Organized crime

Quotes regarding organized crime, especially those of mobsters, authorities, and crime films.

Quotes

A very interesting report on the London property market as a refuge for secret assets and dirty money – published in March 2015 by Transparency UK – spoke of money coming from corruption or corrupt individuals, without ever mentioning the word “Mafia”; nor did it ever mention “organised crime”. The reason is simple: with the exception of a few very rare cases, in the UK the mafia is not something that you can see or hear. There aren’t dead bodies on the streets, or shootings. In Mexico or in Italy, between corpses, blood and drug seizures it’s impossible to think that the Mafia doesn’t exist. In Italy and in Mexico Mafia is loud and it smells of blood. In London, as in Paris, it exists, but it’s quiet, it acts in the dark. And most of all it doesn’t have the pungent smell of blood, but the reassuring smell of money. It’s not true that money doesn’t smell, it does smell indeed, but you definitely can’t rely on your sense of smell to identify criminal money.
- Roberto Saviano, Dirty Money in London event (May 31, 2016), translated by Claudia Colvin.

In silence, illegal assets are moving around and undermining our economy and our democracies. In silence. But it doesn’t stop here; organised crime is providing us with a winning economic model. Organised crime is the only segment of global economy to have not been affected by the financial crisis; to have profited from the crisis, to have fed on the crisis, to have contributed to the crisis. And it’s in the crisis that it finds its satellite activities, such as usury, gambling, counterfeiting. But the most important – and most alarming – aspect of this issue is that it’s exactly in times of crisis that criminal organisations find their safe haven in banks.
- Roberto Saviano, Dirty Money in London event (May 31, 2016), translated by Claudia Colvin.

Have you ever asked yourselves why Mafias from all over the world are constantly opening restaurants, cafes or shops? Because this type of commercial activity has huge amounts of cash coming in. A Mafioso businessman’s number one priority is not to make money, but to hand out receipts in order to justify money that he already has. In Italy, where tax avoidance is extremely high, we know that when a shopkeeper is reluctant to give you a receipt he or she is almost definitely committing an offence, but almost definitely not a Mafioso. Businesses run by the Mafia will always give you a receipt. And the Russian Mafia, in the years of the wavering ruble, safely stored away its money in London’s luxury homes, fuelling London’s property bubble with dirty money. The fictitious buying and selling of property is one of organised crime’s favourite ways of laundering money. ... This is how entire neighbourhoods in London are becoming unoccupied, turning into investments’ empty spaces. Money moves in, and people move out.
- Roberto Saviano, Dirty Money in London event (May 31, 2016), translated by Claudia Colvin.

Danbury wasn't a prison, it was a crime school. I went in with a Bachelor of marijuana, came out with a Doctorate of cocaine. ~ George Jung.

A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you're talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging. And who knows who's gonna come along in that time? Pretty soon, you gotta dig a few more holes. You could be there all fuckin' night. ~ Nicky Santoro.

When they send for you, you go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it. ~ Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero.

When I introduce you, I'm gonna say, "This is a friend of mine." That means you're a connected guy. Now if I said instead, "this is a friend of ours", that would mean you a made guy. Capice? ~ Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero.

[Luca Brasi's bulletproof vest is delivered with a fish inside]
- What the hell is this? ~ Sonny Corleone
- It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. ~ Pete Clemenza.

I don't like violence, Tom. I'm a businessman; blood is a big expense. ~ Virgil Sollozzo.

There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. ~ Michael Corleone.

You know, Michael; now that you're so respectable, I think you're more dangerous than ever. I liked you better when you were just a common Mafia hood. ~ Kay Adams/Corleone.

And when the cops, when they assigned a whole army to stop Jimmy, what'd he do? He made 'em partners ~ Henry Hill.

All they got from Paulie was protection from other guys looking to rip them off. That's what it's all about. That's what the FBI can never understand - that what Paulie and the organization offer is protection for the kinds of guys who can't go to the cops. They're like the police department for wiseguys. ~ Henry Hill.

For most of the guys, killing's got to be accepted. Murder was the only way that everybody stayed in line. You got out of line, you got whacked. Everybody knew the rules. But sometimes, even if people didn't get out of line, they got whacked. I mean, hits just became a habit for some of the guys. Guys would get into arguments over nothing and before you knew it, one of them was dead. And they were shooting each other all the time. Shooting people was a normal thing. It was no big deal. ~ Henry Hill.

I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype, and it's offensive. ~ Tony Soprano.

You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word. ~ Al Capone.

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