Spaghetti and coffee for two. Little Caesar 1931 starring Edward G Robinson & Douglas Fairbanks junior & Glenda Farrell & William Collier junior & Sidney Blackmer & Ralph Ince & Stanley Fields & Maurice Black et al, director Mervyn LeRoy, Joe
Once in the gang – you know the rest. I’ve never seen the guy that could get away with it yet. ibid. Joe
Olga, you can’t go back on a gang. ibid. Joe
I’m taking over this territory. From now on its mine. ibid. Rico
In the years following the passage of the National Prohibition Act of 1920 the nation’s underworld rises to power and battles among itself. The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre 1967 starring George Seagal & Jason Robards & Ralph Meeker & Jack Nicholson & Jean Hale & Jan Merlin & Clint Ritchie & David Canary & Harold J Stone et al, director Roger Corman
Use No Slugs. ibid. sign on wall
That’s the trouble with this country. Its morals are all shot. I mean, look at the young people. Girls throwing cigarettes right out into the street, and rocking in the backseat of a car, and wearing skirts so short you can see everything they’ve got. ibid. Capone
Everybody calls me Al. Capone 1975 starring Ben Gazzara & Harry Guardino & Susan Blakely & Sylvester Stallone & John Cassavetes & Frank Campanella & John Orchard & Carmen Argenziano & George Chandler & John Davis Chandler & Royal Dano et al, director Steve Carver
I’m gonna tell you something. From now on we’re gonna be dealing with a lot of important people: judges, lawyers, businessmen, big politicians. To get anywhere with them you gonna have to learn to look like them, walk like them, dress like them, and more important talk like them. ibid. Torrio to Scarface
Guilty? What about? Ah, you think that Rockefeller guy feels guilty? ibid. him to her
What, is he nervous? A Better Way to Die 2000 starring Lou Diamond Phillips & Scott Wiper & Jack Conley & Carmen Argenziano & Richard Haje & Mo Gallini & Rolando Molina & Kirk McKinney & Jefferson Moore et al, director Scott Wiper, gangsta/rozzers in car opening scene
Get with the programme, kid. Or get the hell out. ibid. gangsta/rozer to gangsta/rozzer
This is what separates us from the rest of the world: we don’t have law as a net; in the end everything gets physical. Big Jim Colosimo
Arrested more than 70 times for assault, larceny, bombing and murder, he personally tortured some of his victims, and is thought responsible for 200 killings. Reputations: Sam Giancana: The Gangster Who Dreamed, BBC 1996
Sam Giancana was boss of the Chicago Mafia. And without doubt the most powerful gangster in America. But what made Giancana different was not his violence but his dreams.
Giancana vanished into exile in Mexico, taking with him some of the deepest secrets of government. ibid.
Bootlegging had made him rich. ibid.
Sam Giancana was making a fortune in Havana. ibid.
Neither his caretaker nor police officers watching his house heard the six shots that killed Sam Giancana at midnight on June 19th 1975. ibid.
The sharp-dressing guy who takes way too little credit for way too much. Cross him once wake up dead – just ask Kennedy. Momo: The Sam Giancana Story, Youtube 1.49.03, 2011
Grew up in ‘the patch’ known as the Spaghetti belt where Italian immigrant came to recreate their past in broken down buildings. ibid.
‘Sam Giancana was the meanest, the toughest and the smartest of the 42 gang.’ ibid.
Sam was like a killer’s killer. ibid.
How to Succeed as a Gangster, 1963. Gangster Files s1e1: Al Capone, Myth & Reality, Amazon 2023
Chicago alone boasts of having 20,000 speak-easys. Millions of Americans find that breaking the law can be fun. ibid.
The most powerful man in the underworld is Scarface Al Capone, now barely 30. He controls policemen, judges and mayors, and he openly runs a vast network of bootlegging, gambling, protection and vice. His annual revenue is reported at over 100 million. ibid.
By 1930 Capone was also a cocaine addict.
Al Capone Gets 11 Years in Prison: Chicago gangster chief’s reign of terror ends with his downfall in Federal Court. ibid. Hearst Metrotone News
‘This imbued the onscreen character with a sense of glamour which in real life he didn’t possess.’ ibid. comment
‘His was an amoral universe marked by incessant warfare.’ ibid.
‘Al Capone was known for his huge altruistic streak.’ ibid.