Goodfellas - Theme by .. Tony_Montana ..
To me being a gangster was better than being president of the United States. Even before I went to the cabstand for an after-school job I knew I wanted to be a part of them. It was there that I knew I belonged. To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood full of nobodies. They weren't like anybody else. They did whatever they wanted. They parked in front of hydrants and never got a ticket. When they played cards all night nobody ever called the cops.
Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn't even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you had to be 100% Italian, so they could trace all your relatives back to the old country. It's the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and a crew. It means that nobody can fuck around with you. It also means you can fuck around with anybody, just as long as they aren't also a member. It's like a license to steal. A license to do anything.
We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all. Our wives, mothers, kids, everybody rode along. I had bags filled with jewelry stashed in the kitchen. I had a bowl of coke next to the bed. Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. Keys to a dozen hideouts all over the city. I'd bet 20-30 grand over a weekend and then blow the winnings in a week or go to sharks to pay the bookies. Didn't matter. It didn't mean anything. When I was broke I would go rob some more. We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking.