Mobsters in the Movies

Think of a movie gangster -- real or fictional. What's the first name that pops into your head? Tell us in the comments below

For those who didn't have the good fortune to grow up mob adjacent, your first exposure to mobsters, hoodlums and gangsters may have come from the movies. Movies have always mirrored real life. As real criminals like John Dillinger rose to pop-hero status during a depression Depression, Hollywood saw an opening for the screen gangster. Dastardly villains met predictable ends in a series of profitable films that catapulted actors like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, and others to cult status in their lifetimes. But movie genres fade. 

By the 1960s, television offered a feast of cops and robber shows, and the screen gangster drifted out of style like spats and watch chains. Then in 1970, Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola brought the gangster roaring back to the screen. So did Sergio Leon and Martin Scorsese. The screen gangster is a classic now. But let's not overlook the men who shot up the streets with Tommy guns when it was happening for real on America's streets.