Let's not forget forget Donny Brasco - I grew up around mafia families in NY (Both childhood friends of mine, and some Capos were childhood friends of my father. My Uncle is the only man I know who got a business loan from connections and did not have to lose half his business or pay too huge a vig. And of course, I remember more than a few times my favorite pizzeria or restaurant closing at 3 in the afternoon <G>.
Larry On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 12:15 PM, Raymond Feist/New ATT < [email protected]> wrote: > > On May 26, 2013, at 12:14 AM, Nick Andrews <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have always enjoyed reading about it. Not quite the romanticized > Hollywood world many seem to think of it, but I still like the movie Good > fellas. > > > > Except Goodfella's isn't "Hollywood." It's a biography of the character > played by Ray Liota, Henry Hill, who is a real person. > > Two other exceptional films on the mob are Casino, another biography of a > real person, and L.A. Confidential, which is fact based fiction. > > Books like Murder Machine paint quite a different light on the subject. > The results of Prohibition had such a profound effect on the development of > this nation in the first half of the twentieth century. Makes me wonder > what might have been if those guys had simply reported the income and paid > the taxes... But I imagine you're right and eventually the massive > corruption in the government officials would have toppled it anyway. Not > unlike certain recent events. > > They couldn't, given while it would have made the iRS happy on one hand, > getting their taxes, it would have alerted them on the other hand. Most > people don't recall that at that time the IRS had enforcement > responsibility over Prohibition, not the F.B.I which was seen as strictly > an information gathering agency until 1932 when it got more enforcement > authority. > > The movie Gomorrah was interesting and not quite what I expected. What > books about the Mafia did you find to be the most interesting? > > > Start with Godfather. While highly fictionalized, it represents to a > large degree the evolution of the culture from the old "Mustache Pete's" > Manzaria and Maranzano, to the five families. Bill Bonnano's four books > on growing up as the son of a Don are fascinating. The one I mentioned > above, Wiseguy by Nick Paleggi (which became Goodfella's because of a title > issue which meant they couldn't call it Wiseguy), For a more modern take, > check out Organized crime by Howard Abadinsky. > > Best, R,.E.F. > > -- If you want to take the island, then burn your boats. With absolute commitment come the insights that create real victory. -Tony Robbins
