PB:

My father grew up in the Bronx before moving downtown when his aunt died and we saw that movie together when I was younger. He said that the movie was very true to life. Two observations he made. One was that the relationship with the black girl was bs. He said it never would have happened back in the neighborhood then and 2, the scene with the dice game in the basement. My father said that some of the guys in the scene were Bronx guys (gangsters) that my father grew up with and DeNiro put them in for authenticity. I have no need to doubt my father who grew up with a bunch of characters, but since he does when I was relatively young, was wondering if his observations were correct. Hope the post is ok using my iPhone