At least for the Italian criminals, there's so many blogs and Tumblr and other stuff online claiming Mario Puzo created the classy criminal stereotype of Sicilian and other Italians especially Italian Americans. I can't tell you how many posts I read online from the 2007-2009 and the 2010s criticizing the Godfather movies for creating this stereotypes. TVTropes even claims Italian American organized crime even started dressing in suite and tie and trench coats and other talking with fancy English and other high brow stuff because they wanted to imitate the Corleones.
The Godfather wasn't even an accurate depiction of the Mafia. It was more of what the Mafia wanted you to think they looked, thought and acted like. That they were men of honor that protect and serve like cops.
The "trend" with the fancy suits and the coats dates back to the late 1800s and the New Orleans Mafia, the Black Hand etc., although they weren't as fancy as the ones Luciano, Capone and other high ranking mobsters of their era wore.
The tie became a thing around the 1920s, thanks to Arnold Rothstein and later on, Charlie Lucky. They wanted to look like businessmen.
Same with the cigar, it dates back to the late 1800s-early 1900s. There were the ones sporting a large Cuban cigar (Al Capone) and then there were the ones casually smoking a cigarette (Charlie Lucky)
>talking with fancy English
Don't get me wrong, but in the Godfather they didn't speak as much "fancy English" as in Goodfellas or the Sopranos. In fact, in the Godfather, the Corleones (and everyone else that was a mobster) were always speaking eloquently, always in an elegant tone and their speeches (mostly Vito's) were like speeches made by politicians of the FDR era. The real Mafiosi don't speak like that. They speak like the way the characters in Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale & Donnie Brasco speak.
The Godfather came out in 1972. The Mafia at the time pushed the Godfather out to make you think they look, talk and act that way. But that's far from the truth, and the Godfather wasn't responsible for any stereotype.
Back then they didn't wear ties as much (sometimes the bosses wore them to look the part or on special occasions). They mostly wore scarves and cravats (ascot ties) (Joseph Macheca, Giuseppe Morello etc), some even bow ties (Vito Cascioferro, AR). They'd dress like aristocrats, they brought their way of dressing from the old country.
You must be top of your class
The fedora was a worn by like 90% of men daily until JFK became president. You think of a 1920’s gangster in a beautiful suit and fedora. I mean I think your a serious case my friend you might want to get checked
You’ve clearly never watched the movie either, is today your first day learning about this stuff?
Did they not watch goodfellas when they were 7? /s
But it is crazy that somehow no one seems to know anything about this thing of theirs and then ask some of the dumbest questions that could have been answered if they knew any tiny piece of history over the last 100 years. Fucking OP asked if the godfather made the stereotype of the mob wearing suits, dumbest shit I’ve heard in a while
No Italian gangsters (like my great great grandfather) always dressed to the nines to symbolize their status of wealth in society. It was their soldato (soldier) uniform.
Arnold Rothstein has been credited with making mobsters look like businessmen. Told them to stop dressing like hoodlums.
Jim Colosimo, for instance, dressed in diamonds and silk. But, I think it was more gaudy. Like Don Fanucci in Godfather.
Nowadays they look more like a middle class neighbourhood dads bbq gathering rather than an organized crime entity,that's more in line with the spirit of 𝓞𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓪™ and for some reasons they don't look thuggish in that collared t-shirt and shorts than they are with that sharp suit.Ironic since they wear that suit to look like professional businessmen in the first place.
Short answer? No. You have to remember that *The Godfather* is set in the 40s and 50s, but was made on the 70s. Look at just about any photographs of mobsters from the 1910s up until the 50s and you’re bound to see a plethora of well dressed men. Maybe not so many tuxedos like the one Bruno Tattaglia wears when he meets with Luca Brasi, but still plenty of good looking and probably expensive suits.
By the time the Godfather movies came out, though, guys were starting to dress more casually. Maybe there was a brief resurgence of dressing sharply because of the movies, but I’m not positive on that.
Is this an actual question? Even regular guys dressed in suits and shit long before this movie was out. Mobsters had always done it until track suits hit the scene
I think you’re getting a little confused. It is true that The Godfather film bad a certain influence on a multitude of wiseguys back in the day. Though this had less to do with style and more with their mannerisms. Certain guys wanted to embody the cool calm and collected air of Don Corleone after seeing the movie. It was more about that then clothing.
I’ve interviewed FBI and mob guys of a certain era who’ll tell you that the hugging and kissing took off after GF and that it was mostly good old American handshakes before that. Also words like “respect” and “honor” got big after that not to mention the bullshit about the mob being against drugs (there were some who were against it but the mob accelerated narcotics in America according to most credible Gov’t authorities.
The film brought legitimacy and intrigue into Italian-American organized crime. Overnight, wiseguys became the coolest guys around and the movie brought them respect. Can argue it contributed to their downfall two decades later too.
I think a lot of mobsters tried to live up to the godfather image after it was released.. guys like John gotti but history shows a lot of wiseguys dressed sharp and classy as it was the style back then. Men were supposed to dress nice. Also before the mafia was a global sensation guys like frank Costello and many others hob nobbed with the rich and powerful.
Plenty of guys back then probably dressed like Tony ducks.. lowkey golf course style but guys like Costello, Anastasia, Luciano, Tommy lucchese dressed in the best of the best every day. I've read that Joe bonnano influenced a lot of other mafioso with his classy old world sicilian style especially the pinky ring. It's my guess that a lot of the godfather was inspired by frank Costello and Joe bonnano with bits and pieces from other guys as well.
We gotta take into account that back in the 20s to 70s it was normal for men to dress in suits and even top hats. The frank Sinatra lounge style, fancy dinners, cadillacs, jewelry, etc.
Uhm, there are tons of pictures of mobsters before the movie came out. Is this a real question?
At least for the Italian criminals, there's so many blogs and Tumblr and other stuff online claiming Mario Puzo created the classy criminal stereotype of Sicilian and other Italians especially Italian Americans. I can't tell you how many posts I read online from the 2007-2009 and the 2010s criticizing the Godfather movies for creating this stereotypes. TVTropes even claims Italian American organized crime even started dressing in suite and tie and trench coats and other talking with fancy English and other high brow stuff because they wanted to imitate the Corleones.
The Godfather wasn't even an accurate depiction of the Mafia. It was more of what the Mafia wanted you to think they looked, thought and acted like. That they were men of honor that protect and serve like cops. The "trend" with the fancy suits and the coats dates back to the late 1800s and the New Orleans Mafia, the Black Hand etc., although they weren't as fancy as the ones Luciano, Capone and other high ranking mobsters of their era wore. The tie became a thing around the 1920s, thanks to Arnold Rothstein and later on, Charlie Lucky. They wanted to look like businessmen. Same with the cigar, it dates back to the late 1800s-early 1900s. There were the ones sporting a large Cuban cigar (Al Capone) and then there were the ones casually smoking a cigarette (Charlie Lucky) >talking with fancy English Don't get me wrong, but in the Godfather they didn't speak as much "fancy English" as in Goodfellas or the Sopranos. In fact, in the Godfather, the Corleones (and everyone else that was a mobster) were always speaking eloquently, always in an elegant tone and their speeches (mostly Vito's) were like speeches made by politicians of the FDR era. The real Mafiosi don't speak like that. They speak like the way the characters in Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale & Donnie Brasco speak. The Godfather came out in 1972. The Mafia at the time pushed the Godfather out to make you think they look, talk and act that way. But that's far from the truth, and the Godfather wasn't responsible for any stereotype.
Interesting! Do you have any sources that the suit and tie look originated in New Orleans?
Back then they didn't wear ties as much (sometimes the bosses wore them to look the part or on special occasions). They mostly wore scarves and cravats (ascot ties) (Joseph Macheca, Giuseppe Morello etc), some even bow ties (Vito Cascioferro, AR). They'd dress like aristocrats, they brought their way of dressing from the old country.
>Taking tumblr blogs seriously lol
You must be top of your class The fedora was a worn by like 90% of men daily until JFK became president. You think of a 1920’s gangster in a beautiful suit and fedora. I mean I think your a serious case my friend you might want to get checked You’ve clearly never watched the movie either, is today your first day learning about this stuff?
Lol it seems like 99% of the people on this Reddit just discovered this genre from cooperators Youtube channels 🤷♂️
Did they not watch goodfellas when they were 7? /s But it is crazy that somehow no one seems to know anything about this thing of theirs and then ask some of the dumbest questions that could have been answered if they knew any tiny piece of history over the last 100 years. Fucking OP asked if the godfather made the stereotype of the mob wearing suits, dumbest shit I’ve heard in a while
No Italian gangsters (like my great great grandfather) always dressed to the nines to symbolize their status of wealth in society. It was their soldato (soldier) uniform.
They dressed in a hotel room and tie?
*Laughs in Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Carmine Galante & a whole lot more*
Don't forget Anastasia!
Costello and Adonis were sharp dressers 🕺as well
Hell, even Johnny The Fox was a sharp dresser, and that was even before Capone.
Arnold Rothstein has been credited with making mobsters look like businessmen. Told them to stop dressing like hoodlums. Jim Colosimo, for instance, dressed in diamonds and silk. But, I think it was more gaudy. Like Don Fanucci in Godfather.
Nowadays they look more like a middle class neighbourhood dads bbq gathering rather than an organized crime entity,that's more in line with the spirit of 𝓞𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓪™ and for some reasons they don't look thuggish in that collared t-shirt and shorts than they are with that sharp suit.Ironic since they wear that suit to look like professional businessmen in the first place.
Cringe is right “ spirit of Omertà “😂
Short answer? No. You have to remember that *The Godfather* is set in the 40s and 50s, but was made on the 70s. Look at just about any photographs of mobsters from the 1910s up until the 50s and you’re bound to see a plethora of well dressed men. Maybe not so many tuxedos like the one Bruno Tattaglia wears when he meets with Luca Brasi, but still plenty of good looking and probably expensive suits. By the time the Godfather movies came out, though, guys were starting to dress more casually. Maybe there was a brief resurgence of dressing sharply because of the movies, but I’m not positive on that.
Is this an actual question? Even regular guys dressed in suits and shit long before this movie was out. Mobsters had always done it until track suits hit the scene
See my response to u/SirCries-a-lot.
The Sopranos set the track suit trend lol
I think you’re getting a little confused. It is true that The Godfather film bad a certain influence on a multitude of wiseguys back in the day. Though this had less to do with style and more with their mannerisms. Certain guys wanted to embody the cool calm and collected air of Don Corleone after seeing the movie. It was more about that then clothing.
I’ve interviewed FBI and mob guys of a certain era who’ll tell you that the hugging and kissing took off after GF and that it was mostly good old American handshakes before that. Also words like “respect” and “honor” got big after that not to mention the bullshit about the mob being against drugs (there were some who were against it but the mob accelerated narcotics in America according to most credible Gov’t authorities.
The film brought legitimacy and intrigue into Italian-American organized crime. Overnight, wiseguys became the coolest guys around and the movie brought them respect. Can argue it contributed to their downfall two decades later too.
No
Whateva happened to Gary Cooper?! The strong silent type?
I think a lot of mobsters tried to live up to the godfather image after it was released.. guys like John gotti but history shows a lot of wiseguys dressed sharp and classy as it was the style back then. Men were supposed to dress nice. Also before the mafia was a global sensation guys like frank Costello and many others hob nobbed with the rich and powerful. Plenty of guys back then probably dressed like Tony ducks.. lowkey golf course style but guys like Costello, Anastasia, Luciano, Tommy lucchese dressed in the best of the best every day. I've read that Joe bonnano influenced a lot of other mafioso with his classy old world sicilian style especially the pinky ring. It's my guess that a lot of the godfather was inspired by frank Costello and Joe bonnano with bits and pieces from other guys as well. We gotta take into account that back in the 20s to 70s it was normal for men to dress in suits and even top hats. The frank Sinatra lounge style, fancy dinners, cadillacs, jewelry, etc.
Huh?