This whole “glamorization” argument is nothing more that academic mumbo jumbo used by academics to justify their jobs. I should know. I was part of that world for many years.

Anti-discrimination articles sell well. Whether it’s Italian-Americans, blacks, blue collar whites form West Virginia, Jews or whoever...

Like it or not, mobsters are humans. They can crack jokes, dress well and still have your entire family killed in a giffy. They can be attractive and handsome or dress trashy and be grossly ugly.

The Mafia is a multi-layered and complex criminal subculture. That’s why it’s so effective. You have the white collar guys who perfectly blend in among bankers and politicians as well as street goons and bruisers. They’re all needed in order for the whole conspiracy to work.

Vito Corleone was shown as a well-spoken, soft-mannered patriarch. So was Carlo Gambino and many others.

Luca Brasi could barely speak English and was simply a wall of muscles. So were/are Vince Filipelli and John Alite. So that was also accurate.

When Joe Pesci got his head blown off as Tommy DeVito, I wasn’t exactly thinking “yeah, that’s how I wanna go out!”.

I challenge anyone to watch the final scene of “The Traitor” where all mobsters arrested during the big trials of the ‘90s are shown through the CCTV system of the maxi-security prison they’re rotting in. They’re all loosing their minds. It looks like they’re mental patients housed in an asylum. Some strip down naked and cry, others scream, or talk to themselves like mad hobos. It’s an extremely unsettling scene. It truly gets you.

Point being, watching an episode of the Sopranos won’t turn you into a sociopath UNLESS you’re a sociopath or have sociopathic tendencies in the first place. Because every single movie/TV series I’ve watched in my life on/about the mob had plenty of horrific things that would make the average sane person stir away from that life.

These college “thinkers” focus too much on the fictional and not at all on reality. To cut them some slack they can’t focus on contemporary North American LCN because they’re afraid of being accused of racism and stereotyping. Rightfully so. I was called a racist and an “anti-Italian” Italian for bringing up the current Canadian Mafia war and its connections to NYC mob hierarchies and Italian crime families during an Italian-American Studies class.

I apologize for this rant, but the memories of countless discussions about this very topic with obnoxious professors, TAs and post-grad researchers are still fresh into my mind.

Good points it was the same with Scarface, The Godfather or a movie like Heat, they highly influenced criminals in real life. But you can not blame the Art.

Life imitating art imitating life..