I am always fascinated by the Mafia, and popular depictions of it are usually wrong. One thing I never understood-are most Mafia “women” (wives and daughters of the wiseguys) aware of how their spouses and dads actually earn a living?
Take Tony Soprano’s daughter-she seems amazingly naive-does she realize that her beloved dad strongarms people (and occassionally kills them)?
I remember that stupid show that ran for a while (“Growing Up Gotti”)-Vicki Gotti seemed unaware of how much misery the family fortune was built on.
Are Mafia wives “advised” to ask no questions and keep their mouths shut?
Or do they accept the immoral nature of the biz, and accept it (in view of the nice incomes)?
Meadow Soprano was aware of her father’s “business”. She told her brother about it, and I also remember her discussing it with her dad once in a car - he was sorta “erm, erm, well…” and she was all “Dude, I know, it’s not a big deal.”
IIRC his wife knew also, of course. But she was very careful not to learn too much about the details - both for her peace of mind and for legal reasons.
I went to elementary school with a kid whose father was “made” in the Buffalo Family. When he was arrested for racketeering, the once popular boy was now the subject of a bit of teasing. He constantly denied that his father was in the Mob. I don’t know if he really knew, or he was just in denial.
You could be sure of who wasn’t in the Mafia; it was the fathers of children whose kids bragged about it all the time. Most Italians in Buffalo came from a relatively small number of villages in Southern Italy and Sicily, so many people have a last name that is shared with someone who is made.
Not a Sopranos fanatic but I remember the episode when she showed her brother a website about mobsters and their father’s picture on it. She said something like “you think we have a house like this because dad’s in sanitation?” I think kids in school were teasing him. Not sure it was a long time ago. I think it was early in the run.
My neighborhood was so tough, we teased the Mafia kids. :eek:
Meadow clearly wrestled with her feelings about her father, but by the end of the show she had rationalized his involvement in the mob. I think David Chase said that out of all the characters in the show, Meadow was the one most capable of escaping the mob life because of her education. But at the end of the show she gave up medical school to become a lawyer and got engaged to Patsy’s son. It was bittersweet because she was making choices that would keep her tied to the mob forever.
How funny. I almost never watched the show - I’ve seen maybe 90 minutes of the show’s entire run. But I remember that also…
Joe
I think that was the ep where A.J. (the brother) got into a fight with another classmate whose father told him to back down (because he knew A.J.'s father was Tony Soprano and he didn’t want to get on Tony’s bad side). A.J. thinks he’s a bad ass and then some other kids make remarks about how it’s because of his father, and I think that leads A.J. to talk to Meadow who explains it to him.
She flat out asked Tony if he was in the mob when they went on the trip to visit colleges and he said no. That was the same trip where he found a guy in the witness protection plan and killed him.
Meadow knows, even before she goes to college. In one excellent episode (sorry I can’t recall the name or even the series) where the father of a guy Meadow knows in high school becomes indebted to Tony. Eventually he can’t make the payments and Tony takes not just his business but his son’s car. Which Tony then gives to Meadow much to her distress (and Carmela’s disgust).
This episode takes place after the college episode (in the episode, “College,” she isn’t going away to college, just visiting a bunch of schools while in the process of applying).
Also, Bijou, doesn’t Tony actually say, “yes,” when she asks him–after she tells him not to BS her?
He hedges on it. His exact quote is something like “There is no mafia! A *portion *of my income comes from gambling” and what not. It’s probably as close to “yes” as he could come.
But then he says that yes, some of his money comes from illegal gambling and other illegal things. He doesn’t go into specifics. But Meadow is touched by his honesty enough that she later admits that she did speed while studying for the SATs earlier in the series.
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the episode, but I seem to recall that he also tried rationalizing it by saying that Italian Americans had limited opportunities for advancement when he was coming up, to which Meadow retorted, 'Like Mario Cuomo?"
I think Meadow resolved her moral conflict by going into law and focusing on government overreach in investigating/prosecuting the mob. I recall her getting all huffy and lecturing her boyfriend at least once on the abuses the government was heaping on people she knew because of potential mob connections.
Also, I think it’s quite possible that Meadow believed her dad was involved in organized crime, while still not believing that he’d do anything as bad as killing someone. It’s pretty easy to convince yourself that Dad is just ‘shaving the corners’ a little bit, or even that he’s a philanthropist, helping local people in the community while sticking it to the man.
Another way you can fool yourself is to come to believe that everyone does it, that the big bosses are really the politicians and business leaders who are corrupt, and that your Dad’s corruption is either an unavoidable response to working in a corrupt system, or even an opposing form of corruption that takes power away from the real bad guys.
It’s always easy for bad people to justify their badness, and for willing accomplices to swallow their BS because it’s easier than taking the harder, moral path. That works for everyone from the children of mobsters to people who skim a little out of the till because they think the money will just be used by corrupt bigwigs anyway.
That’s why countries where the rule of law is degraded see such a fast rise in corruption throughout society. Once you become convinced that the deck is stacked against you or that the playing field is unfair, it’s very easy to talk yourself into doing the same thing.