If you had to be a historical mobster who would you be?

[John in Covina]

Davey Berman - An early early Las Vegas frontman.

 

[Lotta Little]

I'd be Dion O'Banion, as I am a North Sider in Chicago. I think it's too bad this thread took such a moralistic turn, rather than being a discussion of famous mob figures and their places in history. I come here for fun, and I don't always find it.

 

[Viola]

Viewing some of these mobsters and the lawmen who chased them in the context of their time, it's pretty hard to tell all the good guys from the bad guys.

 

[Tomasso]

Viewing some of these mobsters and the lawmen who chased them in the context of their time, it's pretty hard to tell all the good guys from the bad guys.

My father used to quip about the Chicago Outfit: "The real organized crime is in City Hall." lol

 

[Viola]

My father used to quip about the Chicago Outfit: "The real organized crime is in City Hall." lol

Ah, Chicago. The only city that can still teach my dear old hometown (Philadelphia) anything about corruption.

 

[Fedord Spaniard]

I'd be Dion O'Banion, as I am a North Sider in Chicago. I think it's too bad this thread took such a moralistic turn, rather than being a discussion of famous mob figures and their places in history. I come here for fun, and I don't always find it.

wow its rare for me to find a lady that knows about the chicago wiseguys or wiseguys in general. why O'Banion besides that he was a fellow northsider and what did you think of the valentine's day backlash?

 

[Fedord Spaniard]

Ah, Chicago. The only city that can still teach my dear old hometown (Philadelphia) anything about corruption.

i see youre another lady that seems to know about the mobbies. everythin in the wiseguy world in philly went into chaos after the angelo bruno hit just like the galante hit within the bonannos a year before.

 

[Lotta Little]

wow its rare for me to find a lady that knows about the chicago wiseguys or wiseguys in general. why O'Banion besides that he was a fellow northsider and what did you think of the valentine's day backlash?

I like Deanie O'Banion because of his contradictions--Irish choir boy and flower seller/murderous thief and purveyor of rotgut. The SVDM was bound to happen in some way or another, and was really the beginning of the end of what I think of as the North Side vs. South Side gang wars. Interestingly enough, one of the bullet holes from the Hymie Weiss hit is still in the stone in the front of Holy Name Cathedral. I've put my little finger in it.

 

[Viola]

i see youre another lady that seems to know about the mobbies. everythin in the wiseguy world in philly went into chaos after the angelo bruno hit just like the galante hit within the bonannos a year before.

Man, if I were grumpy, I would say Philadelphia never got messed up as bad by the likes of Waxey Gordon as it has been by some of our more delightful city officials.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

For the members of this forum familiar with organized crime history, if you had to be a historical mobster [who] would you be . . . ?

Johnny Dangerously. He never killed anyone, although he did cause Roman Maroni a few headaches.

If a thread asking to choose a private eye I'd like to be pops up: Rigby Reardon, Shell Scott, Kinky Friedman (the detective, not his author), Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Michael Shayne . . . .

For the record, I've read a few books about the mob(s) and their associates (including The Ice Man, Richard Kuklinski - a fascinating man who could never be "made") and am completely disinclined to become a criminal of any sort, regardless of my financial situation at any given time.


Lee

 

[John in Covina]

Viewing some of these mobsters and the lawmen who chased them in the context of their time, it's pretty hard to tell all the good guys from the bad guys.

*****
Plata Y Plomo.

 

[Lefty]

Johnny Dangerously.

You shouldn't hang me on a hook, Johnny. My father hung me on a hook once... Once.

 

[Lincsong]

I see nothing wrong with playing long dead mobsters and assorted crazies. As long as the actor realizes it's just make believe and knows that they are playing a criminal. I find it more offensive, those who try to emulate present day street gangs, drug dealers, extortionists et al. Someone who reached room temperature long ago is not a threat to present day life. Someone currently driving around in a 2003 Century with 22's could be a threat.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

He didn't dress like Bugsy Siegel.....

Here is one joker that won't make too many lists anywhere.

The anti-Lounge mobster Dutch Schultz, who used to brag he never paid more than two bucks for a shirt, and never more than thirty five bucks for a suit.

The picture of sartorial elegance :eusa_doh: :

 

[Viola]

I'm family-of-family sort-of-related to Dutch Schultz! lol

Not much like Bugsy Siegal, "Without style, a man's got nothing. You might as well be dead."

Well now they're both dead. Think Bugsy is still in a nicer suit? [huh]

 

["Skeet" McD]

Inside the walls of Sing-Sing

wow sing sing, that prison has had some of the biggest fish in mob history executed there.

Yes, indeed: and there were still a few very big fish around during my time there (1974–1979, if memory serves). It was an interesting time at Sing-Sing: it was, and will always remain a maximum security installation...but, being the only one of the NYS corrections facilities at all close to NYC...where, frankly, most of the criminal element in the state comes from...EVERYBODY wants to be there. It was also being used as a pre-release center....and, during the time that NYC was going bankrupt, was used as an overflow location for unsentenced men. A VERY diverse population.

What was interesting to me was the very, very sharp division between the old-line mobsters (mostly Italian, and mostly in their 40s to 70s) and the new brand of criminal (mostly in their 20s). These groups operated on very different sets of rules, and more or less loathed each other. They traveled in groups. I was working most of the time in the PX of the place, and ALL the mafiosi came in a group; then all the younger men, many of which were black and hispanic. Most, but not all, of my crews came from the latter population.

The death-house was no longer being used at that time and the chair had been moved out, but I've been down the longest mile and stood in the room where, as you say, many very famous criminals met their end.

If you want to see Sing-Sing from the inside, rent 20,000 Years in Sing-Sing (a good Golden Era movie, to boot!): it was all shot on location, right after the "new" half of the institution was built. Sing-Sing is odd in that the railroad runs right through the campus: the new part, built in the 20s, is called "up the hill"; the old part--and the only part till then--dates from the 1820s and is right on the Hudson River.

There is a major-league style ballpark inside the facility: it was built by the movie company. They couldn't pay the prisoners who appear in the film, so they built the park instead. For many decades (but not during my time) there was a ball team there, the Ossining Mutual Welfare team...the cons played the guards, and various professional and semi-professional teams came inside to play the prisoners as well.

I wish, FS, I could tell you some of the big-time mobsters I've certainly seen face-to-face (while selling them their linguine and clam sauce, I kid you not)...but, sadly, I don't know the names. You might well know who was there at that time...and seeing as I saw the entire population (except those in solitary) go by, month by month....if they were there...I saw 'em.

Ossining is my home town...and Sing-Sing is sort of the cottage industry there: almost everyone has worked at the prison at some point.

Cheers,
"Skeet"

 

[HungaryTom]

Rózsa Sándor (1813-1878)- outlaw, cattle thief, robber, killer he became our 'Robin Hood'
He spent his active years either on the run or in prison- what a romantic life

 

[Viola]

20,000 Years in Sing-Sing was a good movie, I found it on cable once and was enchanted.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I'm family-of-family sort-of-related to Dutch Schultz! lol

Not much like Bugsy Siegal, "Without style, a man's got nothing. You might as well be dead."

Well now they're both dead. Think Bugsy is still in a nicer suit? [huh]

Bugsy & Dutch both probably ended up in the same type of suit without a back.

Small world,...my Dad worked for a vending machine company in W.W.II up in Tastykake land, with some of Arthur's ex-pals. "Youze guys need a jukebox in yer bar".

 

[avedwards]

Not quite on topic, but it fits in.

I would be the character portrayed by Andy Garcia in the film The Untouchables. He has all the good attributes of a mobster: good fedora worn properly, good dress sense (I like the way he wears a leather jacket but makes it look smart), slicked back hair, Italian ancestry and handy with two revolvers. However he does not share the bad mobster habits such as inhumane killing.