How or why are these guys tied into the mafia?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — General Discussion
WarrenPeace — 1 year ago(February 22, 2025 10:34 PM)
Jimmy and Henry cannot become made men but yet they are somehow tied in or involved with the mafia.
How come or what is their relationship with them?
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JohnnyBoy — 1 year ago(February 22, 2025 10:39 PM)
Not 100% Italian. Only Tommy can be. You'll have to read the book Wiseguy by Nicolas Pileggi for full details.
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JohnnyBoy — 1 year ago(February 22, 2025 10:45 PM)
Number one goal of any member in the Mafia is to make money. As long as he does it well, he's good. That's why Hyman Roth (Meyer Lansky) in The Godfather Part II lasted so long because he "always made money for everybody" despite the fact he's a Jew. Jimmy was a mentor to Henry and Tommy, and they learned how to make money in different ways from him. But the Cosa Nostra stuff is strictly 100% Italian, promotion-wise, as in "they can look, but they can't touch."
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AnthonySocksssss — 1 year ago(February 22, 2025 10:51 PM)
They’re associates, they work for the mafia and carry out errands/robberies/murders, in return they get clout of being associated with the Lucchese crime family and some modest protection from the law. But they could never move up in the organization the way that Tommy could, because Jimmy and Henry are Irish.
Kind of like independent contractors instead of full-time employees. -
WarrenPeace — 1 year ago(February 22, 2025 11:45 PM)
OK so they were Crimes R Us guys and did some dirty deeds for the mob?
I thought mobs had their own wise guys for that.
I suppose it puts up a wall between the dead and the mobster who ordered the hit with the Goodfellas crew doing it and it’s another way for the Family to get even richer if the mob gets a cut?
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AnthonySocksssss — 1 year ago(February 23, 2025 12:57 AM)
Precisely, it’s part of the mob hierarchy and a way to limit liability for the head honchos.
Usually the mob has “made-guys’ that are 100% Italian/sicilian who are the soldiers or muscle of the family. They help run extortion, racketeering or bookkeeping activities and kick up their earnings to the capo-regime (aka middle-manager), who then kicks up to the bosses.
The associates like Jimmy or Henry are bottom of the rung, and can’t become made or part of the inner circle because they can’t trace their lineage to the old country, which means they’re not 100% trustworthy, they’ll always be outsiders who do the work no one else wants. Basically, the mafia is just a pyramid scheme where money is siphoned to the top.
Here is a good breakdown of their organization -
WarrenPeace — 1 year ago(February 23, 2025 01:35 AM)
Thank you.
That helps because the movie, to me, didn’t make it clear how they could be involved with the mob even though Henry did explain why he and Jimmy could not be members.
"Please vote to preserve the unique character of Warren…" - Robert Duvall