What got you interested?

[CabriniGreen]

Actually... one of the things that got me reading about Sicilians was Hoppers rant in True Romance...

And... if you can believe this shit... playing Age of Empires, The Byzantines. Somehow this got me reading about Italy, I think, lol.... and I fucking Loved Rome.....the TV show...

[CabriniGreen]

Just an aside, but the Aventine gangs in that show were mafia to me...

[CabriniGreen]

And I wasn't shaming Sonny... we all weirdos with this shit... Sonny is great

[Uforeality]

Back in the early 80's my mom would tell me stories about the mafia in Los Angeles.

[Shellackhead]

Watching The Godfather, started reading about it thinking it was true until I touched upon the word La Cosa Nostra. I was probably 9 years old at the time

[thekiduknow]

Kid -- I was in a sociology / US history program my first or second year of school and realized I could save time by doing projects based on the mob books I was already reading. Did a presentation about the mafia and tried to show the induction ceremony from the Bronson movie (back when Netflix mailed you DVDs) but the DVD player didn't work so I got to stand there with my dick (actually my notes, same thing) in my hand trying to describe the ceremony. Didn't exactly seduce the college girls with that one... I remember seeing their blank faces staring out at me.

It would be f'n painful to read the paper that went along with it, though it mainly pulled from Valachi Papers and Underboss.

Could have pulled a Massino. “Normally, we’d have the DVD player working. But in these hard times, we are not going to be showing you that scene.”

[thekiduknow]

B. talked about this on one of his audios, but there’s something about the ranks that makes this subject so fascinating.

At first when I got interested in the Bonanno War, it was because I was interested by the conflict between an individual family and the Commission. But the more I looked into it, I became obsessive about figuring out who was promoted/demoted, who was in which crew. I know there’s a definite answer that I’ll never get, too much has been lost to history, but it’s so much fun piecing together what I can find.

The NYT writer Charles Grutzner said it best: "The best stories about organized crime, including the inner politics of the organization, result from just piecing together bits of information or conjecture obtained from different official sources (not always in agreement), checking record; of unsolved murders or of trials deemed too insignificant for the newspapers to have covered, and then putting the jigsaw puzzle together.”

Nowadays we can add ancestry.com, old books on the internet archive, FBI files redacted half to death. Piecing together the parts of puzzle is what keeps me going in this subject.

[The Greek]

knowing Frankie Lentin as a kid and my Dad telling me he was "mafia". My cousin always talking about playing cards w Joey Naples and other mob guys. Then watching Bill Kurtis Philly doc on A & E in the early 90's. The first book I read was Donnie Brasco, then I was off and running.

[FriendofHenry]

When I turned 13 my Dad got invited to bring me with him to JoJo Pecora's hunting camp, Charlie's Roost, in Tionesta,PA
That's where I met Michael Genovese, I was already familiar with Charlie Murgie but spending a couple of weeks under the same roof with them

[mike68]

Just a general fascination with the lifestyle, the perspective and the mindset involved to live this sort of life. And it probably started with the Godfather. For me, it was also reading up on the New England mob stories starting with the Angiulo era and the war in the 90's.

[PaddyWhack]

My great grandfathers mysterious death and growing up next door to LA mob associates..

[B.]

And I wasn't shaming Sonny... we all weirdos with this shit... Sonny is great

I was kidding you. I appreciate your answer and truy didn't expect anyone to mention Age of Empires here haha. One of the only computer games I ever played was the 2nd one, amazing game.

[Pogo The Clown]

Speaking of computer games this was the only one I ever really played. I got it not long after getting hooked on LCN.


Gangsters where you are mob boss who has take over the city in competition with other groups. Really addictive strategy game.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iC8p2k86Qg8

[Old Schooled]

My uncle knew i was interested in true crime, so during a trip he bought me the Jimmy Brown & Joey Cigars book about the garbage rackets, of course at the time i had no clue who these men were, but that led to me buying Selwyn Raab's book The Five Families, and ive been fascinated with Cosa Nostra ever since, their strucuture, their power & influence, their discipline, their rules, the way they can explicitly threaten you but word it in a way where they dont incriminate themselves, their propensity for murder and ability to get away clean, the fact that alot of wiseguys are successful criminals, owning homes, business's & cars etc...This Thing has so many interesting aspects to it, but mainly the fact that a few street guys off the corner created something that still flourishes today 90 years later

[NickleCity]

I am a midwest guy who was transplanted in WNY. As such I knew nothing about the mafia. I had only been in Buffalo a year or two when I was driving to work flipping thru the radio chanels and heard a couple of DJ's talking about the robbery at La Nova. They were going on about why would someone try to rob the place?

Since I missed the beginning of the segment I had no idea what they were talking about so I looked up La Nova/the Todaros and found out about their alleged ties to the Buffalo mob. Until then I was unaware of the mob history in WNY. Needless to say I was intrigued and started to ask some of my friends about it, many of them of Italian descent.

My friends told me about how large and powerful the family used to be. I ask if thought thought it was still around. Most assured me it still was. Some shared personal antidotes of family members who had been involved in or on the fringes of. As I found out more I started to realize that my kids were going to a school with the kids of a known mob associate and likely member. They played ball with and against mob associates/members' kids and grandkids. One of my kids even overheard his teammate talking about his grandfather's involvement. BTW my family and I no longer live anywhere near WNY that is why I'm comfortable sharing what I have.

These are some of the reasons I started to get interest in and research the mob in Buffalo. My interest is narrow cause I don't have time to broaden my scope. I am, however amazed at the breadth and detail of knowledge some of you have.