Was Moe Greene a made man? When he says "I made my bones when you were going out with Cheerleaders" did he literally mean he was a made man?
If he was, how did this work with Jewish gangsters? He couldn't be a made man with the Italian mafia, so which organisation would have given him his "honour"?
How would this have worked with Italian made men? Would the Italians respect this in the same way they respect their own made men?

No I always thought Moe was Jewish and could never be made. "Making your bones" in the context Green used it was a simple reference to killing, not being "made." He was probably very much like Sam Rothstein from Casino or Jimmy Burke from Goodfellas.

Green & Roth probably had a lot of mafia friends. Remember the line Johnny Ola gave to Michael: "Hyman Roth always makes money for his partners." Non-Sicilians like Roth & Green were connected to the mobsters in a lot of dealings, but never truly inducted into the Families.

Guys like Rothstein, Roth & Green all figured that it was either get shaken down by the mob or work with them. As was stated in Casino, it makes a point applicable to Roth & Green and other non-Sicilians: "Keepin' Remo happy with money was the greatest insurance policy in the world." "Get this through your head, you Jew motherf-. You only exist out here because of me! That's the only reason! Without me, you personally, every f-in' wiseguy skell around'll take a piece of your f-in' Jew ass! Then where you gonna go?!

I don't know whether or not there was a requirement that people in Roth's operation had to "make their bones," but Moe was obviously a made guy, and he wanted to tell Mike as much to try to intimidate him. He obviously had a low regard for the sons of Vito Corleone, probably because he knew that Sonny had been a terrible Don, and because of his first hand experiences with Fredo. I think he saw Mike as a young smart-ass who he could push around, hence the line "I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders." In that same conversation he made it clear to Mike that he "talks to Barzini" that he he could make a deal with Barzini and keep his casino, and that the Corleone family didn't have much "muscle anymore," and that they were being run out of New York.

Green was not a "made man". You have to be %100 Italian to be made in the Italian Mafia. Jewish mobsters had their own "gangs" that dealt with the Italian Mafia, but they were never officially a part of it.

Awesome, some great replies there. And pretty damn swift too!

Just to expand on all this, if you know the story of Bugsy Siegel, you can understand Moe's position with the Mafia a little better.

Like Siegel, Green spent his youth as an average gangster, doing jobs for other criminals, both jewish and otherwise. Most likely, just like Siegel, Green made friends with many other Italian mobsters.

Now, Siegel was always good friends with Luciano and he eventually became his man in Vegas. If anyone ever bothered Siegel, they would expect some sort of vengence from Luciano. However, Luciano was eventually forced to kill him for various reasons.

Green, while I don't beleive that he was ever friends with any of the Corleones, was a big earner for them. He was important and therefore would probably be avenged if some kind of harm struck him. However, he was NOT made, this is for sure. He just meant that he new much more about this line of work then this little, aarogant guinea, that he was forced to call Don Michael Corleone. With a German-Irish Consigliere and with a young, inexperienced heir to the Corleone throne, a made Jew was all they needed and they would most likely be laughed out of New York.

That's great info, thanks.
One question however; did the Jewish gangsters have their own equivalent of "made men"?

No. Before Prohibition, Jewish gangs were generally larger than other ethnic gangs, and did have a hierarchy or pecking order. But during Prohibition, Jewish mobs generally allied themselves with others (including Italians) for specific business purposes. They didn't build "families" per se. Although Lansky and Siegel were among the biggest operators during Prohibition, they most often worked with Charlie Luciano, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello to move and sell booze. Abner (Longie) Zwillman, one of the biggest rumrunners on the East Coast, was one of the "Big Six" who formed to dominate booze during the 1929 Atlantic City gangsters convention. The others were Lansky, Siegel, Luciano, Costello and Joe Adonis.

I think that when Moe Green said " I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!" he was actually saying to Mike that he "Paid His Dues" wayyyy before Mike was anything in mob circles.


Don Cardi

Don Cardi, that is most likely why Moe said that. It was his way of expressing to Mike that he was offended by what Mike had to say because he knew that Mike would understand the reference. It's basically saying something like "I was a member of this board when you were still learning to write your name."

Many on here definately would agree with that analogy!



Don Cardi

I heard of some real life mafiosos who were italian but of greek lineage and were still made

nope you had to be full Italian