I’ve watched all of the “GODFATHER” films, amnd read a lot of books on the Mafia/La Cosa Nostra. What I would like to know: is this an enjoyable profession? Seems like you always have to worry about getting whacked (killed), and the money isn’t always steady-sometimes the loan sharking racket doesn’tpay too well. So, you area minor “soldier” in the mob-what is your life like? Is it likepathetic Al Pacino’s characterin “Donny Brasco”? Or is oit a lotof fun-basically risding around, eating free mealsin restaurants, and terrorizing people? Does on ever “retire” from the Mafia?Or do most people wind up in a Mob burial grounfd in the Jersey marshes?
Gangsters don’t retire. They get chubby and move to Miami.
In general, it is difficult or impossible to retire from the mafia. One might break down the dangers of mafia life into three different types of people who are trying to kill you.
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People who want to take what you have (either other gangs moving in on your turf or people in your own organization wanting to take over your position).
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People out for revenge for things you or your allies have done to them or their buddies in the past.
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People afraid you will rat them out to the government.
When you retire from the mob, you eliminate the danger from category 1. But the other two categories remain, and you are more helpless to resist them, as your loyal army of goons is gone. Further, the danger of the third category is likely to increase even more. Most people who retire from the mob are people who are worn out and looking for some final peace. But the government never lets up, they keep coming after you, and many mob retirees are likely to try to sue for peace - make a deal to sit a little and put it all behind them. This fact - or even perception - is frequently a death sentence.
Sam Giancana comes to mind as one example. But there are many others.
As with so many things, it’s a matter of degree.
My grandfather pursued his career in numbers with minimal interference from law enforcement. He sent most of his nine children to college, bowled competitively into his eighties and is a fairly healthy (though crotchety) 94 today. He’s not retired, though, he and his wife still run numbers.
It’s not been an easy life, but it’s been a fairly happy one. His involvement with organized crime is, though, fairly low key and minimal.
I have the silliest question ever. What is ‘running numbers’?
Illegal gambling. Think of a lottery run by a guy on a street corner rather than the state.
Small bets, but big volume. A consistent underworld moneymaker.
My Uncle was in the Mafia and we lived in Mount Vernon NY. (this was about 35 years ago)
I can tell you that he always had people over to the house and there was always a flurry of activity happening. It was very common to go to a restraunt and they would close it down just for the family. (I don’t know how he did it) Someone was always chomping on cigars and gambling.
I felt like a Princess when I walked down the street with him. People were afraid of him.
He ended up going to jail for something he didn’t do for a long time and when he got out he was told to whack someone. He pleaded his case that he had a family and he just got out of jail could he not do it and they let him off the hook. (This story was handed down to me by his older daughter)
He stayed very active with the group until his death.
To my knowledge he is the only family member that was invovled with the Mafia.
In Cyprus a close friend of my familiy was head of the Turkish-Cypriot mafia, anyone who has read Laurence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons will know of him (The ‘loveable rogue’ Sabri). I remember people were very scared of him, when we visted his hotel/casio in Nicosia the staff there were rushed off there feet trying tom please him. He certainly seemed to enjoy the lifestyle, but in the end he lost alot of his power (at one time he was mayor of Kyrenia, which was a big thing considering at the time most Turks were ghettoised into small villages) and his legs in a failed assasination attempt both his legs were blasted off with a machine gun, later his son was murdered before finally a few years ago he himself was murdered.
Hey you morons didn’t they tell you not to discuss the family business? Why I ought to whack you myself! 
An old Italian Mafia Don is dying and he calls his grandson to his bed. “Grandson, I wanna you lisina to me. I wanna for you to taka my chrome-plated .38 revolver so you will always remember me.”
“But grandpa, I really don’t like guns. How about you leaving me your Rolex watch instead.”
"You lisina to me. Somma day you gonna be runna da business, you gonna have a beautiful wife, lotsa money, a big home and maybe a couple of bambino.
Somma day you gonn coma home and maybe finda you wife inna bed with another man.
"Whatta you gonna do then? “Pointa to your watch and say, TIMES UP ?”
My question really was: Is the Mafia lifestyle (good money, eating out in restarants, shrap clothes, etc., worth the DOWNSIDE (fear of gettin whacked)? Seems to me, a job in the Mafia is not for those who don’t have steady nerves. Suppose you are a good soldier, you do everything the Godfather wants! Yet, one day you are summoned, and asjked (gasp) to ride IN THE FRONT SEAT OF THE CAR! Maybe the guy behind you has a grrote, maybe not! You don’t know whether you are headedto a 25th anniversary celebration, or a grave in the Jersy Marshes!
I coudn’t take that kind of life!
I think to some people it is worth it. The Mafia was first formed to protect and safeguard and somewhere it ran amuck.
But you can ask the very same thing of bank robbers and serial killers. Sometimes the “thrill” is what they need to run in their veins to feel alive. The thrill of the chase can be exhillerating. (sp?)
What good is having a lot of money if you’re dead?
Four out of five of the guys my wife knew when she was in Ukraine involved in this are dead, and the fifth was run off to Russia after killing three people. He’s now back, and probably in politics. One survived a car bomb that took out all the windows in a small block, but was later shot in a different country. So no, I don’t think it’s as glamourous as hollywood makes it.
Life with me is all rainbows and happiness and lollipops and teddy bears. I go outside and the sun shines just for me. Everyone sings songs to please me and if anything doesn’t turn out quite right, I cap them. Pow pow!
I think to be a “made” man in the Mafia, a full member, you have to make your bones, i.e., kill someone. Not in a duel or anything, you have to gun them down in cold blood. So in addition to being cool with the very real possibilty of being murdered, you’d have to be cool with actually murdering others.
I doubt numbers runners and such have to go through such rituals, they just have to make sure they pay their respects, or protection money as it’s also called, to the local Mafia rep.