What got you interested?

[johnny_scootch]

I remember going with my father to Walden Books to buy a copy of The Westies which had recently come out. I didn’t get around to reading it myself until a couple of years later and I liked it. That lead me to buy a copy of Goombata and when I saw the name Nicky Corozzo I was absolutely hooked. He’s only mentioned once but I knew the guy I had hung out and been around him with my father and uncles and here he is in this book I’m reading. That really fascinated me and I read every mob book I could get my hands on after that.

As far as forums go Tag recruited me from a sopranos forum and brought me to the Real Deal.

[miami_al]

I remember seeing a copy of Mobster by Cummings and Volkman in a bookstore in '99 or '00. I think I was vaguely aware of the name "John Gotti' but didn't know who he was. I'd liked 20s Chicago stuff as a kid, so it wasn't the biggest jump, especially the historical stuff. A lot of surnames were familiar from hiop-hop references. Picked a few more books up (Mafia Dynasty being my favourite of the early ones I picked up) and saw Goodfellas soon after...

[BlackDow]

Watching The Godfather with my step father as a boy hooked me on this stuff. When I started working we had a real character from Naples in the job and we got talking about it a bit one night while pissed up which was an eye opener. The reason he was in Scotland was to get away from all the shit at home.

[PolackTony]

Enjoying the responses.

Part of what drew me into doing actual research is the dopamine hit of finding new connections. This subject is a puzzle and finding out how many people and places fit together nationally, internationally, and historically is a wild ride.

Also I've always been into "guy stuff" like football, pro-wrestling as a kid, heavy metal, etc. There's a reason this subject overwhelmingly attracts dudes -- a fraternal secret society that enforces its own form of government via violence. You don't have to think the mafia is "cool" to find this stuff interesting but the subject speaks to something deep inside of men even if you hate what the mafia is. There's a reason men across the entire world throughout history have formed underworld organizations, secret societies, and brotherhoods whereas women don't.

Definitely a subject that leans strongly male, for the reasons that you’ve hinted at here. It is interesting to note when women are interested in the subject as well; my impression is that there’s often a sense of strong personal connection to it (Celeste Morello and Anna Sergi are probably both good examples of this) that motivates their interest, as opposed to guys who will have no personal connection to it but become completely fascinated with it. For example, I have several older female relatives back in Chicago who grew up in an era when the mob was a basic fact of life there and was all over the local press all the time. Some of them gambled, knew bookies, etc. My mother was an acquaintance of reputed outfit associate Joe Giacchino, and knew several other connected guys back in the day. These ladies are fans of The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, and the Sopranos, and while their interest in the subject is nothing like what we have on the forum, they ask me questions all the time about the outfit. I’ve told some people here offline before, but I also am a family friend of an elderly woman from East Harlem who has a great story about winning a “sit down” (as she calls it) with Vincenzo Rao back in the day at his house “upstate” (she successfully argued for Rao to stop squeezing her husband, a local businessman, for unpaid work). Her daughters remember the Raos well and grew up going to parties around those people. They’re not mafia nerds like us, but definitely think the subject is interesting and will talk about old stories at family parties and such.

These are all older women, which I think might be relevant, as, again, they came up in an era when this stuff was a much bigger general cultural phenomenon in places like Chicago and NYC. The only younger woman I know (my age, like late millennial/early Gen X) who has any interest whatsoever in it is my best friend’s wife. She’s actually enough of a fan to actively read books on the subject (she was terribly disappointed when I informed her that the Frank Sheeran book was largely bullshit) and even listens to podcasts (I recently put her on to Michael DiLeonardo’s show). She grew up in Dyker Heights and her father owned a neighborhood nightclub in BK back in the day, however, so she feels a strong sense of personal connection to the subject. She’s someone I could actually see being interested enough to even read a forum like this, but she’s not some random chick from some random place with a more abstract interest in it.

[HairyKnuckles]

For me, my interest started when I watched the TV show "The Gangster Chronicles", aired in the early 1980s (gosh I´m old lol). The show was cancelled after one season which sucked because I thought it was great. Then it was off to the local library and the only book they had (at that time, which was back in 1983) was Vincent Teresa´s "My Life in the Mafia". I thought it was great and must have borrowed the book at least 10-12 times. For a long time, I basically remembered every story described and every name mentioned in the book for a long time. That´s how nerdy I was.

[Shellackhead]

God damn most people here are old enough to be my father . That’s good to know.

[JeremyTheJew]

For me, my interest started when I watched the TV show "The Gangster Chronicles", aired in the early 1980s (gosh I´m old lol). The show was cancelled after one season which sucked because I thought it was great. Then it was off to the local library and the only book they had (at that time, which was back in 1983) was Vincent Teresa´s "My Life in the Mafia". I thought it was great and must have borrowed the book at least 10-12 times. For a long time, I basically remembered every story described and every name mentioned in the book for a long time. That´s how nerdy I was.

Yep before i was even born….

[JeremyTheJew]

My grandfather was a Jewish bookie. That’s what he did and he lived by it.

My dad was a drug dealer that died when I was 11. Grandfather at 14.
Then I watched goodfellas and it all made sense how they were with the nicknames and the general attitude of entitlement. Etc etc

What I admired most was my g father was 80 plus when he died and he still had his close friends and gamblers and gang Jewish gangsters were all real close STILL in here old age

Also….

This forum has kept me fully involved too

Some of these guys iv known longer then my baby mama or my best friend

Iv been following pogos charts for twenty or so years
Or back in the day read the “wiseguy vs everyone” posts n hes annihilate them with big words most the time
Met few ppl in person from here
N have even come on the board for support at times!!!

[Mustangsally]

My grandfather engaged in what would now be called human trafficking. In the 50s they called it "running girls". He essentially ran a whore house out of some apartments above the Italian club on South mill Street in New castle PA. He wasn't a mob connected guy as far as anyone knows, but was an Italian who engaged in the types of crime often associated with lcn. He went to prison when my dad was a kid, and the mom was a drunk, so some wonderful people adopted My father and became his real parents/my grandparents. There were always stories when I was a kid about "that side" of the family, as they were still alive into the 90s. The term mob was used often and loosely. I guess hearing about that opened the door.

[NothingNew44]

My mother grew up in Everett, MA right next to the city. That whole side of the family spent a lot of time in the North End, back then it was looked upon as an Italian ghetto. But it’s where they shopped and spent time socializing. Hanover street wasn’t the place it’s become today. There were very few restaurants, the area was mostly butcher shops, groceries, and delicacy stores. Growing up she told us stories about the people and many characters in the city. In the early 80s everybody relocated to Tampa. Some time later my uncle who was a pilot was arrested for transporting stolen goods. He spent a few years in prison and I remember when he got out. We never knew as kids what he did. So as we got older we learned it was in connection to organized crime. From that point on I was fascinated. Movies and books only cemented the interest and for a long time that’s how I learned. I didn’t research fully and seriously until the last ten years and here we are. I’ve learned a stupid amount from the members of this site. Sorry for the long story, but I love this site and the information everyone offers.

[Mustangsally]

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

Took this last week on my way through with you in mind. Hope it brings back good memories for you

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[Costigan]

I always enjoyed mob movies, like the Godfather 1 & 2, and had probably read some mob books in the 70s, (The Valachi Papers for sure) but in the early 1980s I read Jimmy Fratianno's book "The Last Mafioso" and I was in.

[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

Took this last week on my way through with you in mind. Hope it brings back good memories for you

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Wow - Charlie's Roost Thanx for the memories

[aleksandrored]

I started with the Godfather Trilogy, then i started watch more movies like Goodfellas and Casino, and watch documentaries like 10 commandments of Mafia and Inside the American Mob, so, I became more and more interested in the subject, I started reading books and watching more documentaries, then one day I found this forum, and here I am.

[Amershire_Ed]

The Godfather and Goodfellas sparked an initial interest for me when I was a teenager, but the Sopranos really put it into overdrive. However, Mafia Prince was the first book I read that really made me want to learn more than just a basic surface level. I read the book and listened to the book on tape on a long road trip and was hooked.

I tell ya what’s funny is that when I first became interested in the subject, I was mostly interested in learning about modern times. I wanted to know what the 5 families were doing in the 21st century. But the more I read and learn, the more I want to learn about the earliest iterations of “the mob”. I’ve really started to enjoy learning about what the Sicilian mafia was like in 1895 and 1907 and so forth.