A New Thread: "Classic Mobster Quotes" ....

An insightful observation from legendary mafioso, Francesco (Frank Costello) Castiglia…..“Nobody gives it to you. You have to go out and take it!”

"Luck is the residue of hard work" - Charlie Luciano

My favorite: Anthony Cantalupo, president of a real estate company that "employed" Joe Columbo as a $20k/year "salesman," told a crime commission that his star "salesman" "...has the sincerest group of clients. They don't try to cheat him out of his commissions."

"When I sell liquor, they call it bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality." - Alphonse (Scarface Al) Capone

" I didnt do it, it was the black guy".

'You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.' Al Capone

“There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s just money.” — Salvatore (Lucky Luciano) Lucania

"I'm in the Gotti family; my wife's the boss."

John Gotti when questioned by reporters if he was the boss of the Gambino crime family.

"We don't break our captains, we kill them" Alan Longo (Genovese Family)

"A little violence never hurt anyone" Lefty Ruggiero (Bonnano)

“I’ve graduated from ten universities of hard knocks, and I’ve learned the definition of a ‘racketeer’ is anyone who attempts to accumulate wealth, power and prestige, at the expense of entrenched wealth, power and prestige. - The iconic...the one and only...Francesco Saverio (Frank Costello) Castiglia

Another one from Frank Costello during the Kefauver hearings : "Paid my tax"

LOL.

U.S. Senate Committee: "What can you say that you ever did for your country?".... Frank: "Paid my tax!"

"I never got on my knees for any Christian" - Meyer Lansky

"Don't let your tongue be your worst enemy." - John (Sonny) Franzese

"We're bigger than U.S. Steel" - Meyer (The Little Man) Lansky

"You know, if you have a barrel of apples and one of them is rotten, it has to be removed or it'll touch and ruin the rest of the apples." - Vito Genovese (in his prison cell with soldier Joe Valachi, subtly letting Valachi know he’s marked for death.)

“I’ve graduated from ten universities of hard knocks, and I’ve learned the government’s definition of a ‘racketeer’ is anyone who attempts to accumulate wealth, power and prestige, at the expense of entrenched wealth, power and prestige. - The iconic, one and only, Francesco (Frank Costello) Castiglia

"We only kill each other." - Bugsy Siegel

"If you wouldn't have drunk it, I wouldn't have brought it in." - Moe Dalitz, explaining to Kefauver subcommittee why he was a rumrunner during Prohibition.

"When you lose your money, you lose nothing. When you lose your health, you lose something. But when you lose your character, you lose everything." - Meyer Lansky

"Can you think that the mafia, camorra, 'ndrangheta can exist without the support of state institutions? They would remain street thugs."

Carmine Schiavone

“Judges, lawyers and politicians have a license to steal. Us, we don’t need one.” ~ Carlo Gambino

Love this quote

"No one will ever kill me. They wouldn't dare." ~ Carmine (Lilo) Galante

"I hate a liar more than I hate thief. A thief is only after my salary, a liar is after my reality." - gangster quote directed to some of the psychopaths who in turn talk to themselves and invent stuff just so they can get money through paywalls and YT views.

"I never lie to anybody, because I don't fear anybody...You only lie when you're afraid." ~ John Gotti

"A newspaper man once wrote an article that I had $300 million dollars. Well, I wish I had a million dollars." ~ Meyer Lansky

“My uncle always told me, you always have to use your brains in this thing, and you always have to use the gun” ~ Philip (Crazy Phil) Leonetti

Too bad you never had any relatives advising you to use your brains !!!

"Other kids are brought up nice and sent to Harvard and Yale. Me? I was brought up like a mushroom." ~ Frank Costello

"Fish with its mouth closed never gets caught" - Tony Accardo.

“Only Capone kills like that.” ~ George (Bugs) Moran’s response to the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.

“Most men I know pissed away their fortunes. I’m the only one I know that made a fortune pissin'” ~ Frank Costello

"Don't worry, don't worry. Look at the Astors and the Vanderbilts, all those big society people. They were the worst thieves...and now look at them. It's just a matter of time." ~ Meyer Lansky

"I'm an American citizen, first class. I don't have a badge that makes me an official good guy like you. But I work just as honest for a livin'." ~ Salvatore (Charlie Lucky) Lucania

I'm used to being a supporting player in the background. All I ever wanted, at the very most, was to have a small part in something where people were like, 'Oh, right, that one guy, whoever he is, was pretty good in that.' That's all I ever really strived for or expected.

Camorra's most brutal boss Raffaele Cutolo.

"I'm not a religious Jew, but I am a Jew in my heart." ~ Meyer (The Little Man) Lansky

“If a guy is dumb, somebody is going to get the best of him, so why not you? If you don’t, then you’re just as dumb as him” ~ Arnold (The Brain) Rothstein

"Mafia is a process...not a thing. Mafia is a form of clan cooperation where individual members pledge lifelong loyalty of friendship, connections, family ties, trust, loyalty, obedience. This was the glue that held us together." ~ Giuseppe (Don Peppino) Bonanno

“I like to be myself. Misery loves company.” ~ Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corallo

The U.S. Senate Investigations Committee...Senator Pat Geary; "Mr Cicci, was there always a buffer involved?

Willie Cicci; "A what?"

Senator Geary; "A buffer...someone in between you and your possible superiors who passed on to you the actual order to kill someone?"

Willie Cicci; "Oh, yeah, a buffer. Lol, the Family had a lot of buffers!, lol." ~ Corleone Family soldier Willie Cicci (The Godfather)
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PS: It seems that we have a lot of "buffers" around here. LOL...a lot of 'would be' Willie Ciccis. Lol

"There are certain promises you make that are more sacred than anything that happens in a court of law, I don't care how many Bibles you put your hand on." ~ Constantino (Big Paul) Castellano

The United States of America versus Anthony Spilotro..."Now what kind of odds are those?” ~ Outfit soldier Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro

Quote by Totò Riina

“You haven't understood, or rather you don't want to understand, what Corleone means. You are judging honest gentlemen whom the Carabinieri and the police reported on a whim . We want to warn you that if even one gentleman from Corleone is convicted , you will be blown up , you will be destroyed, you will be slaughtered as will your family members ... now all you have to do is be judicious!"

"The church wants you in your place and on your knees, kneel, stand, kneel, stand. If you go for that sort of thing, I don't know what to do for you...A man makes his own way. No one gives it to you. You have to take it." ~ Francesco (Frank Costello) Castiglia

“Honest people have no ethics” ~ Simone Rizzo (Sam the Plumber) DeCavalcante

Mrs. Strollo, "Put on your coat honey, it's cold outside."

Antonio (Tony Bender) Strollo, "It's ok, I’m only going out for a few minutes, down to the corner. I'll be back soon.”

Bernardo Provenzano studied the Bible and liked to quote passages from it. It sometimes drove his men crazy lol.

I heard that too. Mafiosi are often a complex bunch, who so-called "regular" folks often cannot fathom, who sometimes have funny quirks and ways, with their own set of "morals."

Everyone remembers the tone of contempt used by Riina and his expression of displeasure regarding the repentant Tommaso Buscetta when he described him, during the television broadcast of a trial, as "a womanizer, a man who has many women." He had many women despite being married, so he was a subspecies of man, less than a tarambana.

Cigarette smuggling made Michele “The Madman” Zaza a fortune and earned him another nickname: “King of the Blondes.”

Under questioning, he once testified: “First I’d sell 5 cases of Philip Morris, then 10, then a 1,000, then 3,000, and I bought myself six or seven ships that you took away from me… I used to load 50,000 cases a month. I could load 100,000 cases, $10 million dollars on trust. All I had to do was make a phone call. I’d buy $24 million dollars’ worth of Philip Morris in three months. My lawyer will show you the receipts. I’m proud of that! $24 million!”

Yes, Michele Zaza, I've heard of him. But he wasn't Sicilian, was he? Wasn't he Napolitano?

“I ate from the same table as Albert. We came from the same womb. But I know he killed many men and he deserved to die” ~ Anthony (Tough Tony) Anastasio

Michele Zaza]; Procida, April 10, 1945 – Rome, July 18, 1994) was a member of the Camorra criminal organisation who was also initiated in the Sicilian Mafia. He headed the Zaza clan n Naples. On July 18, 1994, he died of a heart attack in a Rome hospital where he had been transferred from the Rebibbia prison. His nephew Ciro Mazzarella, who had remained in Naples to control the territory, succeeded Zaza as the head of the clan, which started to be called Mazzarella clan, and no longer Zaza clan.

“For nearly a 30-year period after the Castellammarese War no internal squabbles marred the unity of our family, and no outside interference threatened the family or me.” ~ Giuseppe (Joe Bananas) Bonanno

“What do you mean, like do I carry a membership card that says ‘Mafia’ on it?” ~ Quarico (Willie Moore) Moretti testifying before a U.S. Senate Committee

“I don’t care whose in the car…everybody goes!” ~ Philip (The Chicken Man) Testa

Google boy working over time !!!

“You weren’t supposed to walk away no more. You fucked me, and that was the worst thing you ever did” ~ Thomas (Tommy A) Agro

“I called your fuckin' house five times yesterday, your wife said you weren't home. Now if she thinks she's a dunsky, or you think your a dunsky, and you’re gonna disregard my motherfucking phone calls, I’ll blow you and that fucking house up….understand me?

This is not a fuckin' game here! My time is valuable. If I ever hear anybody else calls you and you respond within five days, I’ll fuckin' kill you.” ~ John Gotti

"Hey Frank! This one's for you! ~ Vincent (The Chin) Gigante

“Tell them I was arrested for carrying concealed ideas!” ~ "Machine-Gun" Jack McGurn

Lucchese soldier Eugenio (Gene) Giannini, talking with Joseph (Joe Cago) Valachi at the Lido Bar, shortly before Giannini is murdered, "Jesus, Joe, I had the creeps last night.

"What do you mean?" Valachi inquired.

Giannini, "I don't know. It's hard to explain. I feel like I'm going to be killed."

"What are you talking about?" Valachi quickly replied, dismissing that notion, "Why do you say a thing like that?"

Giannini, "It's just the way I feel."

To break the somber mood and throw Giannini off that conversation, Valachi called a girl over to the bar, introduced Giannini to her, and bought them a round of drinks. He whispered to Giannini to go with the girl, but Giannini said he was short on cash so Valachi handed him a $100 and said, "Go ahead and enjoy yourself, pal."

.....days later, the Pagano brothers and Fiore (Fury) Siano, under Valachi's direction, successfully carried out their contract and shot Giannini to death in East Harlem.

COSA NOSTRA…

The octopus is a sea animal with a soft body and eight arms called tentacles….Rows of round cups on the underside of each tentacle act much like a suction cup. These suckers can fasten tightly to any object, and may hold on even if the tentacle is cut off. If an octopus loses a tentacle, a new one grows in its place…

An octopus has two eyes and sees well. It has the most highly developed brain of all invertebrates….

Some kinds of octopuses inject a poison that paralyzes their prey…

The octopus can also squirt a black fluid forming a dark cloud that hides the animal so it can escape from sharks, whales, human beings and other enemies.