Discuss GoodFellas

Yeah, Jimmy was a powerful gangster.

But what I didn't fully get was how was he so powerful? I mean, from the movie it seems that he was the most powerful guy besides Paulie Cicero. But Paulie was the boss of his Mafia organization or "family" and was a made man, yet Jimmy didn't belong to that family and could never become a man made due to his Irish ascency.

So what exactly was Jimmy and how has he became the second most powerful guy from that "association"? Was Jimmy technically within the Mafia at all or was he an associate?

3 replies (on page 1 of 1)

Jump to last post

But wasn't Paulie a man made? And why would Tommy, who was just a psychopath and basically a hencheman, become a made man?

And Jimmy seemed to dominate everyone including many cops.

@mechajutaro said:

@Harry Skywalker said:

But wasn't Paulie a man made? And why would Tommy, who was just a psychopath and basically a hencheman, become a made man?

And Jimmy seemed to dominate everyone including many cops.

Recall that Tommy DIDN'T become a made man. Not sure if the real life Paul Vario was made, but even so, being a made man in the mob(from what I gather)doesn't necessarily place you within The Don's immediate circle. It just makes you part of the organization officially, rather than a thug who's affiliated. Conway did seem to be hailed as a big shot among other small time-middling hoods, but we're never given any hints as to what mob leaders thought of him. Anyone who has enough spare cash laying around to bribe the cops could be said to be dominating over them

Tommy was gonna "become" a made man but at the end that's not what happened, for the obvious reasons. But there was that possibility at hand.

Paulie seemed to be very powerful, his crew even bought so many cops during their time on the prison.

Jimmy was the main responsible for the biggest heist ever, at that time, and he surely had a giant crew of people working for him and many cops just preferred to not make him accountable. He really seemed to be way more than just a gangster responsible for some little or middle assaults.

@mechajutaro said:

@Harry Skywalker said:

@mechajutaro said:

@Harry Skywalker said:

But wasn't Paulie a man made? And why would Tommy, who was just a psychopath and basically a hencheman, become a made man?

And Jimmy seemed to dominate everyone including many cops.

Recall that Tommy DIDN'T become a made man. Not sure if the real life Paul Vario was made, but even so, being a made man in the mob(from what I gather)doesn't necessarily place you within The Don's immediate circle. It just makes you part of the organization officially, rather than a thug who's affiliated. Conway did seem to be hailed as a big shot among other small time-middling hoods, but we're never given any hints as to what mob leaders thought of him. Anyone who has enough spare cash laying around to bribe the cops could be said to be dominating over them

Tommy was gonna "become" a made man but at the end that's not what happened, for the obvious reasons. But there was that possibility at hand.

Paulie seemed to be very powerful, his crew even bought so many cops during their time on the prison.

Jimmy was the main responsible for the biggest heist ever, at that time, and he surely had a giant crew of people working for him and many cops just preferred to not make him accountable. He really seemed to be way more than just a gangster responsible for some little or middle assaults.

The movie version of Tommy wasn't going to be made.... That was all a ruse to lead him to his death. And the real life inspiration(Tommy DeSimone)was never seriously considered for initiation into the mob; he got murdered fairly early into his criminal career, after it became clear that he was too much of loose canon. It's true that, at one time, Tri-State mafiosi who were doing time in state pen did often receive special treatment, on account of the guards being paid-off, and/or family connections. But these payoffs and arrangements were being made by the mob's leadership cadre back in NYC, not by crew chiefs like Vario

Dunno if the Luftansha heist is still the biggest ever, or if it's since been surpassed. When one reads up on what airport security was like back then(this heist was one of several that Conway had pulled off), this feat starts to seem less like the work of criminal masterminds, and more like dumb luck

Tommy was obviously not gonna become a made man, it was a trap. But the thing is that it was the real scenario for almost everyone else, nobody knew it was a trap. So since nobody got suspicious, at least Jimmy and the others (and Jimmy was not dumb at all, he was extremely smart), then we should assume making Tommy a man made was some kind of realistic or logical scenario. If not then Jimmy would not be happy and would suspect it was a trap.

Regarding the Luftansha Heist, it really was the biggest ever at that time which was no joke at all. It was obviously stablished that Jimmy was very intelligent and some kind of mastermind, and in the case of this heist with the help of Morris, yet almost the others were really dumb... I mean, the Christmas party really showed us all that.

And regarding the cops, since Jimmy had many of them controlled (Paulie even more)...

Can't find a movie or TV show? Login to create it.

Global

s focus the search bar
p open profile menu
esc close an open window
? open keyboard shortcut window

On media pages

b go back (or to parent when applicable)
e go to edit page

On TV season pages

(right arrow) go to next season
(left arrow) go to previous season

On TV episode pages

(right arrow) go to next episode
(left arrow) go to previous episode

On all image pages

a open add image window

On all edit pages

t open translation selector
ctrl+ s submit form

On discussion pages

n create new discussion
w toggle watching status
p toggle public/private
c toggle close/open
a open activity
r reply to discussion
l go to last reply
ctrl+ enter submit your message
(right arrow) next page
(left arrow) previous page

Settings

Want to rate or add this item to a list?

Login