In the media over the last fifty years, America has seen a glorification of gangs and the Italian mob more specifically. The mob has been the subject of numerous successful TV shows and movies. However I am sure that everything the mob is portrayed to be should not be glorified. There are many famous murder scenes in these mob classics that glorify the power that the mob possessed. For example in the Godfather which is arguably the best mob movie ever made. Michael Corleone the head of the family or the Don orders the murders of the five families and everyone who might oppose him. These murders are carried out while Michael Corleone is at his nephews baptism.
There are many more of these types of scenes in the media, both in television and movies this might be the problem.People don’t realize that the mob is a very dangerous entity, that shouldn’t be glorified in the media. Also most people don’t understand or know how many people the Italian mob have killed. So people just blindly watch and enjoy movies like Goodfellas and Casino or TV shows like Boardwalk Empire or the Sopranos without realizing how disturbing the mob really is.
For example Murder inc was a group of mobsters who carried out contract killings for the Italian and Jewish mafias in the 1930s. They reportedly could have killed anywhere from four hundred to one thousand people. Murder Incorporated was the biggest contract killing group of its kind and one can only imagine that there were plenty other contract killers for the mob and how many people they may have killed.
The media continues to glorify mobs and gangs because it sell and people enjoy watching it. However why would we want mass violence and crime to be gloried through the media.
St. Joseph's College Crime & Media Blog 