Mischief Maker wrote:

(In the style of tdarcos' "throw stuff at the walls and see what sticks" posts)

The based-on-true-story mob movies don't fall into the trap of trying to romanticize the mob.

In the Godfather, the mortician takes an incredible risk getting himself involved with the mob in return for violent revenge at the beginning. What are these dangerous people going to want in return? Then the time comes, he's called into a meeting with Don Corleone for the payback and its... making Sonny's body look nice so his mother isn't upset. Then the Don cries. Awwwwwwwww.

In Goodfellas, a restaurant owner gets involved with the mob as much to protect himself from Joe Pesci's violence as anything else. His business gets a few perks out of the deal, but ultimately they start sucking him dry of every penny he has, every penny he can borrow, and finally burn the restaurant to the ground to squeeze the last of the insurance money out of him.

I saw an interview of the real-life Donnie Brasco last night and he said the reason he wrote a book about his undercover life in the mob (pre-Goodfellas) was to dispel the romanticized notions of mob life and show these men as the takers that they are.