

This is for an international bachelorette paper. It's a huge paper, so I want to get the best advise and who better to get advise on the Godfather than you guys. It has to be sent to Geneva to be marked in a month.

Thanks in advance.

If you are going to choose from one of the Godfather movies, then I suggest that you go with Godfather II. It has a lot of subplots, twists, etc. that are perfect for what you are looking to do.

As for a book, well you may want to read "The Five Families" by Selwyn Raab. He is pretty accurate in his writings and basically covers the history of the five families in New York and their affects on the mob in general.


Don Cardi

So I guess the book is all factual? Furthermore, I'm sure it consists of the underworld and their businesses, whether it be gambleing or narcotics, etc?

I could take that part of the Godfather and link it to those businesses in the books?

Any other suggestions? (Maybe partaining to the book, DC? Maybe how the family's functioned, if similar to the Godfather style? It seems you may have read the book, were I have not and would need to go and purchase it.)

Well if you are looking to link the fiction story of The Godfather with the non fiction of The real Mob, then maybe you would be better off doing something about The Corleones and Hyman Roth getting into the Casino buisness, both in Las Vegas and in Cuba, and parallel it with the real life of Meyer Lansky and his cohorts getting involved in las Vegas casinos and also with Cuba.

There are several books listed over in the Organized Crime Real Life thread about Meyer Lansky. http://www.gangsterbb.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000720
that may be good for what you are looking to do.

There are also some posts about the mob, casinos and Las Vegas over in that thread.


If you need to do a parallel report between a ficticious story and a real life one, then I think that GFII about Roth and Real Life about Meyer Lansky is the best way to go.

Good luck.


Don Cardi

Here are some links that contain some information about Meyer Lansky, Gambling in Cuba and his alliance with Batista. The GFII Cuba scenes with Lansky and Michael were based on these real life events.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=001137

http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000269

http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005915

http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004940


Don Cardi

As far as the GF films and the novel go, while they have many relatively minor historical parallels that are based on reality, I wouldn't cite them in a research paper as being a factual resource. They are strictly fiction.

Obviously. However, my historical investigation is going to explore the means in which the Godfather describes the gangster life and whether or not it is factual or not. I can prove it one way or the other with a non fiction book on the same topic (which ever sub-topic I choose to do it on).

Thank you for your help, DC. I'll look into it.

EDIT: I want to stick to those men of italian decent, that way if I need to go into deeper detail, I can do so. This is a paper raning from 2000-3000 words. Although it is a great topic, it case it doesn't work out, I would like to be able to throw giberish about the Italian Americans and so on.

OK, I guess I misunderstood you, then.

As I said, there are many details in both the novel and films that are based on fact.

In addition to the Meyer Lansky-Cuba GF II subplot mentioned by Don Cardi, there is the Rosato Brothers-Galllo Brothers parallel, also from GF II, the Maranzano-Maranzella and Frank Sinartra-Johnny Fontane Academy Awards parallels used in the novel, and the scandal of the missing funds from the Vatican Bank and the possibly suspicious death of the Pope used in GF III.

There are probably others that I'm not thinking of as well.

Does the suspicious death of Jean-Paul the First in GfatherIII have any evidence linked to Gangsterism?

Also, in terms of discussing the Mafioso golden era around the 50s and before, I don't think talking about Johnny Fontane will be of too much help.

Two options I currently see are the similarities between Roth and Meyer and their investments in Cuba, and the underworld built by the "five families" of New York.

Well, you could go with the whole Vatican thing and GF III.

Pope John Paul I died only 33 days into his Pontificate (August 26, 1978 - September 28, 1978). It was one of the shortest reigns in the annals of the papacy. The official cause of death was myocardial infarction (a heart attack). But there was a great deal of confusion in the details of his sudden death, and many were crying - murder! One of the items on his agenda was to clean up the Vatican bank.


On the morning of June 17,1982 a body was found beneath London's Blackfriars bridge. The corpse was dangling from a rope, weighed down with 14 pounds of brick and stone; the victim's hands had been tied behind his back, a fact which seemed to be ignored by the coroner who pronounced the affair a simple suicide. But there was much more. The body was that of Roberto Calvi, head of the elite Banco Ambrosiano, at the time the largest privately owned financial institution in Italy. A second inquest, demanded by Calvi's family, began to blow open a financial and political scandal that has reverberated throughout the continent, and beyond.

When investigators began digging into the Calvi affair, they discovered a shortfall of nearly $1.3 billion at Banco Ambrosiano. Later, the money was traced to accounts owned by the Vatican. Calvi and his bank were also involved with a shadowy figure named Licio Gelli, head of a renegade secret Masonic lodge.

Both Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano and the Vatican's Instituto per de Riligione (IOR) became conduits for laundered money of all sorts. Under the direction of American Bishop Paul Marcinkus, head of the IOR, money was flowing through the Holy See's ledgers from a number of sources, and included cash from "Stay Behind" funding and even Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, himself a money conduit for organized crime figures.

Albino Luciana, elected Pope John Paul I, was intent on putting an end to the dirty activities of the IOR, and the tenure of Bishop Marcinkus. Various conspiracy theories have been proposed to explain how thirty days after his election to the papacy, John Paul I was suddenly found dead in his bed.

Banco Ambrosiano was in financial trouble. Calvi began skimming from the funds flowing through BA to prop up bad loans, and even agreed to "launder" drug money for Mafia elements. He reportedly sought financial help from the secretive Catholic group known as Opus Dei ("God's Work), and traveled to London to meet with group's treasurer in hopes of selling a minority stake in BA. But Calvi had crossed too many people, and the skimming operation threatened a political scandal.

Over time it has been revealed that there was a flow of money from the real life Corleone Mafia family to investments in the Vatican bank.


Hope this helps you out.


Don Cardi

Looks good. Thanks for everything. I'm going to put some research into the next couple days, however I need a topic by early next week. If anyone has further suggestions, it would be awsome. Thanks for everything thus far.

GFII