By "into" I mean interested in. For me, it was The Godfather. I wasn't even into the real life Mafia (hadn't even heard of John Gotti) until I joined this board, and after a while I started reading posts in here. Now I am hooked. Even though I still don't have a clue who John Gotti is.

Mick

I've always been interested in true crime. I'd get lots of books from the library on all sorts of criminals, serial killers, arsonists, etc etc, this invariably led me to finding the 'Mafia' section too and once discovered I was hooked and fascinated by the whole trip!! (Those gory photos they showed of the bodies helped to horrify and fascinate too )
When I saw the fliks Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas etc it was the icing on the cake for me ha!!

FH

Definately The Godfather, I did like mob films prior to seeing that such as Goodfellas/Casino. But once I saw The Godfather my perspective on La Cosa Nostra changed forever. I watched it when I was 15 and had a little tiff with my then bird. Then I read the novel and went onto another Puzo book by poor chance that my parents owned. The Sicilian.

Never looked back since.

I'm pretty sure it was The Godfather.

Not only did The Godfather turn me into the Mafia, it also turned me into De Niro, Pacino, Brando movies.

I watched The Godfather, searched the net for some sites with background-info. And I came across this board and registered. After that I checked out "Organized Crime - Real Life" from time to time, and that's how I got "into" the mob.

The Godfather,and my grandpa used to tell me stories when I was younger about it.

for me it started when i saw the movie GoodFellas. followed by The Godfather then became interested in reading books . . .

GoodFella

I became interested after I rented both GF1, and GF2 awhile back. After watching both movies, I became enthralled by the mafia I wanted to know everything I could. I'm talking Names, Dates, Events, Places.

And I thought I knew quite a bit, that is until I came across this BB, and Turnbull in particular.

In the Sixties my father sent me to the corner to buy the New York Daily News. I saw a pretty rough guy on the front page. The headlines read "Valachi Sings". When I got home I asked my dad what the headline meant. He said..."This is the way things are..' He told me what he knew, what many New Yorkers knew; docks, trucks, unions..and through the years we're still learning.

My interest in gangsters started with The Untouchables tv show I guess; My parents would watch it every week and I became interested in it as well. Also I enjoyed some old Cagney and/or Edward G. Robinson movies (and others) when they'd come on tv.

However, GF re-enforced my interest in it to the point where 30 some years later, I actually went on line and joined a gangster BB!! And the rest, as the say is "History"!!!!

TIS

Ain't that the truth. Turnbull is a Walnut Tree in this peanut gallery.

Hey, I'm just one of many (mostly) nice trees that have taken root in this fertile ground.
What got me into the Mafia was the famous Profaci War of 1960-61. As I mentioned in other threads: the NY Daily News ran an unforgettable photo of Larry Gallo (Crazy Joe's older brother) with a big red mark around his neck, after a cop happened by and broke up an attempt to garrot him in the back of a bar on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn. Then (long-defunct) Look magazine had a feature on the Gallos on the mattresses in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The reporter came across a dwarf named Armando (Punchy) Iliano among the Gallo thugs on the mattresses. He asked Crazy Joe what Punchy was doing there. "He's our dwarf," said Larry, as if to say, "Doesn't your employer have a dwarf? Doesn't everyone?" I was hooked after that.

There are many elements that led me too my interest in the mob. Here are some that I will list

A. I am sure that many people are Familiar with Mobs in MARVEL Superheroes. One such man is the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk. A Spiderman (and DareDevil) villain. The Kingpin commands all the east coast Mobs. There is a sicilian gangster named Silvermane, who commands his own family. Both men are major enemies of eachother and spiderman.

B. Another element that got me into the Mafia was this. My favorite superhero from Hell:Spawn. Spawn began whacking Mob hit men in the dark alleyways of NYC. Mafia Don, Tony Twist, the boss of bosses in New York state, sent another batch of assassins to find out who killed them. When they began killing the Alleys homeless people in an attempt to find the perpetrator, Spawn intervenes making the hitmen where the heads backwords and neutralizing their bones. Tony twist was fed up with this that he called his connection with the Sicilian Mafia. The sicilian Mafia responded by sending their hulking murder machine named Overkill. Overkill is a half Human/Cyborg. Tony Explains to Overkill about his situation and promises to pay Overkill top dollar. Overkill finds Spawn in the Alleys and a battle goes on. Spawn not only has to fight Overkill but protect the Homeless who may be caught in the middle. Overkill has the abilities to shoot missle from his arms as well as firing a machine gun from his stomach. When Overkill shot Spawn does some damage to Overkill's circuits which ticked off the hulking monster. Overkill Shoot 6 missles at one and Spawn is weakened by the fray with 1 step getting closer to hell. Instead of using his hell born-powers to destroy Overkill he decides to use Military weapons. He breaks into a facility and steals some. He finds Overkill and uses the guns. Overkill is reduced to metal scrapes and tattered flesh. Spawn warns Tony Twist to stay out of the Alleys. Now that Overkill is destroyed Tony has to answer to the Sicilian Mafia

My family's history.

I have always had a thing for Mafia movies. They are like none other.

i got into it by watching real documentaries of the history of organized crime from lucky luciano to al capone to john gotti (just a few of my favorites)

In 1964, when I was 15, I made a bet with the counterman in a bowling alley where I hung out (note to TB & SC: Kenmore Lanes, Church & Flatbush) that Cassius Clay would beat Sonny Liston. I got 7-1 odds from the guy, and won $35. That was a fair sum back then, and this guy wanted a chance to win his money back, so he invited me to play poker with him and his "friends" in a game above a garage (Snyder Ave or maybe Parkside Ave, definitely between Bedford & Rogers Aves.).

The place turned out to be a mob run poker club (not an "executive" game, tho), and the guy running it didn't have any scruples about letting a 15 year old play. Turned out to be a good place to hang out when cutting school (Erasmus), and since I played a decent game of poker even at the tender age of 15, I was able to while away many pleasant afternoons there.

The characters I met there, you wouldn't believe. Presumably the guy running it was at least an associate, and I could tell by the deference shown a couple of the players that they were made guys. I've been fascinated ever since.

Godfather...that did it for me

Then it was Goodfella's...

Then it was Scarface...

Then it was Road to Perdition...

Then I found this place!! I'm only 16, but thanks to you guy, I now more about the Mafia/Mob life/Orgnized Crime than my Social Studies/History Teacher!! (who claims to know all on these subjects.) Thanks again for all the info.


-Ethereal

Great story, plawrence! But you didn't say how you made out in that game...
--Turnbull (veteran of Nevins Lanes, where they still used human pinspotters)

I remember definitely winning that first time. Even back in the early stages of my poker career I tended to be careful against players I didn't know, and the competition was rather weak. And for a 15 year old, I think I played a fairly strong game.

I spent many summers at a bungalow colony back then, where the main activity among the men was card playing. All the husbands would arrive from the city on Friday night, and after dinner a poker game would start that, with different people coming and going, would last until late Sunday. While other kids were on the ballfield or at the swimming pool, I was busy watching seven card stud and gin rummy. And there were some good players there. The same guys were consistent winners, and I learned a lot from watching them.

The last summer there, I was a junior counselor in the day camp, and at the end of the season there was a counselor's poker game, with everyone playing with their tip money. I pretty much cleaned everybody out. I remember when the game was over, I had about $300, and wanted to play in the "big" game with the men, but of course they wouldn't let me.

How did I get "in"? Well I always wanted to see the Untouchables, but I live in the UK and I had to wait about 30 years. (When the shows arrived I discovered they were about the FBI not gangsters!)

I'm a Fraud Office by profession, and thus have an interest in crime, but mainly I love Italy and everything (yes, EVERYTHING) about it. I'm also a military historian and a big fan of Pacino.

Sooo, take a bit of Italy, a touch of violence, mix it with Organised crime and, Bada Beep, Bada Boop I was in.

"My whole life all I ever wanted to be was a gangster" - quote from where?

Probably the fact that my grandpa and uncle were great friends with Anthony Spilotro (Joe Pesci portrayed him under a new name, Nicky Santoro, for Scorsese's Casino). My Grandpa has pictures of him and everything, and says aside from his business, he was a really good guy. Unfortunately, he got buried alive in an Indiana cornfield in the mid 80s.

After my Grandpa told me about all this, I really started getting into mob movies and viewed The Godfather Trilogy (I'd seen them before, but I was too small to remember) and then proceeded to view all the other great mobster movies (GoodFellas, Scarface, The Untouchables, Casino). Now I love em all! And coming from a Sicilian family makes me appreciate them more, I guess.

Cool story P. Lawrence!!! Where you ever fearful at any time? Were any of these "made" members intimidating at all? Do you remember any of their names?

TIS

We're talking almost 40 years ago. I'm lucky I even remember the story.

But there was this one guy, Sal, who worked there and took care of the fish tank. I swear.

P. Lawrence,

I didn't mean to imply that this is just a " story "! (as in made up). You italicized it so, I didn't know if you took it the wrong way!

Anyway....just to clarify!


TIS

It was definitely the Godfather. I don't think I would have had any interest at all if it weren't for the Godfather. I first saw the films shortly after Part III came out. I actually had become a huge Andy Garcia fan, and someone suggested I go rent Part III. Then I rented Part II and Part I (in that order!!) and I was hooked, mesmerized. I started reading non-fiction on the mafia and renting other Al Pacino films and a few mob movies also. I'm not quite as interested as I was 10 years ago, but it still a very interesting part of history to me....

I got into Mafias because when I was 11 this nice guy that would always give me 5 dollars to go to the candy store and buy candy got shot point blank in the face with a gun while he was in his car. I was playing basketball and he was driving in the car with his girlfriend and this guy ran up with a bandana around his gun and shot him in the face twice and ran. I asked his brother why it happend and he said "He messed with the wrong people" and then in the news paper it said he had Mafia Connections and he stole a motorcycle from this one mobster and gave it to this other mobster and one of the mobsters friends found out who stole the bike. I was tramatized for a year and then I watched Goodfellas and then it led from there.

I guess I've always had this unconscious love for the mafia, when I played GTA3 for the first time I really loved the part where you work for the Mafia, and when a mafia film once came on, don't know what it was, I enjoyed it. When I heard that the tapes labelled 'The Godfather' that I had observed on my living room shelf since I was 4, and could read, were great films about a mafia family, I decided to watch them.
Bing!

The Godfather & Grand Theft Auto. Also, I like history starting mainly post 1865 so...

Definitely The Godfather. One weekend when I was 16, my mother and brother had gone to a soccer tournament, so I was home with my dad, and he said, "Why don't we go rent a movie?" One of my closest friends is really into the Mafia, and was always telling me how wonderful The Godfather is. So I told my dad, "well, I've never seen the Godfather." His response was "Really?!?!" So we rented GFI and GFII, and about a week later, GFIII. I was completely hooked. So I went to the library and started checking out books on the Mafia, and one day when I was bored, I ended up here. And it continues to feed my obsession!