One feature of a classic movie or series is that, though it’s a work of fiction, it carries elements that make it ‘true’ in a deeper sense.
In the classic The Sopranos series, David Chase created a cast of characters that entertained and shocked us and provided sharp commentary about American society and American families.
There’s also a dimension of a ‘clash of generations’, mostly portrayed in mob boss’ Tony Soprano’s (James Gandolfini) love-hate relationship with his lazy, addicted and unfocused nephew Christopher Moltisanti.
Tony Soprano (to nephew Christopher) – ‘Shut the f*** up and listen to me. You’re my nephew, Christopher, and I love you. And that’s the only reason you’re alive right now.’
However, the complaint about the declining standards was not limited to his immediate blood relatives but also to his other criminal ‘family’.
Tony Soprano (to Dr. Melfi) – ‘I find i have to be the sad clown. Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. See, things are trending downward. Used to be a guy got pinched, he took his prison jolt no matter what. Everybody upheld the code of silence. Nowadays, no values. Guys today have no room for the penal experience. So, everybody turns government witness. I feel exhausted just talking about it.’
It was Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde that said that ‘life often imitates art’, and this seems to be the case here.
It arose this week that Mafia Capos in Sicily were caught on wiretaps complaining about the ‘miserable caliber’ of new recruits.
The wiretaps were released after nearly 150 alleged criminals were arrested in raids that involved 1,200 police officers.
In the recordings, the Cosa Nostra bosses unfavorably compared the new generation of mafiosi to the past generations.
The Telegraph reported:
“They said that, unlike their predecessors, new recruits were too quick to turn ‘pentito’ – or state witness – as soon as they were arrested. ‘The caliber these days is low, a miserable level’, Giancarlo Romano, an alleged mafia don, said in an intercepted conversation.”
That’s the exact same complaint as Soprano’s. But if you still think my opening comparison with The Sopranos series was silly, just check out Romano invoking the example of 1972 film The Godfather, by commenting on fictional character Don Vito Corleone.
“’If you watch The Godfather, the connections he had… he was very influential because of the power that he built at a political level. But us – what can we do? We’re on our knees, guys. We think we do business, but these days it’s others who do it. We used to be number one, now it’s others… we’re just gypsies’. He told one young recruit: ‘You should go to school – that way you will meet doctors, lawyers, the people who run Italy, Europe’.”
In the largest anti-mafia operation in 40 years, 1,200 armed Carabinieri officers conducted early morning raids in and around Palermo, Sicily’s capital.
“One of the police units involved was the Cacciatori, meaning hunters, anti-mafia commandos who are deployed from helicopters and wear red berets similar to those of Britain’s Parachute Regiment.
Prosecutors said the raids had dealt a major blow to attempts by Cosa Nostra bosses to rebuild and reorganize ‘la cupola’, a central mafia commission that mediates between rival clans and settles disputes.”
Read more:
More Than 150 Arrested in the Largest Operation by Italian Police Against the Mafia in 40 Years
The post From The Sopranos to the Real-Life Cosa Nostra: Wiretaps Show Sicilian Mafia Bosses Complaining About the Declining Quality of the New Generations of Mafiosi appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.