Part one of term paper
The movie "Goodfellas" is a dramatization of life in the New York Mafia. It is based on the accounts of real life ex-gangster turned state evidence. He tells his story from when he was hired by a wiseguy as a teenager in the fifties to the time he is put in the witness protection program in the seventies. The movie portrays the spirit of the ...

Part two of term paper
... that any member suffering an alleged injustice was obliged to take personal vengeance while avoiding all contact with legal authorities. Even in the modern day American Mafia, each family ruled it's own territory and when others from outside the territory interfered they were dealt with through violent methods. The wiseguys (or local gangsters) paid for their protection by paying the head of their local family. This payoff was also known as paying tribute to the boss. Many of the Mafia's folkway ...